"Do you know who is the only person capable of changing Madeira?" was the opening question of the conversation between the IL political caravan and the population of Câmara de Lobos, a fishing town on the south coast of Madeira island.

The answer was reflected in a mirror turned towards the faces of the Câmara-Lobenses, conveying the message that they can "make a difference" in the regional elections on May 26.

After a clean-up action on Praia de Vigário, collecting garbage among the volcanic rocks, the head of the IL list for the Madeira regional elections, Nuno Morna, walked about 500 meters to the center of Câmara de Lobos, contacting the population, including fishermen near the bar area, who expressed agreement with a change in government in the region.

"Let liberalism pass in Madeira, people deserve to have a decent salary", was one of the phrases heard in the IL action, which on the fourth day of the campaign focused on presenting measures so that "housing becomes more accessible".

"We have a housing tax burden of over 40%", pointed out Nuno Morna, suggesting that Value Added Tax (VAT) should be deductible, Stamp Duty and Municipal Tax on Onerous Property Transfers (IMT) should be eliminated and Municipal Property Tax (IMI) should be restructured to be "more sensitive to people's possibilities".

The IL candidate also proposed that "the State itself in Madeira, which has buildings, which mainly has a lot of land, [should] provide that these lands be given to people in surface rights to build their homes".

According to the report "Portugal, Social Balance 2023", released today, Madeira is "the region with the highest poverty rate in Portugal", which for Nuno Morna is a reflection of the fact that "autonomy has failed to combat this type of situation", considering "a real absurdity" that there are about 30% of Madeirans at risk of poverty and about 12% in deep poverty.

In this sense, he stressed the need to correct the distribution of wealth", since the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing in the region, but "it does not reach the Madeirans".

The IL candidate also denounced the distribution of a manifesto appealing to vote for the PSD "within some secretariats and some services of the Regional Government", with employees being pressured to sign and, "whoever refuses to do so, there are heads of services who go around telling people that they will keep their name and that, later, they will see how it is".

Nuno Morna advised "whoever has been persecuted for this" to sign, because "it means absolutely nothing, except to create an even bigger navel in some people", and assured legal support to those who need it.

"Sign this and then, on the 26th, show what your real signature is, voting not for this, but for a full democracy and a completely different way of doing politics", he said, explaining that he will not report this situation to the National Elections Commission because he considers that "nothing ever happens".

The Madeira legislative elections are taking place with 14 candidacies competing for the 47 seats in the regional parliament, in a single electoral district: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU (PCP/PEV), Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.

In September 2023, the PSD/CDS coalition won without an absolute majority and elected 23 deputies. The PS won 11, the JPP five, the Chega four, while the CDU, the IL, the PAN (which signed a parliamentary incidence agreement with the Social Democrats) and the BE obtained one mandate each.

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