"What we have to do is reform regional politics," Miguel Castro told Lusa news agency, as part of a campaign action. In contact with the population, he reported, he heard complaints that the Regional Government "boasts that its coffers are full, but families are increasingly impoverished".

For the regional deputy, "this wealth, really due to the collection of taxes on tourism, which is quite strong", should be redistributed so that Madeira has "a more prosperous and more financially autonomous population".

In Ribeira Brava, where the list had a campaign tent today, in the center, the most formulated request was, according to Miguel Castro, "a reform of the political system, a change and, obviously, greater attention to the higher areas" of the municipality.

"They also ask us that, once and for all, those who govern stop making promises and that there be the much-desired restructuring of the town center," he said, stressing that the territory "was once a point of reference and a stop between the south and the north of the island" of Madeira and should "return to having the same dynamism".

In his view, "the works that were carried out at the end of the 90s caused many people who passed by, who came from Funchal and were heading north, to move away".

In nearby locations, Chega wants to give voice to requests for attention "in terms of roads, basic sanitation and support for families".

The party's "first priority" is "precisely the one that causes these social imbalances", that is, "the fight against corruption".

For Miguel Castro, "this type of governance that has been happening in Madeira means that a very small percentage of people, linked to governments and local power, are getting richer and richer and the general population is getting poorer and poorer".

This inequality, he added, "indicates that there is corruption in political power", a problem that Chega wants to combat by making "all political exercise more transparent".

The party is running with its regional leader in the regional elections of May 26, in which 14 other candidacies (ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU - PCP/PEV, Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP) dispute the 47 seats in the regional parliament, in a single electoral district.

In 2023, on its second attempt, the party reached the regional parliament, with four deputies, and now claims to want to continue the work that was interrupted.

The early elections take place eight months after the most recent regional 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 a defendant in a process in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.

Last year, the PSD/CDS coalition won without an absolute majority and elected 23 deputies. The PS won 11 and the JPP five, while the CDU, the IL, the PAN (which signed an agreement on parliamentary incidence with the Social Democrats) and the BE each obtained a mandate.

Read Also: PTP destaca o seu histórico na luta contra a corrupção na Madeira (Portuguese version)