The Azores regional coalition government has been thrown into crisis today with two parties announcing that they were pulling out. First came IL (Iniciativa Liberal) whose MP Nuno Barata highlighted the PSD party’s “incapacity to promote stability” within the coalition; then former CHEGA MP Carlos Furtado, now Independent, said he was going too, citing ‘lack of institutional respect’. The government’s PSD leader José Manuel Boleiro now has a major struggle on his hands, but for the time being is pledging to be “a benchmark of stability”. Today’s resignations leave the (PSD, CDS-PP, PPM) government with just 27 seats, versus opposition parties with a total now of 30.
