JPP says he is prepared to be a candidate for government in Madeira

“We have two brands: the JPP supervises, the JPP has the capacity to govern”, said the head of the list for early regional elections, Élvio Sousa, in an interview with the Lusa agency.

The party, which has its origins in a citizens’ movement created in the Madeiran municipality of Santa Cruz, is now preparing itself “to be a candidate for government”, he reinforced.

Élvio Duarte Martins de Sousa, former president of the Parish Council of Gaula, was elected deputy in the JPP’s debut in regional elections, on March 29, 2015, in a vote in which the party secured five seats in the hemicycle of the Autonomous Region of Madeira , with 10.34% of the vote (13,229 votes).

Born on April 19, 1973 (51 years old), the candidate, who is an archaeologist by profession and has a doctorate, is also the general secretary of the JPP and has never joined another party.

“The goals [para estas eleições] are two. First, to grow in voters and confidence, particularly in terms of the number of deputies, and the clear objective is to show that the JPP is a government party, that it has a Government Program, a reformist agenda for five fundamental areas: health and social cohesion , agriculture and environment, mobility and transport, housing, cost of living”, he explained.

According to Élvio Sousa, Madeirans want “a cleanse” of the social democratic management and “a cleansing of the executive”. The JPP, he said, has the “technical capacity to carry it out”, because it already governs in the municipality of Santa Cruz, and “knows what it is to govern”.

Speaking about possible understandings resulting from suffrage, he refused to stipulate scenarios, but assured that he would never make “agreements behind the backs of Madeirans”, or “embarrassing agreements that are not essential for the population’s quality of life”.

“We do not commit to agreements with either one or the other”, he stressed, adding that the JPP will “work to be the second most voted political force” in the archipelago.

In his opinion, the PSD – which has always presided over the archipelago’s executive – “is worn out and clinging to power”, and “has already asked Chega to marry him”.

“There are already more than enough claimants to the throne to eventually form a government,” he said.

The PS, he added, “is another party that has to rid itself of its vices”: “Neither one nor the other inspires confidence in us.”

Élvio Sousa guaranteed that the JPP “will not be an agent of instability if necessary”, especially because there are “several ways of making government viable without going to government”.

In his opinion, in the recent political crisis recorded in Madeira with the dismissal of the Madeiran executive (PSD/CDS-PP), “what the PSD, the CDS and the PAN did was to place party interests at the expense of the public interest and this has I’m sorry, but he deserves to be punished now on May 26th.”

If a scenario of understanding emerges on the table, he stressed, it is necessary to “speak internally”, consult the activists and the population, and the JPP “has all this thought out”.

Regarding priorities, the head of the list referred, in the health area, to the need for “more efficiency and dignified appreciation of all professionals, and the reduction of waiting lists”.

As for housing, he pointed out that it is essential to retain young couples to end the so-called “demographic winter”, arguing that the Regional Government must go beyond the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and allocate another 15% of the Budget to construction, with an increase in public parks, in partnership with municipalities.

The JPP insists, in the mobility and transport chapter, on the creation of the maritime line with a ferry, adding that the party will announce an opportunity to implement this demand “without spending taxpayer money”.

The reduction of public expenditure with a structural executive reform (with five secretariats), an external audit of the region’s accounts, the progressive reduction of taxes, support for the agricultural sector and the reduction in the cost of living are other measures recommended.

In the last legislative elections, held on September 24, 2023, the JPP achieved 14,933 votes (11.33%) and regained the deputy it had lost in 2019, returning to having a parliamentary group with five members.

*** Ana Basílio (text) and Homem de Gouveia (photo), from the Lusa agency ***

AMB // ROC

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