José Manuel Bolieiro, leader of the PSD/Azores, called for early regional elections, considering the presentation of a new document “pointless.” The PSD/CDS/PP/PPM government’s first Plan and Budget for 2024 was rejected in the Regional Legislative Assembly.
Bolieiro, as leader of the PPD/PSD, was the penultimate party leader to be received on November 30th by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as it was the second most-voted party in the last regional legislative elections.
After the meeting, José Manuel Bolieiro told journalists that, in his opinion, it had been proven in the negotiations he had started and, now, in the hearings of the parties with parliamentary seats with the President of the Republic, that there are no conditions for approving a new Budget and Plan for 2024 in the regional parliament, so the “voice of the people” must be heard in search for “stable” governance solution, through elections.


José Manuel Bolieiro suggested the date of February 4 for the regional elections, not wanting them to coincide with the national legislative elections on March 10.
The PSD/Azores leader said he intends to run again in coalition with the CDS-PP and the PPM, assuming the commitment was already agreed upon with the other two parties when he went ahead with the first election.
The leader of the Social Democrats expressed his conviction that he could win the next regional elections, highlighting the “results of our governance in full compliance with our government program.”

PS “has a project for the future”, says Vasco Cordeiro

Vasco Cordeiro said yesterday that the Socialist Party has a project “for the future, for cohesion and progress” that can take the Azores forward.
The President of the PS/A, who was speaking to journalists at the end of the audience with the President of the Republic, recalled that the rejection of the Region’s Budget for 2024 “is just a symptom of a political crisis” that had been going on since the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM Regional Government took office, “first with the coalition partners, then extended to the parliamentary partners.”
“In order to resolve this situation, since there is no possibility of approving a second budget, as was the intention of the regional government, as is clear to me at the moment, also based on the statements made by the political parties on the way out of these hearings, the best thing is to give the word back to the people,” admitted the Socialist leader, stressing that this was the message he had conveyed to the President of the Republic.
As he left the meeting, Vasco Cordeiro reaffirmed that if President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s understanding is to dissolve the Legislative Assembly and schedule early elections, “several steps under the Constitution must be followed.” They must occur within 60 days of the dissolution, considering “February 4 is a good possibility”.
“The Socialist Party defends what it told the President of the Republic: to give the Azoreans their say again, because it believes that a different course is needed for the region, because what the data shows is that the Azores are falling behind and facing clear risks in a number of important sectors of our economy, in agriculture, fisheries, tourism itself and in terms of air accessibility, for which the current regional government doesn’t even seem to be aware of these risks,” he warned.
In this regard, and arguing that the Socialist Party is in a position to present “this project for the future, for cohesion and progress, to take the Azores forward,” Vasco Cordeiro stressed that the origin of the political crisis in the region is due, in the first place, to “Dr. Bolieiro, Dr. Lima and Dr. Estêvão, who for three years have wasted more time in bickering and in internal struggles for prominence than in actually trying to take the Azores forward.”

The first regional party leader to be heard by the President of the Republic was Pedro Neves, from PAN, who made it clear to journalists that he would abstain from voting on a second regional budget. “There is no Azorean who expects the PAN to replace the Liberal Initiative to side with two Chega Deputies, in this case, Chega and an independent MP who is ex-Chega,” he said
All the parties the President of the Republic heard maintained their voting position on the Region’s first Budget for 2024, not allowing a second Budget to be presented in the Regional Legislative Assembly.

in Correio dos Açores, Natalino Viveiros-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.