Snap regional elections were held in

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

on 26 May 2024, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the

Autonomous Region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...

of Madeira. The election replaced all 47 members of the Madeira Assembly, and the new members will then elect the President of the Autonomous Region. Before the dissolution of the regional parliament, incumbent president

Miguel Albuquerque Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque (born 4 May 1961) is a Portugal, Portuguese Monarchism, monarchist politician of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the current Presidents of the Regional Government of M ...

, since 2015, from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD), led a coalition government between the Social Democrats and the

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party (, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

, with the parliamentary support of

People Animals Nature People-Animals-Nature (, PAN) is an Environmentalism, environmentalist, animal rights, and animal welfare-focused political party in Portugal, which was founded in 2009. In the 2011 Madeira regional elections, 2011 Madeiran regional election, it ...

. The Social Democrats defended their dominance in the islands, which they have held since 1976. The

(PSD), marred in an ongoing corruption investigation, emerged, once again, as the winner with 36 percent of the votes, albeit losing one seat thus gathering 19 seats, but polling comfortably ahead of the second most voted party, the PS. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS) suffered another big defeat by gathering basically the same number of votes and seats as in September 2023, 21 percent and eleven seats, thus making no gains from the Social Democrats situation. The

Together for the People Together for the People (, JPP) is a political party operating primarily in Madeira. Its founding principles are Unity, Transparency and Resistance, as evidenced by its symbol. It was legalised by the Portuguese Constitutional Court on 27 Januar ...

(JPP) can be considered as the big winner of the elections, by gathering 17 percent of the votes, very close with the Socialists, and winning 9 seats, four more than in 2023. The party was also the most voted in their stronghold of Santa Cruz. CHEGA didn't make significant gains and won 9 percent of the votes and held on to the 4 seats won in September 2023.

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party (, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

(CDS–PP), now running alone after their "quarrel" with the PSD, achieved 4 percent of the votes and won 2 seats, minus one they had in their 2023 coalition with the Social Democrats.

People-Animals-Nature People-Animals-Nature (, PAN) is an environmentalist, animal rights, and animal welfare-focused political party in Portugal, which was founded in 2009. In the 2011 Madeiran regional election, it had 2.13% of the votes, with a total of 3,135 vo ...

(PAN) and the

Liberal Initiative The Liberal Initiative (, , IL) is a liberal political party in Portugal. Founded in 2017, it is currently led by Miguel Rangel, who is the interim leader since the resignation of Rui Rocha in May 2025. The party has been described as being ...

(IL) held on to their sole seats, while the Left Bloc (BE) lost their seat and left the regional assembly, as did the

Unitary Democratic Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition (, CDU) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party () and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" ( Portuguese: Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" or PEV). The coalition also integrates ...

(CDU), which for the first time in 32 years failed to win a seat in the Madeira assembly. The turnout in these elections was the same as in September 2023, with 53.4 percent of voters casting a ballot, compared with the 53.3 percent eight months before.

Background

In the 2023 regional election, the We Are Madeira coalition (PSD/CDS–PP) was again the most voted coalition, 43 percent, but failed to win an absolute majority. After the elections, PSD and CDS–PP sought the parliamentary support from PAN, which guaranteed an absolute majority in the regional parliament.

2024 corruption investigation

On 24 January 2024, the

Judiciary Police The judicial police, judiciary police, or justice police are (depending on both country and legal system) either a branch, separate police agency or type of duty performed by law enforcement structures in a country. The term judiciary police is mo ...

and the

Public Prosecutor's office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft (). This kind of offi ...

conducted a series of searches at the official office of the President of the Region, at Funchal City Hall, at Miguel Albuquerque's private residence and in many private companies, regarding corruption and abuse of power accusations surrounding real estate businesses in the region. The mayor of

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

, Pedro Calado, and two businessmen were arrested by the police. Miguel Albuquerque was named as formal suspect and was accused of several corruption, abuse of power and influence peddling crimes. Miguel Albuquerque announced he would not resign as President and would defend himself against the accusations, although suggesting that he would ask his double immunity, granted as a member of the

regional government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

and the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

, to be removed, pressing that he was innocent. Parties reacted by demanding Albuquerque's resignation, with

(PAN) threatening to tear apart the agreement between them and the PSD, if Albuquerque didn't resign. The

(PS) and Chega announced intentions of submitting motions of no confidence against Albuquerque.

Fall of the government

On 26 January, Miguel Albuquerque announced he would resign as President of the regional government of Madeira. The PSD was expected to select a new leader that would become

President of the Regional Government of Madeira The President of the Regional Government of Madeira is the Head of government, head of the devolved government of the Madeira Archipelago, Madeira archipelago, since the Carnation Revolution that established the Third Portuguese Republic, current ...

. Following Albuquerque's resignation, PAN announced that it would continue to provide parliamentary support to PSD. However, divisions within the PSD meant that a consensus on a succession solution was not reached. The Representative of the Republic in Madeira, Ireneu Barreto, then started to hear parties represented in the regional Parliament. Opposition parties, PS, JPP, CH, PCP, IL and BE defended snap elections, while PSD, CDS–PP and PAN proposed the nomination of a new government. On 17 February, the Representative of the Republic in Madeira announced that he would keep the government in office, in a caretaker capacity, until the

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic (, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister ...

decided whether there would be early elections or a new government under the current parliament. The parliament of Madeira could only be dissolved from 24 March 2024 onwards, six months after the last elections. On 27 March, the President of Portugal decided to dissolve the regional parliament and call early elections for 26 May.

Leadership changes and challenges

Socialist Party

On 2 December 2023, a leadership election was held to replace Sérgio Gonçalves as the leader of PS Madeira.

Paulo Cafôfo Paulo Alexandre Nascimento Cafôfo (born 18 May 1971) is a Portuguese teacher and politician who served as Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities between 2022-2024, in charge of the affairs related to the Portuguese diaspora, in Antó ...

, by then Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities and former Mayor of

was the only candidate. He was elected with 98.6 percent of the votes. , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , style="background:#f6f;", , align=left ,

, align=right , 1,450 , align=right , 98.6 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 20 , align=right , 1.4 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 1,470 , align=right , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
DNotícias

Social Democratic Party

On 19 February 2024,

announced that a PSD leadership election would be held on 21 March 2024, with himself being an almost certain candidate, which was later confirmed. The party also announced the end of their coalition with CDS–People's Party and would contest future elections alone. Manuel António Correia, former regional secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources from 2000 to 2015, announced his intention to run, being supported by former President

Alberto João Jardim Alberto João Cardoso Gonçalves Jardim, Order of Christ (Portugal), GCC, Order of Infante D. Henrique, GCIH (, born 4 February 1943) is a Portuguese politician who was the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal, from 1978 to 20 ...

. On 21 March 2024, Albuquerque was reelected with 54 percent of the votes, against the 45 percent of António Correia. 4,388 party members were able to vote, just over a third of a total universe of more than 12,000 members, and of those able to vote, 94 percent cast a ballot. The results were the following: , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

, align=right , 2,243 , align=right , 54.3 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left , Manuel António Correia , align=right , 1,856 , align=right , 44.9 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 33 , align=right , 0.8 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 4,132 , align=right , 94.17 , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Expresso

CDS – People's Party

On 20 February 2024, CDS–PP party leader and Regional Secretary for Economic Affairs, Rui Barreto, announced his resignation from the party leadership, and a leadership ballot was called for April. José Manuel Rodrigues, President of the Regional Assembly and former leader of CDS–PP Madeira (1997–2018), announced his intention to run for the leadership. On 14 April 2024, José Manuel Rodrigues was easily elected as party leader with 76 percent of the delegates votes: , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , José Manuel Rodrigues , align=right , 129 , align=right , 75.9 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 41 , align=right , 24.1 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 170 , align=right , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
DNotícias

Electoral system

The current 47 members of the Madeiran regional parliament are elected in a single constituency by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

under the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

, coinciding with the territory of the Region.

Parties

Composition

The table below lists parties represented in the

Legislative Assembly of Madeira The Legislative Assembly of Madeira () is the legislature of the Portuguese autonomous region of Madeira. The last regional election was held on 23 March 2025, won by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) with 62,059 votes (43.41% share). Power ...

before the election.

Parties running in the election

14 parties and/or coalitions were on the ballot for the 2024 Madeira regional election. The parties and/or coalitions that contested the election and their lead candidates were: (parties/coalitions are ordered by how they appeared on the ballot paper) * National Democratic Alternative (ADN), Miguel Pita * Left Bloc (BE), Roberto Almada *

(PS),

LIVRE Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Fre ...

(L), Marta Sofia *

(IL), Nuno Morna * React, Include, Recycle (RIR), Liana Reis *

(CDU), Edgar Silva *

Enough Enough may refer to: Film and television * ''Enough'' (film), a 2002 film starring Jennifer Lopez * "Enough" (''CSI: NY''), an episode of the TV series * "Enough" (''Not Going Out''), a 2017 TV episode *"Enough", an episode of ''Tru Calling'' ...

(CH),

Miguel Castro Miguel Ángel Castro (born December 24, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, ...

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party (, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

(CDS–PP), José Manuel Rodrigues * Earth Party (MPT), Valter Rodrigues *

(PSD),

(PAN),

Mónica Freitas Monica is a female given name with many variant forms, including Mónica (Italian, Spanish and Portuguese), Mônica (Brazilian Portuguese), Monique (French), Monika (German, Indian, Lithuanian), Moonika (Estonia), and Mónika (Hungarian). His ...

* Portuguese Labour Party (PTP), Raquel Coelho *

(JPP),

Élvio Sousa Élvio Duarte Martins Sousa (born 19 April 1974) is a Portuguese archeologist and politician from Madeira, currently serving as the secretary-general of Together for the People and as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira since 2015. ...

Campaign

Issues

The campaign was dominated by issues like housing, poverty and lack of freedoms in Madeira, with some parties accusing the PSD of coercing public employees. The stability of the next regional government was also a big issue in the campaign, with

being rejected by all parties, due to his ongoing corruption accusations, and with the Socialists hoping to forge a "contraption" with left wing parties, in order to end the Social Democrats 48 years in power.

Party slogans

Election debates

Opinion polls

Polls that show their results without distributing those respondents who are undecided or said they would abstain from voting, are re-calculated by removing these numbers from the totals through a simple rule of three, in order to obtain results comparable to other polls and the official election results.

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.

Results

, - , colspan="10", 2024 Madeiran Assembly

, - ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left,

Parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± pp swing ! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center", MPs , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;",

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;", 2024 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , , , 49,104, , 36.13, , , , 20, , 19, , 1, , 40.43, , 2.1 , - , , , 28,981, , 21.32, , 0.0, , 11, , 11, , 0, , 23.40, , 0.0 , - , , , 22,959, , 16.89, , 5.9, , 5, , 9, , 4, , 19.15, , 8.5 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#202056 align="center" , , align=left, CHEGA , , 12,562, , 9.24, , 0.3, , 4, , 4, , 0, , 8.51, , 0.0 , - , , , 5,374, , 3.95, , , , 3, , 2, , 1, , 4.26, , 2.1 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#00ADEF align="center" , , align=left,

, , 3,481, , 2.56, , 0.0, , 1, , 1, , 0, , 2.13, , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=teal align="center" , , align=left,

, , 2,531, , 1.86, , 0.4, , 1, , 1, , 0, , 2.13, , 0.0 , - , , , 2,217, , 1.63, , 1.1, , 1, , 0, , 1, , 0.00, , 2.1 , - , , , 1,912, , 1.41, , 0.8, , 1, , 0, , 1, , 0.00, , 2.1 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#CC0033 align="center" , , align=left, Labour , , 1,222, , 0.90, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0 , - , , , 905, , 0.67, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor="#274E82" align="center" , , align="left" , National Democratic Alternative , , 772, , 0.57, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0 , - , , , 577, , 0.42, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=LightSeaGreen align="center" , , align=left, React, Include, Recycle , , 527, , 0.39, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 133,124 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 97.95 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.7 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 47 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 47 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.0 , - , colspan=2, Blank ballots , , 612, , 0.45, , 0.2, , colspan=5 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , , 2,181, , 1.60, , 0.5 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 135,917 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 254,522, , 53.40, , 0.1 , - , colspan=10 align=left , Sources:

Maps

File:Eleições Legislativas Regionais na Madeira de 2024.svg, Most voted political force by municipality.

Aftermath

On election night,

, PSD leader, said the Social Democrats had a clear victory, that the leftwing had a "copious defeat" and that the party was ready to govern in dialogue with other parties. Socialist Party leader

said that the results showed that an alternative government was possible.

(JPP), considered the big winners of the election, said that stability scenarios were on the making and asked for the confidence of voters. Other parties, however, didn't seem willing into supporting either Albuquerque or Cafôfo, with Chega suggesting that only the resignation of Albuquerque would allow Chega to support the PSD; CDS–PP not open to coalitions but to dialogue case by case with the PSD, and rejecting any deal with the Socialists, the same position as the Liberal Initiative; PAN said they would be a constructive force in Parliament. On the day after election day, on 27 May, PS and JPP announced a compromise to propose an alternative government and called on other parties to join them. The

rejected any possibility of joining the PS and JPP compromise. On the next day, on 28 May, PSD and CDS–PP reached a deal, plus assured the abstention of Chega. After meeting with parties represented in the regional assembly, also during 28 May, the Representative of the Republic, Ireneu Barreto, nominated Miguel Albuquerque as President of the Regional Government. The new government was sworn in on 6 June 2024. The government programme was given to the Regional Parliament, by Albuquerque, on 14 June and was set to be discussed and voted during three days, between 18 and 20 June 2024. However, despite previous certainties given by Miguel Albuquerque, there were doubts if the programme would pass in the Regional Parliament as Chega announced they would vote against it, alongside the Socialists. JPP, shortly after, also announced its vote against the programme. With an imminent rejection, Albuquerque withdrew, on 19 June, his programme from the assembly and announced negotiations to present a new one, thus cancelling the 20 June vote. After several days of negotiations with Opposition parties, mainly Chega, IL, CDS–PP and PAN, Miguel Albuquerque presented, on 2 July, a second government programme that was set to be discussed and voted on 4 July, however with its fate being seen as unclear.

Government approval

On 4 July 2024, the regional assembly approved the PSD minority government with the votes in favour of PSD, CDS–PP and PAN; PS, JPP and one Chega member

Magna Costa is an inflected form of the Latin word , , with cognates throughout the Indo-European languages, including English ''many'' and '' mega'' (the latter a doublet via Ancient Greek ()). It appears in many names and titles, including: Companies ...

voting against; and the abstention of IL and the remaining three members from Chega.

2024 motion of no confidence

On 6 November 2024, just four months after the approval of Albuquerque's government by the regional assembly, Chega presented a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

to bring down Miguel Albuquerque. The reasons for the motion were the continued accusations, and investigations, of corruption against several regional secretaries and Albuquerque himself. However, the Chega motion also criticized the Socialist Party (PS) for being an "accomplice" of the Social Democrats bad government. This reference created divisions within the PS on what should be the Socialist's position, with many members divided between the vote in favour or to abstain. Shortly after, Chega said it was open to drop the criticisms towards the PS, and then the PS signaled it would vote in favour of the motion, which was later officially confirmed. The motion was expected to be voted on 18 November, but a PSD request to delay the vote was approved and the motion was postponed to 17 December 2024. One week before the motion of no confidence vote, on 9 December, the proposed regional budget for 2025 was rejected on the first reading with the votes of all Opposition parties and the approval of only PSD and CDS–PP. On 17 December, the motion of no confidence was approved with the votes of all Opposition parties and the sole rejection of PSD and CDS–PP, causing the fall of Albuquerque's regional government: After the approval of the motion, the Representative of the Republic in Madeira, Ireneu Barreto, met with all parties represented in the regional assembly, and all parties defended snap elections. After also meeting with parties represented in the regional assembly and hearing the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...

dissolved, on 17 January 2025, the regional parliament and called an election for 23 March 2025.

Notes

References

External links

Election resultsComissão Nacional de Eleições
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madeiran regional election, 2024 2024 elections in Portugal May 2024 in Portugal

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

2024 Madeiran regional election