"Madeira is the poorest region in the country, and here, too, the Socialists cannot be blamed. The responsibility lies with the PSD. The responsibility lies with Miguel Albuquerque, and he knows it. He knows that the responsibility for Madeira being the poorest region in the country is his. He knows it so well that he tries to normalize it," said Pedro Nuno Santos at a rally for the PS/Madeira's regional election candidacy, led by Paulo Cafôfo, in Funchal, on May 26.

The rally was held in the square next to the Madeira Legislative Assembly, with about two hundred supporters and party members waving white and red flags of the PS and the Autonomous Region of Madeira, as well as the remains of the gerberas distributed in this morning's campaign action.

According to the "Portugal, Social Balance 2023" report, presented this week, the risk of poverty in the country rose to 17% last year, which meant that 60,000 more people were at risk of becoming poor, a reality that mainly affected women.

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

From the pulpit, the PS Secretary-General made a 13-minute speech in support of Cafôfo, highlighting his "governmental experience" and "proven track record" as Mayor of Funchal and Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities: "Everyone knows who Paulo Cafôfo is, anywhere in the world."

Pedro Nuno Santos criticized the PSD/Madeira, in particular the management of Albuquerque (who resigned and is once again the head of the list), and, as this morning, considered that the absence of the PSD's national leader, Luís Montenegro, in the electoral campaign is due to "being ashamed" to appear alongside the President of the Regional Government (who has resigned and is a defendant in a process investigating suspicions of corruption).

"The PSD's national leader is not here, not because his candidate in Madeira does not need or no longer needs a crutch, but because he is ashamed to appear alongside him. He does not want to. And not just now. It was like this in the legislative elections, it was like this at the PSD/Madeira congress, and now in the Madeira campaign. [...] National political leaders have pride, they want to be here, there is one who is not, because he does not believe in his candidate," he stressed.

"It is 48 years of power, and they are not ending those 48 years with pride. They are not ending well. Not even in Lisbon are they proud of the work that the PSD/Madeira has done in these 48 years," he added.

According to the leader, "it is time" to change the way Madeira is governed and lived in, but also to guarantee political, economic and social stability for the region: "What is attached to the PSD of Madeira, what is attached to Miguel Albuquerque today is incompetence and instability."

In addition to blaming the PSD for poverty, Pedro Nuno Santos highlighted the "inability" to solve the problems in housing and health, stating that "Madeira has lost 17,000 inhabitants in almost a decade, the overwhelming majority of them young people", and considering that the region's economic development model is "exhausted" and "must be much more than tourism and real estate".

Fourteen candidacies are competing 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.

In 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, IL, PAN (which signed an agreement on parliamentary incidence with the Social Democrats) and the BE each obtained a mandate.

Read Also: "He does not believe in the candidate". PS accuses PSD of being ashamed of Albuquerque (Portuguese version)