The 2016 Azorean regional election (Portuguese: Eleições regionais dos Açores de 2016) was on October 16 of the same year. In this election, the incumbent president of the regional government, led by the Socialist Vasco Cordeiro, was seeking a second term.
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57 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores[2] 29 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 40.8%  7.0 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map showing island constituencies won by political parties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In this election, the PS maintained their absolute majority but lost one seat and lost 2.6 percent of the vote compared to 2012. The Social Democrats also lost one seat although their vote share fall was lower than the Socialists. The big winner was the People's Party which gain 7 percent of the vote and gained one seat compared to 2012. The Left Bloc also won one more seat compared to last time while the CDU maintained their only seat but at the same time, gained in share of the vote and was the most voted party in the island of Flores. The PPM also maintained their seat in the island of Corvo.
Turnout in this election was the lowest ever, as only 40.84 percent of the electorate cast a ballot.
Background
editLeadership changes and challenges
editSocial Democratic Party
editFollowing the defeat of the PSD in the 2012 regional election, then party leader Berta Cabral resigned and a leadership ballot was called for 18 December 2012. Only one candidate was on the ballot: Duarte Freitas. Freitas was easily elected leader with almost 93 percent of the votes:[4]
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duarte Freitas | 1,401 | 92.6 | |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 112 | 7.4 | |
| Turnout | 1,513 | – | |
| Source: [5] | |||
Electoral system
editThe Azores regional parliament elects 57 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. 5 members are also elected for a Compensation constituency.
| Constituency | Total MPs |
Registered voters[6] |
|---|---|---|
| Corvo | 2 | 334 |
| Faial | 4 | 13,019 |
| Flores | 3 | 3,187 |
| Graciosa | 3 | 4,411 |
| Pico | 4 | 13,496 |
| Santa Maria | 3 | 5,499 |
| São Jorge | 3 | 8 648 |
| São Miguel | 20 | 127,206 |
| Terceira | 10 | 52,409 |
| Compensation | 5 | |
| Total | 57 | 228,259 |
Current parties in parliament
editThe parties that up to date of election were represented in the Assembly and their leaders, are:
| Party | Leader | MPs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Socialist Party (PS) | Vasco Cordeiro | 31 | |
| Social Democratic Party (PPD/PSD) | Duarte Freitas | 20 | |
| People's Party (CDS–PP) | Artur Lima | 3 | |
| Unitary Democratic Coalition (PCP–PEV) | Aníbal Pires | 1 | |
| Left Bloc (BE) | Zuraida Soares | 1 | |
| People's Monarchist Party (PPM) | Paulo Estêvâo | 1 | |
Opinion Polling
editPoll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded but both are displayed in bold. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication.
Vote
edit- Color key:
Exit poll
| Polling firm/Link | Fieldwork date | Sample size |
TO | 
|
|
|
|
|
O | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional election | 16.10.16 | — | 40.8% | 46.4 | 30.9 | 7.2 | 3.7 | 2.6 | 9.2 | 15.5 |
| UCP-CESOP[7] | 16.10.16 | ? | ? | 52.5 | 29.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 7.5 | 23.5 |
| Norma Açores | 20.09.16–28.09.16 | ? | 65.4% | 66.9 | 20.7 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 6.3 | 46.2 |
| Legislative election | 04.10.15 | — | 41.2% | 40.4 | 36.1 | 3.9 | 7.8 | 2.5 | 9.3 | 4.3 |
| Norma Açores | 15.04.15–21.04.15 | 503 | ? | 33.2 | 27.9 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 6.1 | 5.3 |
| EP election | 25.05.14 | — | 19.7% | 41.3 | 29.6 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 21.5 | 11.7 | |
| Local elections | 29.09.13 | — | 54.0% | 46.9 | 41.9 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 5.3 | 5.0 |
| Regional election | 14.10.12 | — | 47.9% | 49.0 | 33.0 | 5.6 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 8.2 | 16.0 |
Voter turnout
editThe table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.
| Turnout | Time | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00 | 16:00 | 19:00 | |||||||
| 2012 | 2016 | ± | 2012 | 2016 | ± | 2012 | 2016 | ± | |
| Total | 10.34% | 7.47% | 2.96 pp
|
34.37% | 29.29% | 5.08 pp
|
47.86% | 40.85% | 7.01 pp
|
| Sources[8] | |||||||||
Results
edit | ||||||||||
| Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | MPs | MPs %/ votes % | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2016 | ± | % | ± | ||||||
| Socialist | 43,274 | 46.43 | 2.6 |
31 | 30 | 1 |
52.63 | 1.8 |
1.13 | |
| Social Democratic | 28,793 | 30.90 | 2.1 |
20 | 19 | 1 |
33.33 | 1.8 |
1.08 | |
| People's | 6,674 | 7.16 |  1.6 |
3 | 4 | 1 |
7.02 | 1.8 |
0.98 | |
| Left Bloc | 3,414 | 3.66 | 1.4 |
1 | 2 | 1 |
3.51 | 1.8 |
0.96 | |
| Democratic Unity Coalition[A] | 2,437 | 2.61 | 0.7 |
1 | 1 |  0 |
1.75 | 0.0 |
0.67 | |
| People–Animals–Nature | 1,342 | 1.44 | 0.8 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
0.00 | 0.0 |
0.0 | |
| People's Monarchist | 866 | 0.93 | 0.8 |
1 | 1 | 0 |
1.75 | 0.0 |
1.88 | |
| United Party of Retirees and Pensioners | 451 | 0.48 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |
| Earth | 343 | 0.37 | 0.4 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
0.00 | 0.0 |
0.0 | |
| Portuguese Workers' Communist | 299 | 0.32 | 0.0 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
0.00 | 0.0 |
0.0 | |
| FREE/Time to move Forward | 227 | 0.24 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |
| Democratic Republican | 83 | 0.09 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |
| Socialist Alternative Movement | 67 | 0.07 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |
| Total valid | 88,270 | 94.69 | 0.8
|
57 | 57 | 0
|
100.00 | 0.0
|
— | |
| Blank ballots | 2,697 | 2.90 | 0.3 |
|||||||
| Invalid ballots | 2,227 | 2.40 | 1.1
| |||||||
| Total | 93,194 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 228,162 | 40.85 | 7.0
| |||||||
| A Portuguese Communist Party (1 MPs) and "The Greens" (0 MPs) ran in coalition. | ||||||||||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições | ||||||||||
Distribution by constituency
edit| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS | PSD | CDS-PP | BE | CDU | PPM | ||||||||
| Corvo | 36.7 | 1 | 26.2 | - | 0.4 | - | 1.6 | - | 32.0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Faial | 32.6 | 2 | 41.2 | 2 | 6.5 | - | 6.4 | - | 4.6 | - | 1.5 | - | 4 |
| Flores | 23.7 | 1 | 21.0 | 1 | 17.0 | - | 1.3 | - | 32.5 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Graciosa | 54.6 | 2 | 36.7 | 1 | 1.7 | - | 1.2 | - | 0.5 | - | 0.5 | - | 3 |
| Pico | 39.5 | 2 | 37.8 | 2 | 14.1 | - | 1.1 | - | 1.5 | - | 0.4 | - | 4 |
| Santa Maria | 50.3 | 2 | 29.1 | 1 | 1.8 | - | 4.4 | - | 8.3 | - | 0.6 | - | 3 |
| São Jorge | 39.5 | 1 | 21.4 | 1 | 26.3 | 1 | 2.8 | - | 3.0 | - | 0.7 | - | 3 |
| São Miguel | 49.2 | 12 | 30.6 | 7 | 3.2 | - | 4.2 | 1 | 1.5 | - | 1.2 | - | 20 |
| Terceira | 49.0 | 6 | 28.8 | 3 | 10.1 | 1 | 3.1 | - | 1.5 | - | 0.3 | - | 10 |
| Compensation | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 5 | ||||||
| Total | 46.4 | 30 | 30.9 | 19 | 7.2 | 4 | 3.7 | 2 | 2.6 | 1 | 0.9 | 1 | 57 |
| Source: Azores Government | |||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ "ALRAA-2016 - marcação oficial da data da eleição - 16 outubro 2016" (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ Alteração à Lei Eleitoral da ALRA dos Açores - CNE (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: Comissão Nacional dos Eleições, archived from the original on 2009-02-19
- ^ a b c d e Assembleia Legislativa dos Açores - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
- ^ "Duarte Freitas eleito presidente do PSD/Açores" (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Diário de Notícias. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ "Duarte Freitas eleito líder do PSD-Açores com 92,6%" (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ Mapa de Deputados (PDF), Lisbon, Portugal: Diário da Républica, 19 August 2016
- ^ This poll provides data ranges and/or approximations. In order to simplify, the average of these data is given.
- ^ "Candidatos apelam à participação nos Açores". eco.pt (in Portuguese). ECO. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2023.