JPP assumes goal of electing for the first time

The secretary-general of Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP), Élvio Sousa, assumed that the party, which is running in the legislative elections on May 18 in 10 electoral districts, aims to be elected to the Assembly of the Republic for the first time.

“Our objective is to elect a representative for the first time, or more than one, the ideal is to elect them to the Assembly of the Republic” , stated Élvio Sousa, referring that the campaign slogan is the Voice of the Islands and that the JPP presents an “island brand” that is transversal to the candidacies of the various electoral districts.

In an interview with the Lusa news agency, the head of the JPP, whose candidacy in Madeira is headed by Filipe Sousa, highlighted that the party has more presence in that region, where it was born as a movement and later, in 2015, became a party.

The secretary general highlighted that one of the party's priorities is to ensure that Madeirans can directly pay the amount stipulated for air travel to the continent without having to pay the full amount in advance and only be reimbursed later.

A ferry line between the autonomous region and the mainland, which transports goods and passengers, is another of the JPP's priorities, which considers that it does not necessarily require the support of the Republic as advocated by the current Regional Government, led by the social democrat Miguel Albuquerque.

“We have an alternative solution, and it has already been made public, which is to negotiate with the governments, particularly the Canary Islands , so that there is an opportunity to have one or more shipowners, which are open, without necessarily having a competition”, he pointed out.

Élvio Sousa reinforced that this is an opportunity for Madeirans to stop being “kidnapped by air transport” and argued that “any archipelago region in Europe must necessarily have a ferry”.

“If it is not through commercial diplomacy, it is a requirement that the State has to comply with, period”, added the leader of the JPP, the party that obtained its best result ever in the regional legislative elections in March this year and became the leader of the opposition in Madeira, overtaking the PS.

The deputy in the regional parliament also stressed the need to “put an end to mistrust” towards the Madeira International Business Center, “respect the Constitution with regard to the principle of territorial continuity” and carry out a study to determine how much it costs to live in an autonomous region from a fiscal, social and economic point of view.

Nowadays, living in an autonomous archipelago region necessarily has a higher cost of living […] than living on the mainland”, he argued.

Reducing the carbon footprint, increasing wages, lowering taxes, taking measures to improve health, education and housing were other priorities listed by Élvio Sousa.

Regarding tax reduction, he warned that it is necessary to reduce State expenditure in order to accommodate revenue losses, noting that State Budgets have “many millions of euros”.

Regarding housing, the JPP secretary general stressed that the Government “does not necessarily have to guarantee bread and food for everyone”, but considered that the State must assume a regulatory role and “build housing at full steam for the middle class, for young couples and for all those who need it”. “We cannot have young couples or the middle class paying a thousand or so euros for a one-bedroom apartment”, he pointed out.

Asked to comment, on the other hand, on the performance of the two main parties, PSD and PS, Élvio Sousa criticized the deputies elected by these political forces for the Madeira constituency, “who say they do not follow national rules and guidelines”, but, he considered, “have already betrayed the Madeiran homeland”.

The JPP secretary-general recalled that these parties approved in the regional parliament, for example, a measure to allow the payment of IMI (Municipal Property Tax) in installments, which they later voted against in the Assembly of the Republic. “The JPP stands out […] because it is a party born in an autonomous region and that will follow this principle of regionalism”, he stated.

The JPP became a party in 2015 and was born from a citizens' movement in the municipality of Santa Cruz. In these legislative elections it is running for 10 electoral districts: Coimbra, Braga, Faro, Setúbal, Porto, Lisbon, Madeira, Azores, Europe and Outside Europe.

The leader of the list for Madeira, Filipe Sousa, brother of the secretary-general, is one of the founders and former president of the party. He currently does not hold any leadership position in the JPP, having been president of the Santa Cruz City Council since 2013, a position he suspended on April 7 to run for the legislative elections. In the legislative elections held on March 10 last year, the JPP obtained 19,145 votes (0.31%), failing to elect any deputies.