According to the same source, the national PSD will be represented at this grand meeting in Funchal by vice-president Miguel Pinto Luz.

The national leader of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, will also not be present at this congress, as he is on an official visit to Cape Verde.

At the opening session, the new prime minister expressed the party's support for the re-elected leader of the PSD/Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, wishing him "luck" for the difficult political struggle over the next two years.

Another absence at the 19th congress was Alberto João Jardim, the president of the Madeiran social democrats for almost four decades, who travelled to the Azores to participate in a solemn session commemorating the 50th anniversary of 25 April.

The PSD/Madeira is meeting this weekend in a congress to reaffirm the leadership of Miguel Albuquerque.

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 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.

Before the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, called the early regional elections, the PSD/Madeira went to internal elections, in a poll that once again pitted Miguel Albuquerque against Manuel António Correia, repeating the leadership dispute that took place in 2014.

Miguel Albuquerque once again defeated Manuel António Correia - who had the support of Alberto João Jardim, who led the party in Madeira for almost four decades -, obtaining 2,243 votes, against 1,856 from his opponent's list, in a universe of 4,388 militants eligible to vote.

At the end of January, Miguel Albuquerque was constituted as a defendant in a process investigating suspicions of corruption in Madeira and also involving two businessmen linked to civil construction and the social democrat Pedro Calado, who at the time was president of the Municipal Council of Funchal and subsequently resigned from the position.

The PSD/Madeira congress is also taking place after the party has submitted the list of candidates for the elections on 26 May, which is again headed by Miguel Albuquerque.

Contrary to what happened in the last regional elections, held at the end of September, now the PSD and CDS-PP will not go to the polls in coalition.

According to Miguel Albuquerque, the elections will test "the confidence" of the Madeiran electorate in the party that has always governed the autonomous region.

Read Also: Albuquerque is "leader of a faction" of the PSD/Madeira, says opponent (Portuguese version)