Marcelo dissolves Madeira’s Parliament and sets elections for May 26th – Politics

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, decided this Wednesday to dissolve the Madeira parliament and call early elections for May 26, a decision announced after the State Council and party hearings.

According to a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic after the Council of State that lasted around two hours, this consultative body “gave a favorable opinion, by a majority of voters, to the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira”.

“The President of the Republic thus decided to dissolve the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira and schedule the elections for May 26, 2024, having signed the respective decree, immediately endorsed by the acting Prime Minister”, it can also be read in the note.

The State Council meeting to discuss the political crisis in Madeira began shortly after 6pm and ended after 8pm, with the Prime Minister, António Costa, being absent and represented by the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva .

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, today elected president of the Assembly of the Republic after a turbulent electoral process that lasted around 24 hours, arrived late to the meeting because when it started he was still in parliament to announce the results of the election of the parliament.

Upon leaving the Council of State, the President of the Republic accompanied Aguiar-Branco to the spout room to say goodbye to the newly elected, but did not make any statement to journalists.

The president of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, also arrived a little late and conductor Joana Carneiro, who replaced António Damásio as State counselor, will not be present at today’s meeting, as she is abroad for a concert .

In addition to listening to the Council of State, the President of the Republic also heard, since early this morning, the parties represented in the Madeiran parliament — BE, PAN, IL, PCP, CDS-PP, Chega, Juntos pelo Povo, PS and PSD.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa regained the power to dissolve the Legislative Assembly of Madeira earlier this week, after six months had passed since the regional elections on September 24, which the PSD/CDS-PP coalition won without an absolute majority.

After the hearing with the head of state, the resigning president of the Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque (PSD), reiterated that there was no justification for early elections in the region, considering that there is a “framework of parliamentary stability” that allows the continuation of the executive.

The entire opposition – PS, JPP, Chega, PCP, IL and BE – returned this Wednesday to defending the need for early elections and the regional leader of the socialists, Paulo Cafôfo, revealed that the President intended to dissolve the assembly and schedule legislative elections for May 26th.

The executive parties, currently in management, PSD and CDS-PP, considered that there was parliamentary stability to allow the continuation of the Regional Government, with the parliamentary support of the PAN, with which the Social Democrats signed an understanding after the September elections past, to guarantee an absolute majority.

The Regional Government of Madeira has been in management since the beginning of February, after the president of the executive, the social democrat Miguel Albuquerque, asked to resign from his position after being accused as part of a process in which suspicions of corruption in the archipelago.