"Obviously we expect to [elect] a deputy, because the population believes in this change, believes that something new is needed in that Assembly, something that fights for them, not that stays with promises, with lupines, deputies who sell themselves for lupines," he said.

Valter Rodrigues was speaking to journalists during a campaign initiative of the Movimento Partido da Terra (MPT) candidacy at the Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital, in Funchal, where he defended the reinforcement of government support for the health sector.

"With me in the Regional Assembly we will, first thing, ensure that this hospital management will be done with quality, we will give more resources to doctors, nurses and the users themselves so that we can have quality public health," he said.

The MPT's top candidate, who is 43 years old and is an entrepreneur in the construction sector, guarantees that the party knows the health problems in the region and promised to make a "strict inspection" to improve the system if he is elected deputy next Sunday.

Valter Rodrigues said, on the other hand, that the Movimento Partido da Terra campaign is going "very well", highlighting the contacts with "some smaller communities", namely of a religious nature.

"They say that a change is needed, someone who fights for them is needed, and we are going to make that difference and we are going to look specifically at the drug addiction of young people, who need to be taken off the streets, but with efficient plans," he stressed.

In the regional elections of September 24, 2023, the Movimento Partido da Terra was the second force with the fewest votes, right after the ADN, obtaining 696 votes (0.53%), in a universe of 135,446 voters.

Sunday's legislative elections in Madeira 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 take 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 a 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, the Chega four, while the CDU, the IL, the PAN (which signed an agreement on parliamentary incidence with the social democrats) and the BE each obtained one mandate.

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