"I was unpleasantly surprised by the party president's intervention, when it was necessary and expected that he would appeal for unity, create conditions for unity, after all he made a speech in this part as a faction leader and not as a party president", said Manuel António Correia.

The social democrat was speaking to journalists after Miguel Albuquerque's speech at the opening of the 19th regional congress of PSD/Madeira, which is taking place this weekend in Funchal.

In his speech, Miguel Albuquerque considered it important to "end the divisions" and bet on the unity of the party, indicating to the militants who supported the defeated candidacy that "it is not worth keeping mental reservations and being resentful".

"I came here very excited, in an attempt to help find conditions for the PSD to have a clear victory on May 26 and have the conditions to form a government in the region", said Manuel António.

He criticized the "several clear and obvious references" to his supporters, considering that they were "inappropriate and incorrect" in relation to half of the party members who supported his candidacy in the last internal elections, "disuniting" the insular social democrats.

"Instead of uniting and practicing unity, the party president is trying to disunite and practice disunity", he reinforced.

The social democrat argued that it is not the supporters of his candidacy "the PSD's problem", arguing that it is "necessary for the party president to present himself as the president of the union, who appeals to the participation of all and creates conditions for everyone to participate".

"Dr. Miguel Albuquerque made the intervention, and with the references he made, disunited the party and assumes responsibility for this circumstance", with the May 26 elections on the near horizon, he stressed.

Manuel António indicated that he is "mature enough and has enough sense of responsibility" not to change his position in relation to the party.

"Apparently I am the one who is acting as the president of the PSD and not the elected president (...) who acts as the head of a faction", he said.

Manuel António concluded that Miguel Albuquerque is the president who "instead of uniting is trying to disunite and practice disunity".

Miguel Albuquerque, who defeated the former secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources Manuel António in the internal elections on March 21, for the second time, obtaining 2,243 votes against 1,856 from his opponent's list, in a universe of 4,388 militants eligible to vote.

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