On 24 January, it came to light that the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, was in the spotlight for corruption offences. This led to the resignation of Madeira’s president on 26 January, marking the archipelago which has an autonomous administration an uncertain future.

The operation led to the arrest of the mayor of Funchal, the leader of the AFA group and the executive director of the Socicorreia group, Custódio Correia, who is also Avelino Farinha's partner in several companies, according to an investigative source.

It was two days later, on 26 January, that the President of the Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque (PSD), made his resignation official with the Representative of the Republic, but the resignation did not have immediate effect, despite having been accepted by the Representative of the Republic, Ireneu Barreto, who represents the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the archipelago.

The representative of the Republic accepted Miguel Albuquerque's resignation but clarified that he has not yet decided when it will take effect, admitting that this could only happen after the discussion and approval of this year's Regional Budget in the Legislative Assembly, which should take place next week.

A meeting of the PSD/Madeira Regional Council was scheduled for 29 January, to approve the name of Miguel Albuquerque's successor as head of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), but ended up being cancelled that day, after the leader of the executive resigned.

Following the resignation, the head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, drew attention to the fact that Miguel Albuquerque's resignation and replacement by another politician would imply the fall of the regional Government and also the Budget proposal. Also, Marcelo highlighted that he is prevented from dissolving the regional parliament until March 24 because the Government has to stay in power for at least six months and the last regional elections took place on 24 September 2023.

Marcelo refused to anticipate scenarios regarding the solution to the political crisis. However, in recent days it has been reported that the President is preparing to dissolve – when the time comes - the regional parliament where the PSD/CDS coalition can only achieve a majority with the support of PAN deputy Mónica Freitas.

In the meantime, the PSD/Madeira on 30 January called a meeting of the Regional Council for Thursday, 1 February, to discuss the political situation in the archipelago, following the resignation of the president of the Madeira Government.

The meeting scheduled for Thursday 1 February at the Madeira Congress Centre in Funchal had not yet taken place, but it is expected that at the end of the meeting, around 7pm, the party will make some declarations, which will probably announce who the next leader of the Madeira PSD will be.

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins