"I want to tell you the following: trust us. We are preparing scenarios for stability. Be careful with the noise that will emerge from one side and the other. Continue to trust our word, our capacity for governance, our solidity. This is the time to build stability", said Élvio Sousa, in a video shared on the JPP's Facebook page.

The JPP's general secretary began by addressing the people of Madeira and Porto Santo, to whom he dedicated his "first words" after the regional elections, in which the party increased its parliamentary representation from five to nine deputies, leaving "a heartfelt thank you, especially for the trust and recognition that they have placed in us".

Hours earlier, also on Facebook, Élvio Sousa had shared a proverb, alluding to what he has said about not supporting the PSD, the party that received the most votes in Sunday's elections and is led in the region by Miguel Albuquerque: "It is better to eat a crust of bread in peace than to participate in a banquet with anxiety".

On Sunday night, after the election results were announced, which the PSD won without an absolute majority, Élvio Sousa postponed conversations and understandings with other parties until today.

Questioned several times about understandings, the JPP leader only guaranteed that "Miguel Albuquerque and the PSD are out of the equation".

Also on Sunday night, Élvio Sousa considered that the party is an "agent of stability" and guaranteed that Madeira will not become ungovernable due to its responsibility, emphasising, however, that he has not yet heard "any party say that they agreed with the reformist agenda" of Juntos pelo Povo.

"Today [Sunday] we affirmed the JPP as the third regional political force, a regionalist party, a party of the people, of farmers, of young people, of the middle class, the party truly of Madeira and Porto Santo", he praised.

According to the provisional results made available by the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration, the PSD obtained 36.13% of the votes and 19 seats in the regional parliament, which consists of a total of 47 deputies, with 24 seats being necessary to have an absolute majority.

In second place, the PS won 11 seats, followed by the JPP with nine, Chega with four, the CDS-PP with two, and the IL and PAN with one deputy each. The BE and CDU left the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, in relation to the previous composition.

Eight months ago, in the previous regional elections, the PSD and CDS-PP, who ran in a coalition, elected 23 deputies, so the social democrats signed an agreement of parliamentary incidence with the sole PAN deputy.

Fourteen candidacies competed on Sunday 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.

Sunday's early elections took place eight months after the most recent regional legislative elections, after the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, 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 a defendant in a process in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.

Read Also: JPP is the big surprise of the elections in Madeira. What party is this? (Portuguese version)