Three parties say they will vote against government’s programme
Madeira’s new PSD/CDS-PP minority government – led by the man whose potential involvement in a corruption investigation prompted snap elections in the first place – appears to be on incredibly thin ice.
With the government’s programme due to be ‘presented’ on Thursday, three leading parties (PS Socialists, CHEGA and now the JPP, standing for Juntos Pelo Povo/ Together for the People) have already said they will be voting against it.
As Lusa explains, “if the three parties, which together make up 24 MPs in the regional parliament (out of a total of 47), vote against (…), the government programme will be rejected, resulting in the downfall of the executive presided over by social democrat Miguel Albuquerque”.
Miguel Albuquerque has been determinedly hanging on to power since the police ‘raid’ on the island archipelago earlier this year, which resulted in a number of arrests. He himself was not arrested, albeit he remains an ‘arguido’ (official suspect), suspected of eight crimes, including active and passive corruption, abuse of power and influence trafficking.
It could be that Albuquerque is ‘playing a long game’: Lusa explains that even if the government falls, it has to remain in place until early 2025 (a good six months away)
PAN has previously expressed its willingness to vote in favour of both the programme and the regional’s government’s ensuring budget, saying it does not want to be an “element of instability”.
IL (Iniciativa Liberal) has also suggested it could evaluate the regional government’s management, “programme by programme, budget by budget, measure by measure”.
But even if the PAN and IL vote in favour on Thursday, with PSD/ CDS-PP members, the programme will not have enough votes to be approved.
In the last ‘early elections’ (only last month), the PSD elected 19 MPs – five mandates short of an absolute majority (for which 24 are needed) – PS clinched 11, JPP nine, CHEGA four and the CDS-PP two. IL and PAN only have one MP each.
Post-elections, the PSD signed a parliamentary agreement with CDS-PP, but still fell short of an absolute majority. Together, the two parties hold only 21 seats.
Also post-elections, the regional PS and the JPP formed a pact to try to prevent the PSD led by Albuquerque from returning to power at all. This was thwarted by the representative of the Republic, Ireneu Barreto, and thus the archipelago’s agony (similar to the political struggle going on on the national scene) persists.
Source material: LUSA
