"There is no need for coalitions or parliamentary majority agreements for parties to govern. Miguel Albuquerque represents the party with the most votes, so he has the legitimacy to govern on his own. However, he cannot govern in coalition or even with the parliamentary support of Chega", said Miguel Castro.

The Chega's lead candidate and regional leader spoke at a hotel in Funchal, where the party settled in to follow the results of the Madeira legislative elections tonight, with about two dozen supporters and members, celebrating the conquest of four mandates, the same number it achieved in September 2023.

In reaction to the PSD's victory in the early regional legislative elections in Madeira, failing by five deputies to achieve an absolute majority, the Chega regional leader said that "Miguel Albuquerque will have to have the courage to govern with a minority government, but if he presents the best proposals for the people of Madeira and Porto Santo, Chega will certainly approve them".

"If other parties or political forces present these proposals, we will also approve them", he pointed out.

Despite refusing any type of agreement for the PSD to govern, Miguel Castro defended that Chega "is the party that will have the most responsibility in the Madeira regional parliament", highlighting the growth in the number of votes compared to the previous elections eight months ago, from 12,028 to 12,541 votes, and in the percentage, from 8.88% to 9.23%.

"It only does not grow in the number of mandates, precisely because of the abstention", he pointed out, greeting the JPP as the "great winner" of these elections and the PSD as the party with the most votes.

According to provisional official data, the PSD obtained 36.13% of the votes and 19 seats in the regional parliament, made up of a total of 47 deputies, with 24 seats being necessary for an absolute majority.

In second place, the PS won 11 seats, followed by 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.

"There will be a parliamentary arithmetic in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira that will give a majority to the right, in which two far-left parties will disappear", indicated the Chega lead candidate.

Miguel Castro stressed that "there will only be a government in Madeira on the right with the participation of Chega", but stressed that the party's conditions for supporting a PSD government are an audit of the region's public accounts and the removal of Miguel Albuquerque.

"Without these conditions, there will be no government or Chega will not support the party that received the most votes, which was the PSD", he reiterated.

The Chega leader in Madeira also said that the commitment to combat corruption is "inalienable and non-negotiable".

"We will not negotiate with a government or with a party that has someone in charge who is indicted and constituted as a defendant in cases of corruption by the power of political exercise", he said.

"There will certainly be other opportunities and other possibilities in parliament, but never a direct government without the participation of Chega. We know that the JPP had an excellent result, it may join the PSD, but that will be the responsibility of the JPP and not of Chega", he added.

Referring possible agreements to within parliament, Miguel Castro reinforced that Chega can "approve proposals from the right or the left as long as they are in the best interest of the people of Madeira and Porto Santo", including the region's budget.

"We want political stability, now it is up to the other parties that are also involved in Madeira politics to also assume this seriousness and this responsibility", he said.

Fourteen candidacies competed on Sunday for the 47 seats in the regional parliament, in a single electoral district: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU (PCP/PEV), Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.

Sunday's early elections took place eight months after the most recent regional legislative elections, after the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, dissolved the Madeira 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 00:15]

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