PAN spokeswoman Inês de Sousa Real reaffirmed today that the party is committed to “regaining” the trust of Madeirans in order to regain representation and “seat” their causes in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.
“We will do everything we can to […] regain the trust of the Madeirans,” said Inês de Sousa Real, stressing that the PAN wants to “seat the animal, environmental and people’s causes” in the island’s parliament after the regional elections on September 24.
The PAN spokeswoman was speaking to journalists as part of an election campaign that took place today at the Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres, in the municipality of Calheta, where she accompanied the head of the list, Mónica Freitas.
Inês de Sousa Real stressed the need to create “new measures and new policies for the region”, arguing that it is necessary to “break with what has been a cycle of governance in which there is no change”.
“And that’s never healthy for democracy,” he said.
“We know that there will probably be a continuity government here, but we really need to give this parliament more of a voice and make it more plural, precisely so that there can be a new vision, a less conservative vision,” he stressed.
For the PAN spokeswoman, the Regional Government of Madeira, a PSD/CDS-PP coalition led by social democrat Miguel Albuquerque, who is running again in the elections on the 24th, has not had “a medium and long-term vision of preserving the unique value that is the Autonomous Region of Madeira”.
“The PAN wants to invest heavily in what is not only nature tourism, but also in the potential that Madeira has to retain talent, through, for example, the creation of a professional institute and a university specializing in the ocean, in new technologies and, in fact, the government has not invested in this type of measure,” he said.
Inês de Sousa Real also pointed out that Madeira “has very particular challenges”, namely in terms of insularity, climate change and housing.
The PAN spokeswoman also stressed that it is “fundamental to also have support for mobility”, so that “employability itself can be promoted”.
“These are all concerns that the PAN has brought to the political agenda, not only from an environmental and animal protection point of view, but also from the point of view of social rights,” he said.
The party ran for the first time in Madeira’s legislative elections in 2011, winning a mandate, but in the following elections it failed to elect any MPs.
Madeira’s legislative elections take place on September 24, with 13 candidates vying for the 47 seats in the regional parliament, in a single constituency.
PTP, JPP, BE, PS, Chega, RIR, MPT, ADN, PSD/CDS-PP (Somos Madeira coalition), PAN, Livre, CDU (PCP/PEV) and IL are the political forces standing for election.
In the previous regional elections in 2019, the Social Democrats elected 21 deputies, losing for the first time the absolute majority they had held since 1976, and formed a coalition government with the CDS-PP (three deputies). The PS won 19 seats, the JPP three and the CDU one.
