The leader of the PSD/Madeira and head of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition list for the regional elections on September 24, Miguel Albuquerque, today rejected any possibility of an agreement with Chega, which he classified as a “centralist” party and “averse to autonomy”.
“People need to be aware, here in Madeira, that Chega is a party, like all nationalist parties, in favor of centralism and the extinction of the autonomies,” he said, before adding: “We’re not going to make deals with crocodiles in the hope of being eaten last.”
Miguel Albuquerque was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the Nephrocare clinic in Funchal, a conventional hemodialysis unit, where he went in his capacity as President of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP).
“We have no possibility of an agreement [with Chega],” he said in response to questions from journalists about the current electoral process, stressing that it is an “anti-autonomist” party and, as such, “anti-Madeira”.
Miguel Albuquerque said, however, that Chega, like the Left Bloc and the Communist Party – which he classified as “anti-system parties” – has the right to exist because it has been ratified by the Constitutional Court.
“This idea that there are radicals on the left who should be cherished and radicals on the right who should be purged doesn’t work with me,” he said, reiterating that there will be no agreements with Chega even if the PSD/CDS-PP coalition doesn’t win an absolute majority in the legislative elections on September 24.
For this election, the Funchal Court validated 13 candidacies, corresponding to two coalitions and 11 other parties, but the definitively accepted lists will only be published on September 4.
The draw for the order of the 13 political forces on the ballot paper put the Portuguese Labor Party (PTP) in first place, followed by Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP), Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Partido Socialista (PS), Chega (CH), Reagir Incluir Integrar (RIR), Partido da Terra (MPT), Alternativa Democrática Nacional (ADN), Somos Madeira (PSD/CDS-PP coalition), Pessoas-Animais-Natureza (PAN), Livre (L), CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária (PCP/PEV) and Iniciativa Liberal (IL).
The previous regional elections were held on September 22, 2019.
In this election, in a single constituency, 16 parties and a coalition competed for the 47 seats in the Madeiran parliament: PSD, PS, CDS-PP, JPP, BE, Chega, IL, PAN, PDR, PTP, PNR, Aliança, Partido da Terra – MPT, PCTP/MRPP, PURP, RIR and CDU (PCP/PEV).
The PSD then lost, for the first time, its absolute majority in the Madeira Regional Legislative Assembly, which it had held since 1976, electing 21 deputies and formed a coalition government with the CDS-PP (three deputies).
The PS elected 19 deputies, the JPP three and the PCP one.
