"We don't close the door, as others do, to A, B or C. It's obvious that we have some red lines, but we don't close either to the right or to the left [...]. Whoever presents the best project for the people of Madeira and for Madeira - that will be the one that will have the support of the Partido da Terra", said Pedro Soares Pimenta, in a campaign action in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. The leader made "a lightning trip" to Madeira to support the party's top candidate for the regional elections of May 26, Válter Rodrigues, having also been accompanied by the candidate n.º 1 of the MPT for the European elections of June 09, Manuel Oliveira Carreira. In statements to the Lusa agency, the national leader of the MPT highlighted as a banner the "defense of the population and the planet", stating that his party "has always defended that there should be no dichotomy between the right and the left". "We have the conviction and we believe that we will elect at least one deputy", said Pedro Soares Pimenta, stressing that it would be a return to the regional parliament. Questioned about the possible change in the government of the archipelago, led for 48 years by the PSD, the president of the MPT considered that there will be "no" change: "I think that the PSD will win the elections again. It may not be by the margin that it is used to winning, but it will win the elections." Despite this preview, the representative stressed that he has a good relationship with the PSD and with the PS, and pointed out that the socialist candidate Paulo Cafôfo had "an unfortunate statement" when he said that "voting for small parties is the same as voting for the PSD". "Perhaps it is the small ones who are the pebble in the shoe that can show or present projects that the system parties do not usually do, because, after all, it is more of the same", he said. Pedro Soares Pimenta said that he will support whoever wins the elections "according to the project that they present for the development of Madeira and the quality of life of the people of Madeira". "If a party comes to us and presents us with a project that is not in line with our matrix, it is obvious that we will not accept it. [...] We are available to negotiate and to talk to whoever is in front, we are completely available for that, whoever it may be", he reinforced, highlighting the need for consensus "so that there is, finally, legislative peace in Madeira". The early elections take place eight months after the most recent regional elections, 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. Regarding Albuquerque's re-candidacy for the presidency of the executive, the MPT understands that there is "much that should be clarified and that has not been clarified", questioning the conditions of the PSD's top candidate to govern when he is facing a legal process, even though the presumption of innocence remains. "If I were Pedro Soares Pimenta, I know what I would do, I would not run. I would first clean up everything that needed to be cleaned up, prove my innocence beyond a reasonable doubt, and then I could move on to other actions. Now, until then, I wouldn't do it", he revealed. Fourteen candidacies are competing for the 47 seats in the regional parliament: 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, with 23 deputies. The PS won 11, the JPP five, the Chega four, while the CDU, IL, PAN (which signed a parliamentary incidence agreement with the Social Democrats) and BE each obtained one mandate. The MPT had 0.53%. Read Also: JPP insists on fighting "corruption and cronyism" in Madeira (Portuguese version)