"It's not worth wasting any more time on internal elections," said Miguel Albuquerque at the opening of the 19th regional congress of the Social Democrats, which is taking place this weekend at the Madeira Congress Centre in Funchal.

Miguel Albuquerque, who defeated the former Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Manuel António in the internal elections on 21 March for the second time, obtaining 2,243 votes against 1,856 from his opponent's list, in a universe of 4,388 members eligible to vote.

The insular leader considered it important to "end the divisions" and bet on the unity of the party, indicating to the members who supported the defeated candidacy that "it is not worth keeping mental reservations and being resentful".

"Today we are starting a new cycle in the life of the party that begins with a situation of full motivation," said Albuquerque, adding: "I feel like I'm 20 years younger. I'm full of energy and determination".

The re-elected president of the PSD/Madeira maintained that politics "demands physical and psychological courage", as well as "capacity for resistance, determination and iron will".

"I want to stress again that this situation of having difficult situations ahead is my thing," he reinforced, considering that the party "has to be led by those who know how to face" the problems, pointing out the case "of the flood of 20 February 2010 that caused dozens of deaths, hundreds of displaced people and material losses estimated at more than one billion euros.

The grand meeting of the Madeiran Social Democrats is taking place in a scenario of early regional legislative elections, called for 26 May, following the political crisis triggered by a process that is investigating suspicions of corruption in the archipelago and in which Miguel Albuquerque, who has also led the Regional Government since 2015, was constituted as a defendant.

The insular leader defended that "the conquest" of the archipelago's autonomy "cannot be thrown overboard".

Miguel Albuquerque stressed that the party is determined to win the early regional legislative elections on 26 May, a suffrage in which the party will run alone, after breaking with the coalition with the CDS-PP, because it is "not afraid of the will of the people" and intends to continue to "lead the Government of the Autonomous Region".

"Because we are the only party capable of leading Madeira to integral development," he said.

The Madeiran leader also argued that it "would be fatal" for the PSD/Madeira to go to the elections "diminished in its negotiating capacity", observing that "the so-called red lines are a prodigious invention of the left to condition scenarios of governability".

The also outgoing president of the Government of Madeira recalled that the party was elected seven months ago (24 September 2023) and that, after the regional elections of 26 May, the "programme [of the executive] to be presented will be the same".

Economic growth, reduction of unemployment, reduction of public debt, resolution of housing problems, homes and continuing care, improvement of public health, mobility, improvement of support benefits for the most vulnerable citizens and continuing to ensure the digital transition were aspects that he highlighted in his motion for global strategy that was approved by a majority, with 37 votes against.

"We have no reason to be worried and pessimistic," he stressed, concluding: "we are a party that is not intimidated by media actions of the PJ (Judicial Police)".

Read Also: PSD/Madeira reúne este fim de semana em congresso regional (Portuguese version)