Head of the Regional Government since 2015, when the Social Democrats last won in the region with an absolute majority, Albuquerque formalized a post-election coalition in 2019 with the CDS-PP to maintain the advantage of 24 of the 47 parliamentary seats and integrate the Christian Democrats into the executive. In 2023, with both parties already running together, the goal was missed by one seat and the leader of the PSD/Madeira made an agreement for parliamentary incidence with the sole PAN deputy, who withdrew her political trust after he was indicted in a process about alleged corruption, at the end of January. After the resignation of the Social Democrat, which left his team in management, the President of the Republic dissolved parliament and called for early elections, held on Sunday, with a new orange victory. When the accounts were done on election night, the right - PSD (19), Chega (four), CDS (two) and IL (one) - managed to add up to 26 seats, which could still be joined by PAN, but the parties declared they had reservations about understandings with the Social Democrats. The Socialists, the main opposition force, maintained the 11 parliamentary seats of the previous term and the JPP, the third political force in the region, increased its bench from five to nine members. On Sunday, Albuquerque said he was available to ensure a "government of stability", but the regional leader of the PS, Paulo Cafôfo, considered that there was room to build an alternative. The announcement of the proposal was made at 8:00 pm on Monday, when the PS and JPP announced, at a press conference, that they would present to the Republic's representative in the archipelago, Ireneu Barreto, "a joint government solution", even without an absolute majority, and talk to other parties. The hearing of the political forces elected by the representative of the Republic - a step required by law for the appointment of the Regional Government - took place this morning and afternoon, and left no doubts for Ireneu Barreto, who at 6:00 pm announced the decision to appoint Miguel Albuquerque as president of the executive, considering that the PS/JPP solution had "no chance of succeeding".

Even before that, Albuquerque had announced an agreement with the CDS-PP for parliamentary support, which has since been approved by the political committee of the PSD/Madeira. The two parties have a total of 21 deputies.

The agreement determines the nomination of the leader of the Christian Democrats in the region, José Manuel Rodrigues, for president of the Legislative Assembly, a position he has held since 2019.

The president of the executive will be appointed on Wednesday, at 12:00 pm, and the goal now is to have the 2024 Budget and the Government Program of the XIV Legislature approved by July.

Ireneu Barreto explained that the choice was due to the fact that he considered that "the solution presented by the most voted party, the PSD - which has an agreement for parliamentary incidence with the CDS-PP, and the non-hostility, in principle, of Chega, PAN and IL -, will have all the conditions to see its Program approved in the Legislative Assembly".

After his decision was announced, described as "the most logical" by PAN, the PS reiterated that "it will not support the PSD" and the JPP postponed statements for a later time, as did IL.

Chega repeated that it does not support an Albuquerque executive, but considered that a minority government could be "more profitable" to defend the interests of the region.

These were the third early elections in the history of Madeira's autonomy, marked by the social democratic leadership. In addition to Albuquerque, the region had only two other presidents: Jaime Ornelas Camacho and Alberto João Jardim.

Read Also: Representative of the Republic will appoint Albuquerque in Madeira (Portuguese version)