The leader of the PSD/Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, who also leads the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition, was appointed yesterday by the Representative of the Republic, Pedro Catarino, as President of the Regional Government and has pledged to strengthen dialogue with the political parties.
“I will reinforce my willingness to engage in dialogue, not only as I have done so far, but even more so, because, on the one hand, I interpret the unequivocal democratic legitimacy of the electoral result that gave us victory, but also recognizing that without an absolute majority, it is important to guarantee a reinforcement of this dialogue, already with the knowledge of experience acquired,” he said.
On election night, after the coalition won the elections with a relative majority, José Manuel Bolieiro rejected agreements with other parties to form a government, a position he maintained when he was heard by Pedro Catarino.
After being appointed, the Social Democrat regional leader pledged to strengthen dialogue and guaranteed that he would talk to “everyone without exclusion”.
Asked about the criticisms of a lack of dialog since election day from various parties, José Manuel Bolieiro said that “everything has its time”. “I’ll do it at the right time and in the right place. When I take office as President of the Government, there will be time, opportunity and place for this dialog,” he stressed.
The president of the Azorean executive appealed to the responsibility of the other parties, claiming that “the coming times recommend this concertation”.
“I trust that everyone will assume their responsibility, for the stability that is the meaning of governability in the Azores, in a very difficult national, European and regional context,” he stressed.
Asked about the formation of the XIV Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro revealed that there will be “adjustments”, but that it will be an executive of “continuity”.
The names of the members of the new executive should be handed over to the representative of the Republic “in the next few days”, according to the president, who guaranteed that “this will not be conditioned in relation to the national debate”, given the legislative elections taking place on March 10.

Consequences of a new crisis

In a statement without the right to questions from the Press, in which he announced that he had appointed José Manuel Bolieiro as President of the Regional Government, the Representative of the Republic warned of the consequences of a new political crisis in the region.
“It is now up to the Legislative Assembly to assess the Program of the new Regional Government and decide on its future. I am convinced that the parties represented in the Azorean parliament – aware of the profoundly negative consequences of a new political crisis – will live up to the responsibilities entrusted to them by the voters and will know how to make the most appropriate choices at every moment,” he said.
Pedro Catarino stressed that political stability is the sole responsibility of the parties with seats in the Legislative Assembly.
“It is not up to the Representative of the Republic to promote agreements between political parties or to compose particular governing solutions, even if it is in search of desirable governability and greater political stability. This is the exclusive responsibility of the parties represented in the Legislative Assembly, which the absence of an absolute majority can only reinforce,” he said.
The Representative of the Republic recalled that the regional government system “is sufficiently open to accommodate relative majority government solutions, as has already happened in the history of the autonomous system and as the one that is now being foreshadowed”.
He also pointed out that, “unlike what happened in 2020, no post-election coalition was formed” and “no parliamentary agreement was signed with the aim of allowing the forces with the greatest representation in the Legislative Assembly to reach the threshold of 29 deputies”.
According to Pedro Catarino, all the political forces “recognize the right of the winning coalition to form a government” and “there is a broad consensus that it is essential to promote constructive dialogue between the coalition and the other political parties, in order to allow for governability and political stability”.
“With regard to the Government Program, with the exception of the PS and the Left Bloc, all the other political parties have expressed their openness to analyzing it and possibly making it viable,” he said, adding that “all the political forces admit to analyzing, on a case-by-case basis, the proposals presented by the coalition in the future.”

In Diário Insular-José Lourenço-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)