After the threats never carried out by Chega, it ended up being the only deputy from the Liberal Initiative (IL) in the Parliament of the Azores, Nuno Barata, to break the parliamentary advocacy agreement in support of the Regional Government that allowed the social democrats, in coalition with CDS and PPM come to power.
Shortly after this announcement by the liberal Nuno Barata, the independent ex-Chega deputy, Carlos Furtado, also stated that he would renounce the agreement he established with the social-democratic government, which means that the right-wing government coalition could be overthrown with a censure motion filed by the left which, together, now has 28 of the 57 seats in the Azorean Parliament.
“As of today, after all the efforts we have made to bring this agreement to an end, we are obliged to tell the Azoreans that the Liberal Initiative will communicate to Mr. representative of the Republic that frees itself from the parliamentary incidence agreement that it signed with the PSD”, announced Nuno Barata in a political declaration in the plenary of the Legislative Assembly that takes place in the city of Horta, Faial island.
“Today I also resign [do acordo de incidência parlamentar]. There are defaults and lack of institutional respect. Since I left the party [Chega] there are non-compliance, I was treated like a minor relative. I will inform the representative of the Republic that I will no longer comply with the agreement”, said, in turn, Carlos Furtado.
The PSD (with 21 deputies), the CDS (with three) and the PPM (with two), signed a government coalition that removed the PS (which elected 25 deputies) from power in the Azores.
In November 2020, the right-wing government signed an agreement with Chega (which then had two deputies) and, in parallel, the PSD also signed an agreement – “frugal”, now says the liberal parliamentarian – with the IL deputy. The scenario guaranteed the PSD executive some stability and the support of a total of 29 seats in the regional Parliament.
Or it was thought to be a guarantee, since Chega has already lost one of the two deputies precisely because of the PSD’s non-compliance with the agreement (but the independent deputy signed his own agreement with the regional government) and is now the instead of IL.
The problem is that the right (PSD, CDS, PPM and Chega) without the IL and without the former member of Chega now has only 27 seats in Parliament, while the left (PS, Bloco and PAN) dominates 28. Outside this count are those of IL and that of the ex-Chega independent deputy. The Regional Assembly of the Azores is composed of 57 deputies.
Before announcing the decision to break the agreement, Nuno Barata listed the ten measures that were part of the IL’s agreement with the PSD but that the social democrats never fulfilled in two and a half years, accused the liberal.
The deputy justified the decision with the “strength that PSD partners in the governing coalition do every day so that nothing changes and the inability of this PSD to promote due stability with its coalition partners”.
“Death certificate” from the Government, says PS
For his part, the PS/Azores deputy Vasco Cordeiro stated that the tearing up of the parliamentary advocacy agreement by the IL passed “a death certificate” to the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), which was already “politically dead”.
“The IL ended the parliamentary advocacy agreement. In light of the latest events, this government was already politically dead. What the IL deputy did was pass the death certificate to this government”, said Vasco Cordeiro, who led the Azorean executive until 2020.
For Vasco Cordeiro, the current Regional Government “is, was and will continue to be the source of political instability in the region”.
“This government was, is, and judging by what is known of some organizational solutions of the last Government Council, with the creation of mission structures to oversee the new regional secretary of Health, will continue to be the source of political instability in the region “, he said.
“I recommend that the Government consider whether its fragility is the best way to serve the Azores and the Azoreans”, he added.