"This public administration has been used as a political toy because these people are blackmailed, many are persecuted, many are manipulated, as if they were PSD employees. They are not", said Paulo Cafôfo, in statements to journalists, in front of the building of the Regional Government of Madeira (PSD/CDS-PP).

The socialist added that civil servants should not be treated this way, assuring that, with him at the head of the Madeiran executive, these situations will not happen.

"I do not want to know, nor do I even care, what the affiliation of a civil servant is. He has the right to be a member of any party, what interests me is that he is competent and that he can perform his duties well", he reinforced.

Accompanied by a delegation of dozens of people, who went to the 'door' of the Regional Government of Madeira, led by the PSD for 48 years, the PS candidate for the elections of the 26th underlined that the party intends to value careers, with a faster progression and the allocation of the island subsidy in the amount of 5% to all employees of the regional administration.

Questioned about the fact that the civil service strike scheduled for Friday does not cover workers in the autonomous region, with the regional delegation of the union justifying that the Madeiran Government is under management, Paulo Cafôfo said that Madeira has "been imprisoned and, inclusive, this can be seen in the unions".

"The fact that the Regional Government is under management does not mean that the union is under management. Quite the contrary, the fight never ends", he stressed, emphasizing that any union has the duty to fight for the rights of its members.

Paulo Cafôfo was also questioned about a manifesto appealing for a PSD vote, distributed in some services of the regional public administration, and insisted that "people deserve respect" and that it is "shameful for someone who uses their superior hierarchical position for partisan purposes".

"We live in a democracy, we have had a democracy for 50 years, but this is a harsh democracy here in the region, because it is a democracy where freedom is conditioned", he also said, reiterating that "a breath of fresh air" is needed, which "can only happen with the PS".

On Wednesday, in a campaign action by the Liberal Initiative, the head of the list, Nuno Morna, denounced the distribution of a manifesto appealing for a vote in the PSD "within some secretariats and some services of the Regional Government", with employees being pressured to sign.

"Those who refuse to do so, there are heads of departments who go around telling people that they will keep their name and that, later, they will see how it is", said Nuno Morna.

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 named defendant 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 on parliamentary incidence with the social democrats) and the BE obtained one mandate each

Leia Também: Madeira. BE quer abolição das propinas no ensino superior (Portuguese version)