On Tuesday, the head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, received at the Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon, the seven parties with representation in the Regional Legislative Assembly, following the approval of a motion of censure against the minority PSD executive.

After the meetings, the Presidency of the Republic announced the appointment of the Council of State, a political body that consults the head of State, for the 17th, to speak out “under the terms of article 145, paragraph a), of the Constitution”, that is, on the dissolution of the regional parliament.

This date makes it impossible to schedule regional legislative elections, if this is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's understanding, for March 9, the day was chosen by the majority of parties, which unanimously defend the holding of early elections “as quickly as possible”.

According to Article 19 of the Electoral Law for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, in the event of dissolution, the President of the Republic sets the date for the election of deputies “at least 55 days in advance”.

In other words, if the head of state schedules the elections right after the Council of State, or in the days immediately following, the first Sunday on which the election can take place will be March 16th.

Meanwhile, three months will have passed since the approval, on December 17, of the motion of censure against the Regional Government presented by Chega, with votes in favour from all opposition parties – PS, JPP, Chega, IL and PAN, which together they make up more than half of the deputies. PSD and CDS-PP, which have a parliamentary agreement, insufficient to ensure an absolute majority, were the only ones to vote against.

The motion of censure was justified by Chega with the judicial investigations involving Miguel Albuquerque and four regional secretaries, all of whom were accused.

The approval of the motion of censure, unprecedented in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, implied, as established by the Political-Administrative Statute, the dismissal of the Regional Government, constituted on June 6, which will remain in office until the new executive takes office.

Meanwhile, just before Christmas, the former Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources of Madeira Manuel António Correia delivered a request to the headquarters of the regional PSD requesting an extraordinary congress, when he also left an appeal to the President of the Republic to postpone the dissolution of the Assembly Legislative, adding “around a month and a half to the normal period for these situations” to “give stability to Madeira for years”.

With this 'extra' month and a half, Manuel António Correia intends to buy time to hold new internal elections in the PSD/Madeira, which he intends to run for if they occur.

However, Manuel António Correia's claim has already been rejected by Miguel Albuquerque, who is also the leader of the PSD/Madeira, with the arguments that “this is not the right time” and that it would be “a political error”, as it would mean “the PSD commits suicide in a fratricidal internal dispute”.

Miguel Albuquerque and Manuel António Correia have already contested twice for the leadership of the PSD/Madeira, in 2014 and in March 2024, with the current leader always being the candidate with the most votes.

After Manuel António Correia delivered the application and the necessary subscriptions to convene an extraordinary congress, on December 23, no further action by the party bodies was known.

According to the PSD/Madeira statutes, the holding of an extraordinary congress can be requested by at least 300 activists, but the calling of internal elections is dependent on the Regional Council, the highest body of the regional structure between congresses, which decides “the justification or not” of suffrage.

Until the impasse created with the fall of Miguel Albuquerque's executive is resolved, the region will continue to be governed under a regime of twelfths, since even before the approval of the motion of censure, the Budget for 2025 was rejected with the opposing votes of PS, JPP, Enough, IL and PAN, a lead that happened for the first time in the regional parliament.