1996 Azorean regional election

The Azores Regional Election (1996) (Portuguese: Eleições Regionais dos Açores, 1996) was an election held on 13 October 1996 for the legislative assembly and government of the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores.

1996 Azorean regional election

13 October 1996
52 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores 27 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	59.2% 3.0 pp
First party Second party   Leader Carlos César Alberto Costa Party PS PSD Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Last election 21 seats, 36.4% 28 seats, 53.6% Seats won 24 24 Seat change 3 4 Popular vote 51,906 46,449 Percentage 45.8% 41.0% Swing 9.4 pp 12.6 pp
Map of Azores showing constituencies won
President before election Alberto Costa PSD Elected President Carlos César PS

The Socialist Party, under the leadership of Carlos César, was the first party with 45 percent of the votes, in comparison to their direct rivals, the Social Democratic Party who won 41 percent, although both parties were tied in seats with each party winning 24 MPs.

Voter turnout was relatively high with just over 59.17 percent of the electorate casting their ballot on election day.

Electoral system

For the 1996 election, the Azores regional parliament elected 52 members through a proportional system in which the 9 islands elect a number of MPs proportional to the number of registered voters. MPs are allocated by using the D'Hondt method.

Constituency	Total MPs	Registered voters
Corvo	2
Faial	4
Flores	3
Graciosa	3
Pico	4
Santa Maria	3
São Jorge	4
São Miguel	19
Terceira	10
Total	52

Political parties

A total of 6 political parties presented lists of candidates for the regional elections in the Azores, where 191,477 electors could elect 52 deputies to the Legislative Assembly. Of these parties, some of the more prominent:

• Democratic Party of the Atlantic (PDA).
• Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), an alliance of the Greens and Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).
• People's Democratic Union (UDP).
• People's Party (CDS-PP), an alliance with the People's Monarchist Party (PPM).
• Socialist Party (PS), leader Carlos César.
• Social Democratic Party (PSD), leader Alberto Costa.

Results

The winner of the election was the Socialist Party which, for the first time received a plurality of the public vote, although they obtained a comparable number of representatives in the Regional Assembly.

After 20 years of successive right-of-centre Social Democratic victories, Carlos Manuel Martins do Vale César became the new president of the Regional Government, succeeding Alberto Romão Madruga da Costa.

At the same time, the Democratic Alliance of the Azores lost its only deputy, while the People's Party (which had not participated in the last election) elected three deputies (with 7% of the vote). Meanwhile, the Unitary Democratic Coalition, led by the Portuguese Communist Party maintained its one deputy MP by electing one deputy on the island of Flores. The People's Democratic Union did not elect a single deputy.

Summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 13 October 1996 Legislative Assembly of Azores elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
					1992	1996	±	%	±
	Socialist	51,906	45.82	9.4	21	24	3	46.15	5.0	1.01
	Social Democratic	46,449	41.00	12.6	28	24	4	46.15	8.7	1.13
	People's[A]	8,346	7.37	—	1	3	2	5.77	3.8	0.78
	Democratic Unity Coalition	3,940	3.48	1.2	1	1	0	1.92	0.1	0.55
	People's Democratic Union	983	0.87	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic	340	0.30	1.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
Total valid		111,964	98.83	0.5	51	52	1	100.00	0.0	—
Blank ballots		705	0.62	0.1
Invalid ballots		624	0.55	0.6
Total		113,293	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		191,477	59.17	3.0
A The People's Party contested the 1992 election in an alliance formed by the People's Party (1 seat) and the People's Monarchist Party (0 seats).
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share PS   45.82% PSD   41.00% CDS-PP   7.37% CDU   3.48% UDP   0.87% PDA   0.30% Blank/Invalid   1.17%

Parliamentary seats PS   46.15% PSD   46.15% CDS-PP   5.77% CDU   1.92%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 1996 election of the Legislative Assembly
of Azores by constituency

Constituency	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	Total S
	PS		PSD		CDS-PP		CDU
Corvo	29.3	-	32.9	1	35.8	1			2
Faial	44.6	2	41.7	2	6.4	-	5.5	-	4
Flores	19.6	1	30.9	1	14.9	-	33.4	1	3
Graciosa	42.5	1	53.2	2	1.9	-	0.7	-	3
Pico	41.6	2	50.4	2	4.7	-	1.7	-	4
Santa Maria	60.6	2	32.3	1	4.0	-	1.5	-	3
São Jorge	29.7	1	56.0	3	12.5	-	1.0	-	4
São Miguel	46.6	10	40.3	8	5.9	1	3.8	-	19
Terceira	50.4	5	36.8	4	10.2	1	1.2	-	10
Total	45.8	24	41.0	24	7.4	3	3.5	1	52
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

• 
  Map showing island constituencies won by political parties.

Aftermath

Government approval

For the first time since democracy was established, the PSD failed to remain as the most voted party in the Azores and the PS formed a minority government. CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) supported, from the outside, the PS minority government. On 22 November 1996, the regional parliament approved the first center-left government in Azorean history:

1996 Motion of confidence Carlos César (PS)
Ballot →		22 November 1996
Required majority →		Simple Y
	Yes • PS (24) • CDS–PP (3)	27 / 52
	No • PSD (24)	24 / 52
	Abstentions • PCP (1)	1 / 52
	Absentees	0 / 52
Sources

External links

• Comissão Nacional de Eleições
• Legislative Assembly of Azores - Official website

See also

• 1996 Madeiran regional election