Jardim's PSD trounced in 7 out of 11 Municipalities

Jardim's party, which has held a monopoly of all city governments, was yesterday trounced at the ballots.

In Funchal, the Coalition for Change, led by the independent, Paulo Cafofo, secured 5 of the 11 mandates, the PSD came second with 4, and the CDS and Communists both held on to one seat. Its the first time in 36 years since Jardim took power that Funchal will be governed by a force other than the PSD.

The Together for the People (JPP) civic movement in Santa Cruz won an even more spectacular victory, securing 5 mandates, leaving the PSD with two.

 

 

São Vicente also fell to an independent candidature which joined members of the opposition with disaffected PSD militants. The independents won 4 out of the five mandates, the former PSD mayor will now sit alone in oppostion.

 

 

The CDS, Christian Democrats won Santana, securing 3 mandates to the PSD's 2.

The Socialists won Porto Moniz, 3-2; Porto Santo, 3-2; and  Machico 4-3.



The results have shaken the Jardim dictatorship, but he still intends to hold on to power, blaming the national government for the results and promising to clean his party of those who have promoted internal divisions.

Welsh and Canha vs Portugal at the European Court Verdict

The European Court has overturned a verdict condemning myself and Gil Canha of difamation. The case was brought against us by the Vice President of Madeira, Cunha e Silva, for a report written in the satirical newspaper, Garajau.

The article was about the contracting of the lawyer, Garcia Pereira, a leader of the Portuguese Maoist Party, MRPP, resorting to government funding to sue the Garajau over articles on the dealings of Cunha e Silva.

The accused were absolved in the lower Court, where the judge made some very pertinente observations on the way public funding was being against the press. The appeals Court, though not calling into question the substance of the facts, overturned the ruling, condeming us to pay compensation to the Vice President.

The European Court has now overruled that verdict, saying the judgement violated article 10 of the convention and ntoing that such procedures were detrimental to press freedom.

See:

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-126356

Funchal Municipal Elections Forecast

A recent opinion poll carried out by the Expresso shows the opposition coalition within reach of the PSD.

The PSD leads with 36,4%, followed by the 6 party coalition headed by Paulo Cafofo with 28,8%, the CDS with 24,8% and the Communist party with 6,9 %. 17,7% of those inquired were undecided.

The poll shows the PSD share of the vote has reduced dramatically and that the opposition is in the majority.

The opposition coalition was open to all parties, but the CDS refused to join. They are benefitting from a drift of discontented PSD supporters, owing to the split within the PSD, between President Jardim and the mayor of Funchal, Miguel Albuquerque. Jardim has launched virulent attacks on his internal rival and accuses him of being close to the CDS and of being controlled by the freemasons.

The coalition is consolidating its position with a strong door to door campaign.

Jardim tears newspaper

President Jardim, while visiting the offices of the Madeira rally, took the opportunity to tear up a copy of the Diário de Notícias newspaper.

In the run up to the elections, the government owned freebie newspaper, the Jornal, has been covering almost exclusively the initiatives of the PSD candidates.

PSD Foundation received 1.1 million Euros of state funding

Jardim lied about state funding granted to the PSD Madeira Foundation. In 2011, when the national government anounced it was launching an inquest into foundations recieving state founding, Jardim stated that the foundation of which he is president had never received a bean.

At the end of 2009, the Madeira Social Democrat Foundation applied for 1.6 million Euro in rural develpment funding, related to the countryside estate where his party holds its annual political rally. The funding was duly approved and paid up: 518,530 Euros in 2010; 81,779 Euros in 2011; 268,460 Euros in 2012; 235,818 Euros in 2013.

It would be interesting to find out just how the funding has been applied.

Funchal Mayor's car vandalised

The car belonging to Miguel Albuquerque, the Mayor of Funchal who challenged Jardim for the party leadership, was vandalised last night. It was parked outside his block of flats and the glass was smashed by a sharp object, presumed to be a pickaxe.

Similar acts of vandalism have occurred in the past against the property of opposition politicians. The fact that nothing was stolen from the vehicle, adds to the suspicion that the crime was politically motivated. Jardim's popularity is dwindling fast and he is well known for inciting violence against his political opponents - an ever increasing number are now from his own party.

Court Audits shelved by Public Prosecutor worth 520 million Euros

Source: Publico

The prosecutor attatched to the Court Auditors has refrained from taking to court eleven of the 39 audits which detected financial abuses. The shelving of these proceedings totals up to around 520 million Euros in undue payments and hidden debts.

In all the audits in which the Court considered members of the Regional Government indicted por the practice of abuses where the latter were financialy liable, the current Public Prosecutor refrained from requiring those responsible stand trial, said the judge, João Aveiro Pereira.