PS, JPP, CDS, CHEGA and PAN “likely to drop”
In the hurly burly of Portugal’s ‘mainland political crisis’, the crisis in Madeira has taken something of a back seat in terms of national attention. But it is due for major bend in the road on Sunday, when the archipelago goes back to the polls (also for the 3rd time in as many years), and appears set to vote its longstanding PSD regional government back, this time with an absolute majority.
As reports explain, the government led by ‘Marmite politician’ Miguel Albuquerque lost its absolute majority in 2023, and failed to win it back eight months later.
Twelve months and many ups and downs on, and a poll conducted by Intercampus for Jornal da Madeira suggests Albuquerque will be able to add “teflon” to his list of political attributes. None of the bad press seems to have stuck.
This will exasperate his opponent, Paul Cafôfô of PS Socialists, who has been visibly champing at the bit to gain power for months.
Indeed, the poll suggests the PS, JPP, CDS, PAN and CHEGA will all lose ground in these elections.
Put simply, the regional parliament has 47 MPs, and Intercampus sees PSD succeeding in electing 24 of them (38.4% of the votes); PS dropping from its current 11 to just 10 (21.32% of the votes); JPP (Madeira’s own Juntos Pela Povo) losing three MPs (going from nine to six); CHEGA going from 9.23% of the votes in 2024, to just 5.4% on Sunday, and losing one of its four MPs, and most of the other parties doing similarly. A bonus for PCP commmunists is that the poll sees them “possibly” returning to the regional parliament.
Would a PSD ‘victory’ mean anything positive for the mainland’s PSD party which is not without blame itself for the calling of early elections? That is for commentators to decide, once results start trickling through on Sunday evening.
