"These results show that a change of Government in the Autonomous Region of Madeira is possible", said the PS's top candidate in the early regional elections.

The PSD was the most voted party, electing 19 deputies, and the PS the second most voted, having maintained the 11 parliamentarians it had in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.

"The PS and the JPP - which increased its parliamentary group from five to nine - together elect more deputies than the PSD", he added.

For Paulo Cafôfo, "the PSD had its worst result ever in these elections", while the PS "has the same number of deputies as in the last regional elections, but with a greater number of votes".

"For the first time, we have the possibility of building, through a party agreement, a new government for the Autonomous Region of Madeira without the PSD", he stressed.

The Madeiran socialist leader pointed out that the objective is to "build a new government with stability and a government of stability".

In this sense, he announced that he will "now start contacts with all the parliamentary forces, with all the elected parties that have parliamentary representation in the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira".

But, he added, the PS has its "red lines" and, being consistent with what it has always said, the PSD and Chega are excluded from this dialogue.

"Therefore, I want to appeal to the other parties for their sense of responsibility and their willingness to do more and better for our land", he reinforced.

Paulo Cafôfo argued that "the PSD is not in a position to form a stable government" and that this was evident in the legislature that has now ended and in the relationship it maintained with its partners.

"What has been demonstrated is that it is an unstable party and that it does not guarantee a stable solution for the region", he stressed.

For the candidate, "the Madeirans do not want the history that led to these early elections to be repeated".

"The Madeirans want history to be made", he stressed, emphasizing that the second most voted party will dialogue with other elected political forces, "excepting the PSD and Chega so that history can be made".

"But above all, that it can give another look, another turn", he said, recalling the campaign's motto: "Let's turn the page".

Paulo Cafôfo also recalled that he has in his political history the achievement of making a coalition that won the Funchal City Council, due to his conciliatory stance.

The PSD won today the early regional legislative elections in Madeira, failing by five deputies to obtain an absolute majority, according to provisional official data.

According to information provided by the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration, the social democrats obtained 36.13% of the votes and 19 seats in the regional parliament, made up of a total of 47 deputies.

The PS followed with 11 elected members, the JPP with nine, Chega with four, the CDS-PP with two and the IL and the PAN, with one deputy each.

The BE and the CDU leave the Legislative Assembly, in relation to the previous composition.

Fourteen candidacies contested the 47 seats of the regional parliament, in a single constituency: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU (PCP/PEV), Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.

The early elections took 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 constituted as a defendant in a process in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.

[News updated at 23:28]

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