"Once the results of the election for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira are known, the representative of the Republic, considering the urgency of finding a Government solution that allows for the approval of a Government Program and a new Regional Budget as soon as possible, will start to hear from the parties with parliamentary representation", reads the note distributed by the São Lourenço Palace.

The consultation of the parties is a constitutional requirement (articles 231.º, nº 3) and of the Political-Administrative Statute of Madeira (article 57.º, n.º1).

The objective is to gather "the formal and political conditions" to "proceed with the appointment of the president of the XV Regional Government", it adds.

The judge counselor will hear from the five party forces in ascending order of representation, with a one-hour interval.

The round of meetings begins at 10:00 am, receiving the re-elected deputy of PAN - People-Animals-Nature, Mónica Feitas, followed by the representation of the Liberal Initiative (IL), which managed to keep the parliamentarian Nuno Morna.

At the end of the morning, he will meet with the CDS-PP, which elected two deputies, including the leader José Manuel Rodrigues, who has served as president of the Madeiran parliament since 2019.

In the afternoon, at 2:00 pm, it will be the turn of Chega, which maintained the parliamentary group composed of four deputies, followed by Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP), which increased its bench from five to nine representatives.

The representative's agenda includes the hearing of the PS, the second largest opposition party, which continues to occupy the same 11 seats in the hemicycle, led by Paulo Cafôfo, who on election night assumed that it was possible to constitute an alternative to the governance of the PSD.

The PSD, led by Miguel Albuquerque, who claimed victory by winning 19 deputies, but without an absolute majority, is the last party to meet with Ireneu Barreto.

After the hearings, the representative of the Republic will take the initiative to indicate the party force, which has been the most voted over the years, to form a government.

In these early elections, the Madeiran electorate removed the representations of the PCP and the BE from parliament.

The regional legislative elections on Sunday were contested by 14 candidacies, one being a coalition (PCP/PEV) and 13 other parties: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.

The early elections in Madeira took place eight months after the most recent regional elections, after the President of the Republic dissolved the Madeiran parliament, following the political crisis triggered in January, when the leader of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), Miguel Albuquerque, was constituted as an accused in a process in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.

Leia Também: Madeira. Candidato do MPT admite que teve "um mau resultado" (Portuguese version)