President refuses debates with ‘traitors’

The National Commission of Elections is coming to Madeira form the 17^th to the 20th of July, to hold meetings with the press in the run up to the regional elections in Madeira.

In response to this news, President Jardim accused the National Commission of Elections and the Press Regulation Entity of coming to Madeira to influence the elections against the Regional Government. Asked whether he would participate in debates, Jardim refused the idea, saying he does not sit with ‘traitors’. He added that neither Government, nor the Parliament, nor his own Party or the Jornal da Madeira would receive the Commission or hold any contacts with it, since he does not recognize its authority.

One of the issues on the agenda is sure to be the case of the state-funded newspaper,  Jornal da Madeira. During the legislative elections, in June, the Commission requested that the Jornal either suspend the collaboration of election candidates or included opinion pieces from candidates of all parties. The Jornal duly suspended President Jardim’s articles, but continued to only publish opinion pieces of members of his party, which naturally slated all the other parties. Although state entities have moved at snail-pace to respond to the many complaints against this situation, each small decision has made Jardim’s position increasingly untenable.