"The Autonomous Region of Madeira is the poorest region of the country, which is completely inconceivable in a region that had six billion euros of GDP in 2023. It is the fourth richest region of the country and the one that is growing the most, and yet a considerable number of people from Madeira and Porto Santo are poor", said the number two on the list headed by Bloco de Esquerda's Roberto Almada.

Today, the Bloco de Esquerda (BE) candidacy for the regional legislative elections of 26 May is campaigning in the north of the island, where it has been contacting the local population to understand their main problems.

Speaking to Lusa news agency, the BE coordinator also wanted to highlight the poverty that exists in the autonomous region, arguing that it is necessary to "analyse the causes" and find out "where the thousands and millions of euros of social support are going, because they are not working, they are not lifting people out of poverty".

"And what we have seen with these right-wing policies, in these almost 50 years [of governance] by the PSD, is that poverty in Madeira remains and with frightening numbers", reinforced Dina Letra.

In addition to better salaries and pensions equivalent to the minimum wage, the Bloco de Esquerda proposes increasing the island subsidy (which is paid annually to workers in the regional public administration) to 5% of the salary and that it also covers employees in the private sector.

According to BE, this means that the island subsidy will almost double what is currently paid, which varies according to the salaries of employees.

Dina Letra was unable to specify the cost of this measure, but considered that "it will be easy for companies to afford" and "for the Regional Government, which has had extraordinary tax revenue with the mass tourism" and with the increase in the cost of living.

"It is affordable, both for the regional budget and for company budgets. If companies are making more profit, it is fair that they pay their employees better", she said.

According to data from the report "Portugal, Balanço Social 2023", which is being presented publicly today and which includes some preliminary data from the Income and Living Conditions Survey (ICOR) of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) for 2023, the poverty risk rate increased by 0.6 percentage points between 2022 and 2023, rising from 16.4% to 17%.

According to the document, the "poverty rate is almost 10 percentage points above the national average in Madeira, the region with the highest poverty rate in Portugal, and nine percentage points above the national average in the Azores".

The Madeira legislative elections will take 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 parliament of Madeira, 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 influence with the social democrats) and BE each obtained one mandate.

Read Also: PS says it is necessary to "rescue" the people of Madeira from the "tentacular" PSD (Portuguese version)