The leader of PS-Madeira, Paulo Cafôfo, challenges the president of the regional government, Miguel Albuquerque, to lift the reinforced immunity he has as a State councilor and raises the stakes to demand his immediate resignation.
“Miguel Albuquerque has irreversibly and irremediably lost the trust of Madeirans,” said Cafôfo in a second statement, after being more cautious yesterday. After it became known that the leader of the regional government was accused of “several corruption crimes”, the socialist now demands his resignation and that he “not take refuge in the immunity” he enjoys as a member of the State Council.
“We demand that Miguel Albuquerque requests the waiver of the State Councilor’s immunity,” he said. And he asked: “Are you afraid of being detained like Pedro Calado was? [presidente da Câmara do Funchal]?”
Cafôfo even appeals to the President of the Republic so that, “in all seriousness, he can make an assessment of what is happening in Madeira”. The day before, before it became known that Albuquerque had been accused, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had said that the Council of State is only called upon to intervene “in the case of a counselor being heard or detained”.
In a press conference this Thursday morning in Funchal, the leader of PS-Madeira considered that “it is time to put an end to almost 50 years of rotten and worn-out governance” that “does not serve the interests of the region, but only from some – and always the same ones”.
He highlighted that the process under investigation even led to the arrest of the Mayor of Funchal, a position that Cafôfo himself once held, and says that these developments prove “what the PS has denounced over the years”. “Democracy is not this and Madeira cannot be some kind of Wild West”, he argued.
Motion of censure not yet
Paulo Cafôfo has ruled out, for now, the possibility of PS-Madeira moving forward with a motion of censure in the regional Parliament, as requested this morning by the Left Bloc in the region. “At this moment we do not have that decision made”, he replied to journalists.
This morning, BE challenged the PS and JPP parliamentary groups to present a motion of censure against the regional government in the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ALRAM), since the sole blocist deputy does not have this capacity, which is exclusive to the groups. parliamentarians. “Justice will take its course and we respect the right to the presumption of innocence, but we cannot fail to evaluate the political conditions of the regional government and its president. It is evident that Miguel Albuquerque, at this moment, does not have the political conditions to remain in office and lead the regional government”, reads the BE statement.
At this moment, a motion of censure would be voted to failure, since, despite not having an absolute majority in ALRAM, the PSD has the support of the PAN and this party made it clear that “it is necessary to respect the principle the presumption of innocence.”
Suspicions regarding the region’s two main rulers were also the subject of debate this morning at ALRAM, with the leader of the socialist bench, Vítor Freitas, arguing that Miguel Albuquerque should request the waiver of his immunity and “is not in a position to remain in office” . “The president of the regional government [Miguel Albuquerque] He has already been constituted as a defendant and serious suspicions and accusations rest upon him (…). When will you request the waiver of your immunity as a member of the State Council? Are you able to maintain your position in the regional government and be at the forefront of the region’s destinies?”, he asked.
For the third political force in the region, the JPP (Juntos pelo Povo), “Pedro Calado’s detention situation is nothing surprising”. The parliamentary leader, Élvio Sousa, stressed that the “facts are likely to constitute very serious crimes” and recalled that the party has been denouncing these types of situations, “which were visible to everyone”.
Élvio Sousa also accused the Madeiran Parliament of being “being used to whitewash supervision” of the Madeiran government. “This Parliament is not free, it is bent, crouched by the executive power”, he reinforced, quoted by Lusa.
For his part, BE deputy, Roberto Almada, said: “Everyone [estão] stunned, because what happened is not good for Madeira and for any of us.” The remaining parties did not comment. With Lusa