The official result of Madeira’s regional legislative elections was published today in the Diário da República (Official Gazette), confirming the 47 elected deputies, including 19 from the PSD, which won without an absolute majority, and the abstention rate of 46.60%.
According to the official map with the results of Madeira’s regional legislative elections, which took place on May 26, among the 47 seats to be awarded, the PSD elected 19 deputies, the Socialist Party (PS) 11, Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP) nine, Chega four and CDS-PP two, while the Liberal Initiative (IL) and People-Animals-Nature (PAN) elected one deputy each.
Of the 254,522 voters registered for the election of deputies to the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, 135,917 voted (53.40%) and the abstention rate was 46.60%.
Among the voters, there were 133,124 validly cast votes (97.95%), 2,181 null votes (1.60%) and 612 blank votes (0.45%).
Fourteen candidates took part in these early elections, seven of which failed to elect MPs, namely the Left Bloc (BE), the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), the Portuguese Labor Party (PTP), Livre (L), Reagir Incluir Reciclar (RIR), the Earth Party Movement (MPT) and the National Democratic Alternative (ADN).
Among the seven candidates who managed to elect deputies, the PSD got 49,104 votes (36.89%), the PS got 28,981 (21.77%), the JPP got 22,959 (17.25%), Chega got 12,562 (9.44%) and the CDS-PP 5,374 (4.04%).
With the election of just one MP, IL registered 3,481 votes (2.61%) and PAN got 2,531 (1.90%).
The official map shows that the CDU got 2,217 votes (1.67%), the BE got 1,912 (1.44%), the PTP got 1,222 votes (0.92%), Livre got 905 (0.68%), ADN got 772 (0.58%), the MPT got 577 (0.43%) and the RIR got 527 (0.40%).
Two days after the vote, the representative of the Republic for Madeira, Ireneu Barreto, heard all the parties that elected deputies and decided to appoint Miguel Albuquerque (PSD) as president of the regional government, considering that the joint government solution presented by the PS and JPP, which together have 20 deputies, would have “no chance of success”.
Ireneu Barreto argued, on the contrary, that “the solution presented by the party that won the most votes, the PSD, which has a parliamentary agreement with the CDS, 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”.
The early elections in Madeira took place eight months after the most recent regional legislative elections, after the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, dissolved the Madeiran parliament, following the political crisis triggered in January, when the leader of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), Miguel Albuquerque, was made an accused in a case in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.
