The Socialist Party (PS) of Madeira and Together for the People (JPP) announced on Monday that they had reached an understanding in order to achieve a "stable and responsible government" in the region.

"Following the result of the elections for the legislative assembly of Madeira, and with the aim of promoting a stable but also responsible government solution, the PS and JPP have reached a joint agreement," announced the leader of the PS/Madeira, Paulo Cafôfo, in statements to journalists.

The two parties, which "had more votes and more elected members of parliament" than the Social Democratic Party (PSD), decided to "formalize a declaration of principles to start a dialogue with the other parties with parliamentary representation, with the exception of the PSD and Chega", in order to achieve "more robust parliamentary support".

The groups also intend to "not make any government solution presented by the PSD viable", as well as "present a joint government solution to the representative of the Republic that allows for the appointment of a regional government presented" by the PS and JPP.

"The understanding that the PS and JPP establish today foresees the responsibility of presenting a parliamentary solution that forms a new regional government with a program that responds to the problems, the aspirations and the needs of the people of Madeira and Porto Santo," he said.

Cafôfo also pointed out that "48 years of uninterrupted power by the PSD make it an exhausted party without answers", while reinforcing that the social democrats "had their worst result ever and are unable to form a majority". He therefore defended that "party alternation" is necessary to achieve a "healthy democracy".

"We are facing the opportunity to see another solution govern Madeira, a responsible solution that puts the interests of the people of Madeira and Porto Santo above any other interest and that finally allows us to have stability," he said, appealing to the "responsibility of all parties".

It should be noted that the secretary-general of the JPP, Élvio Sousa, said today that he was preparing "stability scenarios" for the executive, having asked the people of Madeira to trust in his "capacity for governance".

Questioned several times about understandings, the leader of the JPP guaranteed on Sunday that "Miguel Albuquerque and the PSD are out of the equation", while considering that the JPP is an "agent of stability" and stressed that Madeira will not become ungovernable due to his responsibility.

Also on Sunday, the leader of the PS/Madeira had considered that the election results showed that a change of government in the region was possible, having stated that he was available to dialogue to build an alternative.

According to the provisional results made available by the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration, the PSD obtained 36.13% of the votes and 19 seats in the regional parliament, made up of a total of 47 members of parliament, with 24 seats being necessary to have an absolute majority.

In second place, the PS won 11 elected officials, followed by the JPP, with nine, Chega, with four, the CDS-PP, with two, and the IL and PAN, with one member of parliament each. The BE and the CDU are leaving the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, in relation to the previous composition.

The representative of the Republic for Madeira, Ireneu Barreto, will hear on Tuesday the parties elected in Sunday's early elections given the urgency of finding a government solution for the region, his office reported today.

[News updated at 8:31 pm]

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