The PCP-Madeira coordinator, Edgar Silva, re-elected at the XI regional congress, defended this Sunday a “turn in the regime”, claiming that the party is “the great obstacle” to right-wing politics.
“When capitalist exploitation intensifies, when workers despair in the face of the attack on purchasing power, when injustices are aggravated by virtue of the right-wing policy, imposed either by the Government of the Republic, with a PS majority, or by the action of the Regional Government of Madeira, with a PSD/CDS-PP majority, the fundamental question that arises is the urgency of a political alternative.
The coordinator of the Madeiran communists was speaking at the closing session of the XI congress of the PCP-Madeira, in Funchal, after his re-election, unanimously approved, had been announced by the board.
Edgar Silva defended that “this congress also leaves the clear perception that the PCP is the great obstacle to right-wing politics”, arguing that PS and PSD perpetuate policies that favor large economic groups.
The communist leader recalled that the party has been denouncing for decades situations related to the use of public money by the Regional Government “to create and feed clientele that determine the whole set of the political-economic framework of the region”, an issue that has been on the order of the day recently, after the statements by the former PSD deputy to the Assembly of the Republic elected by Madeira, Sérgio Marques.
“It is this regime that is important to defeat. An alternative to the manorial regime that continues to be installed in Madeira is needed, in which corruption is a structural factor of the economic, social and political reality of the region”, he stressed.
And he reinforced: “For our part, we will do everything to combat and defeat the current regime of useless works, the misuse given to public money and works that are associated with corruption processes”.
Edgar Silva also noted that time has shown that “it was not enough to remove Alberto João Jardim from the [Regional] to change the regime”, considering that “the “renovadinhos” of Miguel Albuquerque [actual presidente do executivo madeirense] are more of the same” and “prolong the regime, always at the service of capital, with the same useless works”.
“And, just as the problem cannot be solved just by replacing some people with others, changing parties is not enough either. What is needed is to accelerate the fall of the old regime and build a political alternative”, reiterated the coordinator of the PCP-Madeira .
Edgar Silva argued that the PS also “is tied to gardening”, recalling an interview by the former leader of the PS-Madeira, Paulo Cafôfo, in which he stated that the former president of the Regional Government Alberto João Jardim “was an incomparable personality”.
“Therefore, there is a pole of those who praise the regime and who want more “gardening” for the region in the future, and then there is another path, which is that of those who fight for the alternative and who have been fighting in Madeira for a long time for more and better democracy”, he concluded.
Raimundo perspective “great election result”
The secretary general of the PCP said that the party will obtain a “great electoral result” in the regional elections in Madeira, which take place this year, with more votes and elected deputies.
“With confidence, with determination and, above all, with reason, we will build a great electoral result, the result that interests Madeirans and Porto Santo, with more votes, more strength and more deputies elected by the CDU [coligação PCP/PEV]”, declared Paulo Raimundo, in the closing session of the regional congress.
The communist secretary-general defended that in the next regional legislative elections, which have not yet been scheduled by the President of the Republic, “the strengthening of the CDU is the surest condition to give more voice to the workers and the people, to give more strength to the realization of their aspirations and rights, make the solution and response to problems more viable and closer”.
“Yes, we are the force of a true alternative and they, those who want to perpetuate the right-wing policy, know it well. That is why they attack us, falsify our positions and hide our initiative”, he considered.
From the perspective of Paulo Raimundo, in Madeira, “as in the Republic”, the “PS, by its choice, does not depart from the options of PSD, CDS, Chega and IL”. “The large employers’ associations, free zone businesses, speculative projects and clientele find in this PS, as they find in PSD and CDS [que lideram o executivo regional]the same warmth”, he maintained.
The communist secretary-general reinforced that the PCP is going into this electoral dispute “with great confidence […] for the opportunity it opens up for a clear affirmation of a true alternative that ensures a new direction for regional development”.
“We will, as we do every day and even more strongly, assert the CDU as an alternative force, with a program and objectives that pave the way for a policy capable of building a region with progress and economic and social development”, he assured.
Paulo Raimundo recognized, on the other hand, that the party has “a lot to do to strengthen the organization, particularly in companies and workplaces, go further in recruitment, take care of the functioning of bodies and organizations, make new cadres responsible”, as well as how to strengthen its financial capacity, “financial independence condition of the party”.
The PCP leader also mentioned several testimonies he heard at the congress about the growing difficulties resulting from the loss of purchasing power “in the face of an inflation that eats up salaries and pensions”, guaranteeing that the party’s mission is “to fight injustices and build the alternative “.