Politics of Madeira

Last updated March 11, 2024

The politics of Madeira , Portugal, takes place in the framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy and of a pluriform multi-party system. The Representative of the Republic exercises some reserve powers on behalf of the President of the Portuguese Republic. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in the Legislative Assembly. All government's offices are headquartered in Funchal, Madeira's capital city.^[1]^[2]

History

In the years immediately after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, a small clandestine far-right independence movement – the Madeira Archipelago Liberation Front (FLAMA) – was created in response to the perceived communist threat in the country's central government and carried out several bomb attacks.^[3]

The current Portuguese Constitution, in force since 25 April 1976, granted political and administrative autonomy to the Madeiran and the Azorian archipelagoes and turned the local government throughout the country democratically elected. The first election for the Regional Assembly were held in that year. Jaime Ornelas Camacho was the first President of the Regional Government.

Since the archipelago gained political autonomy from mainland Portugal in 1976, the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) has always been in power, winning 11 absolute majorities in a row over 43 years, and until recently it had always ruled most municipalities. From 1978 to 2015, Alberto João Jardim was the sole President of the Regional Government, winning a total of 9 elections. In 2015, former Mayor of Funchal Miguel Albuquerque succeeded him. In 2019, for the first time since 1976, the PSD lost its parliamentary majority and was forced into a governmental coalition with the right-wing Popular Party.^[4]

Over the more than forty years of autonomy, a few Catholic priests stood out as some of the main political opposition figures against Alberto João Jardim's long-lasting rule, winning seats in parliament and municipalities for far-left (Communist Party and Popular Democratic Union) and centre-left parties (Socialist Party) and gathering disapproval from the Church local authorities.^[5]

Reserve powers

Legislative branch

Executive branch

Local government

Madeira is divided in 11 municípios (municipalities), with each of these being split into freguesias (civil parishes), which add up to a total of 54.

Municipalities


Municipality	Population	Mayor		Chair of the Municipal Assembly		Election
Calheta	10,867	Carlos Manuel Teles	PPD/PSD	Manuel Baeta de Castro	PPD/PSD	2017
Câmara de Lobos	33,675	Pedro Coelho	PPD/PSD	Manuel Pedro Freitas	PPD/PSD	2017
Funchal	104,024	Miguel Silva Gouveia	PS	Mário Rodrigues	PPD/PSD	2017
Machico	19,981	Ricardo Franco	PS	João Bosco de Castro	PS	2017
Ponta do Sol	8,593	Célia Pecegueiro	PS	Simão Santos	PPD/PSD	2017
Porto Moniz	2,342	Emanuel Câmara	PS	Lino Conceilção	PS	2017
Porto Santo	5,202	Idalino Vasconcelos	PPD/PSD	Fátima Silva	PPD/PSD	2017
Ribeira Brava	12,435	Ricardo Nascimento	independent	Rita Abreu	independent	2017
Santa Cruz	45,281	Filipe Sousa	JPP	Júlia Caré	JPP	2017
Santana	6,711	Dinarte Fernandes	CDS-PP	Martinho Rodrigues	CDS-PP	2017
São Vicente	5,143	José António Garcês	independent	Aires Santos	independent	2017

Parishes

Parishes with more than 10,000 inhabitants

Parish	Municipality	Population	Chair of the Council		Chair of the Assembly		Election
Santo António	Funchal	27,437	Rui Santos	PPD/PSD	Gonçalo Jardim	PS	2017
São Martinho	Funchal	26,464	Duarte Caldeira	PS	Thomas Dellinger	PS	2017
Caniço	Santa Cruz	23,361	Milton Teixeira	JPP	Luís Gaspar	JPP	2017
Câmara de Lobos	Câmara de Lobos	17,978	Celso Bettencourt	PPD/PSD	Sónia Brazão	PPD/PSD	2017
Santa Maria Maior	Funchal	13,387	Guido Gomes	PS	Juvenal Rodrigues	PS	2017
Machico	Machico	11,249	Alberto Olim	PS	José Câmara	PS	2017
Estreito de Câmara de Lobos	Câmara de Lobos	10,263	Gabriel Pereira	PPD/PSD	Fernanda Caldeira	PPD/PSD	2017

Political parties and leaders

Political party or alliance		Constituent parties		Previous result		Candidate
Political party or alliance		Constituent parties		Votes (%)	Seats	Candidate
	Social Democratic			39.42	21	Miguel Albuquerque
	Socialist			35.76	19	Paulo Cafôfo
	Together for the People			5.76	3	Élvio Sousa
	People's			5.47	3	Rui Barreto
	Unitary Democratic Coalition		Communist	1.80	1	Edgar Silva
	Unitary Democratic Coalition		The Greens	1.80	–	Edgar Silva
	Left Bloc			1.74	–	Paulino Ascenção
	People, Animals, Nature			1.46	–	João Henrique de Freitas
	Retirees and Pensioneers			1.23	–	Rafael Macedo
	React, Include, Recycle			1.22	–	Roberto Vieira
	Labour			1.00	–	Raquel Coelho
	Alliance			0.53	–	Joaquim Sousa
	Liberal Initiative			0.53	–	Nuno Morna
	Enough			0.43	–	Miguel Teixeira
	Democratic Republican			0.42	–	Filipe Rebelo
	Workers' Communist			0.42	–	Fernanda Calaça
	Earth			0.35	–	Valter Rodrigues
	Rise Up			0.19	–	Álvaro Araújo

Opinion polling

Related Research Articles

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References

↑ "Madeira Government". Madeira Web. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
↑ "Economic, social and territorial situation of Portugal" (PDF). European Parliament. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
↑ "Conservative Madeirans Are Cool to the Revolutionary Politics of Mainland. Portugal". The New York Times. 20 November 1975. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
↑ Ames, Paul (23 September 2019). "Portugal's Costa gets Madeira boost ahead of election". Politico.eu. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
↑ Garcia, Javier (10 October 1996). "Madeira's rebel priests choose politics to beat inequality". El País. The Independent. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

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[1] "Madeira Government". Madeira Web. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

[2] "Economic, social and territorial situation of Portugal" (PDF). European Parliament. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

[3] "Conservative Madeirans Are Cool to the Revolutionary Politics of Mainland. Portugal". The New York Times. 20 November 1975. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

[4] Ames, Paul (23 September 2019). "Portugal's Costa gets Madeira boost ahead of election". Politico.eu. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

[5] Garcia, Javier (10 October 1996). "Madeira's rebel priests choose politics to beat inequality". El País. The Independent. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

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