The campaign for Madeira’s legislative elections, which take place on the 24th, begins today, with 13 candidates contesting 47 seats in the regional parliament.
The lists of two coalitions – PSD/CDS-PP and CDU (PCP/PEV) – and 11 other parties: PTP, JPP, BE, PS, Chega, RIR, MPT, ADN, PAN, Livre and IL – were validated for the vote in a single constituency.
According to the order on the ballot paper, the competing candidates are Quintino Costa (PTP), Élvio Sousa (JPP), Roberto Almada (BE), Sérgio Gonçalves (PS), Miguel Castro (Chega), Roberto Vieira (RIR), Válter Rodrigues (MPT), Miguel Pita (ADN), Miguel Albuquerque (PSD/CDS – Somos Madeira), Mónica Freitas (PAN), Tiago Camacho (Livre), Edgar Silva (CDU) and Nuno Morna (IL).
In the previous regional elections in Madeira in 2019, the PSD lost for the first time the absolute majority it had held in the archipelago since 1976, electing 21 deputies, and formed a coalition with the CDS-PP, with three representatives in the chamber, to continue to ensure governance.
In 2015, the Social Democrats, led by Miguel Albuquerque (current President of the Regional Government), had already struggled to secure an absolute majority – they managed to do so by just one MP, occupying 24 of the 47 seats in the chamber.
Four years ago, the PSD managed to be the most voted party, obtaining 56,448 votes (39.42%), followed by the PS, with 51,207 votes (35.76%), and the CDS-PP, with 8,246 (5.76%).
The JPP received 7,830 votes (5.47%) and elected three deputies, while the CDU was the last political force to secure representation, with 2,577 votes (1.80%), giving it one seat in the assembly.
In the regional legislative elections, the representative of the Republic invites a political force to form a government based on the results (which have to be published), after the parties with parliamentary seats have been consulted.
This year, 34 inmates from Funchal Prison have applied for the necessary documentation to vote in the regional elections, according to a source at Santa Cruz City Hall, the municipality where the facility is located.
According to the electoral map of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), the mayor of this municipality, Filipe Sousa, has to go to the establishment between the 11th and 14th to collect the votes.
In 2019, only 13 detainees requested to exercise this civic right.
According to the accounts submitted by the various candidates and published on the website of the Entidade das Contas e Financiamentos Políticos (ECFP), the candidates expect to spend a total of 1,183,816.95 euros on the election campaign, which ends on the 22nd.
Chega was the last to submit its accounts – three days after the deadline (August 14) – pointing to expenses of around 50 thousand euros.
The MPT was the only party to indicate that it will not spend any money on the campaign, as it did in the elections four years ago, while the PS was the one that presented the largest budget, with a spending forecast of 400 thousand euros.
Voter registration has been suspended since July 25 this year and will resume on September 25.
Based on the Voter Registration Atlas of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on December 31, 2022, a total of 254,148 voters were registered in the Autonomous Region of Madeira: 248,827 on the island of Madeira and 5,321 on the island of Porto Santo.
Lusa asked this week for confirmation of the number of voters and the government indicated that the electoral roll for this election will be generated as of today.
