"The PS has much more than red lines, it has a very red no-entry sign regarding Chega", he said, stressing that this stance differs from that of the leader and top candidate of the PSD, Miguel Albuquerque, who does not rule out the possibility of agreements with André Ventura's party.

Paulo Cafôfo was speaking to journalists during a visit to the Santana Health Centre, in the north of the island, as part of the electoral campaign for the early elections.

"I am certain that a vote for Chega, for example, is a vote for Miguel Albuquerque", he said, reacting to André Ventura's statements on Sunday that the party would not make any agreement with the Social Democrats or the PS in the region.

The top candidate of the Socialists, who is also the leader of the party's regional structure and a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic, stated that, unlike other forces, the PS is not for sale.

"I am talking about the CDS, I am talking about the PAN, but also about Chega or the Liberal Initiative, which, I have no doubt, will join the PSD the day after the elections", he stated, immediately reinforcing that "at the Republic level, André Ventura wants to ally with the PSD".

Paulo Cafôfo used the slogan of his candidacy -- "Let's turn the page" --, emphasising that this will only be possible with a PS victory.

"If people want a change, if they want to turn the page, this turning of the page can only be done with the PS, also because the dispersion of votes nowadays will be a sign of ungovernability and what we want is to have stability, and this stability can only be achieved with the PS", he said.

The candidate considered that the "epicentre of instability" in the region is Miguel Albuquerque, recalling that the political crisis that led to the scheduling of early elections "began in Albuquerque and in the PSD leadership".

Regarding the Santana Health Centre, Paulo Cafôfo accused the PSD/CDS-PP Regional Government, in office since February, of "opportunism and electoralism" by promoting the reopening of the emergency service at night in early May, which had not been operating for 12 years.

"This opening of the emergency services [at night] in Santana, but also in other municipalities such as Porto Moniz, Ribeira Brava and Câmara de Lobos, is a victory for the PS, because during all these years in which they were closed we always fought together with the populations for their reopening", he stated.

The Socialist candidate added that the Madeiran executive is using people to win votes.

"The objective of the PSD Government has never been to help people, but to use people, because it was a useless waste of money [to keep the emergency night service open], but now, on the eve of the elections, it is no longer. Perhaps they thought it would be a useless waste of votes", he said.

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

The early elections are taking place eight months after the most recent regional legislative 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 made an arguido in a process in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.

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

Read Also: Madeira. Cafôfo considers that these are the "most challenging" elections (Portuguese version)