"What happened over the years was that a fundamental right, such as housing, was left in the hands of the private sector, and the private sector is not thinking about the social good, the private sector is thinking about its profit", said the head of the list of the Portuguese Labour Party (PTP), Raquel Coelho.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, as part of a campaign action at the public company Investimentos Habitacionais da Madeira, in Funchal, Raquel Coelho said she was pleased that there is a market for houses that cost more than one million euros, but stressed that housing afflicts a large part of the residents due to the "highly inflated" market.

"Now, what needs to be solved is the problem of people who live and work in Madeira and who live on the salaries that are practiced in Portugal, which are the lowest salaries in Europe", she warned.

Raquel Coelho, who is 35 years old and is an entrepreneur in the local accommodation sector, said there is "a lot of hypocrisy" on the part of the regional executive around this problem, stressing that, in a way, "the Government tries to blame [the private sector] when the ultimate responsibility for the right to housing should be guaranteed by the State and the region".

"We cannot simply blame private initiative for the lack of housing, be it landlords or builders, because, in fact, private initiative is not intended for social welfare and to guarantee people's rights. Private initiative, as the capitalist system provides, is intended to make a profit", she warned.

The PTP candidate said that there are no "magic wands" to solve the problem, but defended the "prioritization of resources", channeling funds from other sectors to the construction of social housing and at controlled costs and to programs that guarantee young people access to subsidized credit.

"What I think is that there is a lot of fat in the region that can be eliminated, there are many lobbies that are parasitizing our resources, and we need a determined Government, we need courageous people in the Legislative Assembly to face these lobbies, cut with these lobbies, [people] with the strength and power necessary to be able to end these lobbies, free up resources and return them to the people", she said.

As an example, Raquel Coelho defended the "rescue" of public-private road partnerships and the launch of an international public tender for the exploration of the port sector with a guarantee of financial compensation for the region.

The PTP, a party that was represented in the Legislative Assembly between 2011 and 2019, obtained 1,369 votes (1.04%), out of a universe of 135,446 voters, in the regional elections of September 24, 2023.

Sunday's legislative elections in Madeira will be held 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 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, 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.

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