Vasco Cordeiro said yesterday that making it possible for the Center-Right Coalition to have a minority lead government would be an “obvious political trap”. CHEGA opens the door but with CDS and PPM out of the equation.
The PS/Azores regional secretariat and committee unanimously voted against the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition’s proposed Regional Government Program. The document’s rejection implies the overthrow of the government, so the future now lies in the hands of CHEGA, which won five seats in the early regional elections on the fourth of this month.
At a press conference yesterday, the leader of the PS/Azores and former President of the Regional Government, Vasco Cordeiro, accused the “XIII Regional Government and the PSD/Azores” of having “fed” CHEGA, which “grew electorally, and is now assuming itself as the ‘faithful of the scale’ of the right in the Azores.”
“The PSD/CDS/PPM coalition failed in its goal of achieving an absolute majority in the February 4 elections. In this historical and political context, the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition’s appeals to the PS/Açores, in the name of stability, to make the Program of the XIV Regional Government viable, are not only a desperate attempt to get rid of someone who, politically and for the coalition, has become too strong and uncomfortable, but also an obvious political trap into which only the inept or naive can consider falling,” Cordeiro said.
The PS/Azores president acknowledged that “there is a significant right-wing majority in the Azorean Parliament” and argued that it is now up to the Socialists to “act as the main opposition party.”
“First of all because of the current parliamentary framework, but not only for this reason, enabling the Program of the XIV Regional Government, in the name of this supposed stability, would automatically place the PS/Açores under the political obligation to also enable the annual budgets and investment plans of this government or, at least, would greatly condition the freedom of decision of the PS/Açores in these situations,” said Vasco Cordeiro.
“In this scenario, there would also be the political consequence of the total and absolute subversion of the will of the Azoreans: the main opposition party would become CHEGA, and the PS/Açores would become the political crutch of the XIV Regional Government, and the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition,” he added.
Vasco Cordeiro rejects the “pretension that, when the PS/A wins elections, CHEGA serves for the PSD/A to take power, as happened in 2020, and when the PS/A loses elections, as has happened now, it has a supposed responsibility to support the PSD/A to prevent CHEGA from blackmailing it”.
This logic, he pointed out, “is not only politically ridiculous, but also intellectually obtuse, dishonest and insulting”.
“Even more serious is the arrogance of wanting to create a political framework that can be summed up as follows: PSD/A won’t give in to the blackmail of CHEGA. But the PS/A seems to be obliged to give in to the PSD/A’s blackmail,” he launched.
“Instability is the responsibility of those who have created the unstable political framework we are experiencing, especially those who, expressly or with dubious or duplicitous expressions, have fed their own dependence on the Azorean far right. The PS/Açores does not allow itself to be caught up in the political amalgam created by the parties of the Azorean right and extreme right,” he stressed.
For Cordeiro, it’s also about “honoring the trust” of the voters. “More than 41,000 Azoreans trusted in the PS/Açores proposals as the realization of the major strategic options that the region must follow over the next four years. That’s why the path now open to the PS/Açores, and one on which we must not back down, especially when, in Parliament, we pronounce ourselves on the major strategic options that the Azores must follow, is that of, with democratic humility, honoring the trust that has been placed in our proposals, our values and our principles,” he stressed.
In a major interview with RTP three days ago, the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition regional government president and leader of the PSD/Açores, José Manuel Bolieiro, called for “responsibility on the part of the political parties.”
Bolieiro also said he wanted a “government stability” solution and would not exclude “Chega or any other party” from the dialog.
The PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition won Sunday’s early elections with 42.08% of the votes (48,668), against 35.91% for the PS (41,538). With 26 Deputies in the Regional Assembly, this is what is known in parliamentary systems as a relative majority.

“We have to be in government,” maintains CHEGA


The leader of CHEGA in the Azores, José Pacheco, held a press conference yesterday in which he reiterated that the condition for making a government with the PSD viable is to be part of that executive, but also that the CDS and PPM are not given portfolios.
A parliamentary agreement has been ruled out. “I tore up the last one and I’m not going to write a new one,” he said.
“Micaelenses and Terceirenses, in particular, have clearly understood that two toxic products were in this package. This is like the business world: there’s a company with a majority shareholder and two minority shareholders, one of whom is almost insignificant. These two have to talk to the majority shareholder. I, on the other side, don’t take kindly to these gentlemen remaining in government,” José Pacheco told journalists about CDS and PPM.
According to the CHEGA/Azores leader, these are the conditions for “starting to talk” and the first of these is “being part of the government”.
As for the CDS and PPM, Pacheco said that “if I see them sitting down when I get there, I’ll tell them to leave”.
“We have the strength that the Azoreans gave us. Ten thousand and 600 votes. I have a lot of respect for the people who voted for CHEGA,” stressed Pacheco, who considered that the PSD is showing that it wants to go to the elections again, which would bring the Azores to a “standstill for a year.”
“It was they (the coalition) who caused the elections and they are the ones who have to take responsibility. And they have to be humble,” he said.
“I’m putting my cards on the table. We have votes here that are the difference in a majority. Let’s put it the other way around: Do you think CHEGA goes to parliament, accepts everything they propose, even the cat, dog and parakeet appointments, and we keep quiet? Then we create a political crisis a month or two later? No, things have to be resolved now,” he said.
José Pacheco said that he had people prepared to take on government portfolios. “I don’t have any personal ambitions for governance. We have people who have already been talked about, even independent people, in whom we have confidence. I think the Azoreans will have confidence in these people due to their independence, ability to work, and known merit,” he guaranteed.
Speaking to Antena 1/Açores, the coordinator of the Left Bloc in the Azores, António Lima, guaranteed that the vote would be against the proposed Government Program.


António Lima believes that the national elections on March 10 are contaminating the scenario in the region. “It’s a process managed by national right-wing leaders, mainly, and the Azores are merely pawns in this game,” he said.
The BE remains opposed to the “right-wing government”, he stressed, “unlike the PS, which has admitted to negotiating with everyone”.
The leader of the Liberal Initiative in the region, Nuno Barata, also speaking to Azorean public radio, said he wouldn’t take a position before the coalition’s program and budget proposal were known and called the PS’s attitude hasty.


Nuno Barata stressed that “the dialog will take place in plenary, out loud, with the cameras on, so that the people of the Azores know what IL wants for the Azores in the future.” The Liberals reject any solution that includes CHEGA.
PAN spokesman Pedro Neves is not surprised by the PS’s position. “I don’t know who expected the PS to make the coalition government’s program viable,” he said, stressing that the PAN wants to “be part of the opposition” and that the responsibility now lies with the PSD, CDS-PP, PPM, and CHEGA.


Vasco Cordeiro believes that a greater strategy will be known after the national legislative elections. “The management of this situation by the right-wing and far-right parties in the Azores is being done not in the interests of the Azoreans, but in the interests of the national parties,” he said yesterday.
Cordeiro did not clarify whether he would remain the leader of the PS/Azores.
When going to press (DI newspaper), the PSD/Azores had not yet reacted to the latest political scenario.

in Diário Insular, José Louenço-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–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)