Miguel Castro, Chega/Madeira’s list leader in the early regional elections, said today that the main objective of the candidacy is to increase the parliamentary group, after the party managed to elect four deputies six months ago.
“The prospects are to join a working group in the regional parliament and give continuity to what are our priorities for the people of Madeira and Porto Santo and to continue a work that was interrupted six months ago,” said the head of Chega, after handing in the list of candidates at the Madeira District Court in Funchal.
Miguel Castro stressed that the candidacy’s expectations for the May 26 elections “are as high as possible”, in a context of democratic plurality that is evident in Portugal’s three parliaments (the Assembly of the Republic and the regional legislative assemblies of Madeira and the Azores).
“We want to grow, […] it will be a much better value if we manage to grow the parliamentary group,” he said.
Miguel Castro called on Madeirans to choose a government that would be “fruitful” and that would enable the Legislative Assembly of Madeira to carry out its work and “finish the legislature”.
The candidate also argued that it was necessary to “put an end once and for all to these suspicions surrounding the various candidates”, adding that the situation is not just the PSD.
“The PS itself also has some of its own candidates involved in some processes that are going on around it and, therefore, in this situation we should never throw stones at other people’s roofs,” he stressed.
For Miguel Castro, Madeirans need “serious” politicians once and for all, regardless of whether they “are cadres or not, have longer careers in politics” in the region.
With regard to the leader of the PSD/Madeira and the resigning president of the regional government, Miguel Albuquerque, the Chega list leader considered that he was “a candidate who already comes with suspicions” for these elections and that the fact that he is accused in a corruption case will have “weight on the electorate”.
“Chega is a party of ordinary people, people who are part of civil society and see themselves represented in the party, but they are serious people who really want to make a difference and who want to give dignity to the people of Madeira and Porto Santo,” added Miguel Castro.
Chega’s list of candidates also includes outgoing regional MPs Magna da Costa and Celestino Sebastião, businessmen Hugo Nunes and David Nóbrega, followed by social education graduate Lília Faria.
Among the eight candidates who managed to elect deputies in the September 2023 regional elections, the PSD/CDS-PP Somos Madeira coalition had 58,394 votes (44.31%), the PS got 28,840 (21.89%), the JPP got 14,933 (11.33%) and Chega got 12,029 (9.13%)
With only one MP elected, the CDU got 3,677 votes (2.79%), IL got 3,555 (2.70%), PAN got 3,046 (2.31%) and BE got 3,035 (2.30%).
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, dissolved Madeira’s parliament and called early elections for May 26 following the political crisis caused by the investigation into suspected corruption in the archipelago.
The regional government, a PSD/CDS-PP coalition with the parliamentary support of PAN, has been in administration since the beginning of February. The president of the executive, the Social Democrat Miguel Albuquerque, resigned from his post after being made a defendant in the case and after PAN withdrew its political confidence in him.
In the last regional legislative elections, on September 24 last year, the PSD/CDS-PP coalition elected 23 deputies, the PS won 11 mandates, the JPP five, Chega four, while CDU, IL, PAN and BE elected one parliamentarian each.
The official map indicates that PTT had 1,369 votes (1.04%), Livre got 858 (0.65%), RIR reached 727 (0.55%), MPT collected 696 (0.53%) and ADN captured 617 (0.47%).