Party that supports the Regional Government in the Assembly makes it known that it may accept another from the PSD to lead the executive.
A real bomb is what the PAN in Madeira makes known through a statement sent to the media at the end of this Thursday and which arises following the political crisis opened by the mega judicial operation underway in Madeira and which affects the two main figures of the PSD-M.
The party that has a parliamentary influence agreement with the PSD, thus making the Regional Government viable, makes it known that either Miguel Albuquerque resigns or breaks with the agreement signed after the 2024 regional elections and which allowed the PSD to form an executive with absolute majority, in coalition with the CDS, in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.
In the statement, the PAN makes it known that it is willing to facilitate a new government of the current coalition, but without Miguel Albuquerque as president. That is, the majority would have to find a new figure to lead the regional executive. ” We informed the president of PSD-Madeira, Dr. Miguel Albuquerque, that PAN Madeira is available to continue to facilitate the parliamentary influence agreement with PSD-Madeira, if a new holder is appointed, and accepted, for the position of president of the Regional Government of Madeira and the conditions for government stability in the Region are met and for the continued fulfillment of the agreement signed between PAN Madeira and PSD-Madeira”, the party makes clear in the statement.
If Albuquerque does not waver and if the agreement between the two parties is broken, the PSD and CDS will have 23 deputies in parliament, losing their absolute majority. The opposition then has 24 parliamentarians, being able to block the government’s action and remove it from power, for example by passing a motion of censure. Then the scenario would be early elections. However, the ALM can only be dissolved from March, the month in which six months have passed since the date on which it was elected.
PAN Madeira’s position comes 24 hours after deputy Mónica Freitas assured that she maintained confidence in the agreement signed with the PSD, even after learning that the party president had been named a defendant following the ongoing investigation, under suspicion of corruption , economic participation in business, malfeasance, among others.
This afternoon, in Câmara de Lobos, Miguel Albuquerque once again emphasized that he is not resigning from his position, despite admitting that he may request the waiver of the immunity to which he is entitled, namely that which comes from his status as a member of the Council of State.
Calls for the President of the Government to resign have increased in recent hours. The PS-M, through its leader, Paulo Cafôfo, did so this morning, at the party’s second press conference in the last 24 hours. The Liberal Initiative, too, as well as the Bloco de Esquerda, the PCP and Chega. Only the JPP did not demand Miguel Albuquerque’s departure, despite saying that he must lift his parliamentary immunity.
Here we see that it will be impossible for the largest party in Madeira to find a new parliamentary partner. The PAN’s extreme position comes after an internal current within the party publicly criticized the actions of ‘Pessoas Animais e Natureza’ in relation to this case.
They accuse Inês Sousa Real of “inconsistency” for asking Costa to resign and defending her opposite in relation to Albuquerque.