2007 Madeiran regional election

2007 Madeiran regional election
47 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Madeira; 24 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	60.7% 0.3 pp
	The most voted party in each municipality.
President before election; Alberto João Jardim; PSD	Elected President ; Alberto João Jardim; PSD

A regional election was held in Madeira on 6 May 2007, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The election was a snap election, as it was original schedule to only happen in October 2008. The election was called after the President of the Regional Government, Alberto João Jardim, resigned after his government clashed with the Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates due to the new regional finance law approved by the Sócrates government.^[1] Jardim defended that the new law was harmful for Madeira's interests. By this time, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) had been in power, nonstop, since 1976.

The election was a huge landslide for the PSD and Alberto João Jardim. He won one of the biggest landslides in Madeira electoral history, winning more than 64 percent of the votes and 70 percent of the members of the regional parliament.^[2] The PSD won, once again, in all 11 municipalities of the region. The Socialists suffered a huge setback in these elections winning just 15 percent of the votes and 7 seats, although the number of total members was reduced to 47 due to a new electoral system.

The smaller parties, CDS, CDU and BE, also saw their shares decrease and CDU, led by the Portuguese Communist Party, was able to pull ahead of the People's Party (CDS-PP). The Left Bloc (BE) had, like CDU, minor losses and was able to hold on to their sole seat. But other smaller parties gained representation for the first time. The Earth Party (MPT) and the New Democracy Party (PND) gained, both, one seat and polled above 2 percent.

Turnout in these elections increased very slightly compared with 3 years ago, with 60.8 percent of voters casting a ballot.

Electoral system

Before this election, members of the regional parliament were elected in 11 constituencies, representing the 11 municipalities of Madeira, that were awarded a determined number of member to elect according with the number of registered voters in those constituencies. The method used to elect the members was the D'Hondt method. For the 2007 elections, the system changed and members of the regional parliament would now be elected by a single constituency, coinciding with the territory of the Region.^[3] The method used, to elect members, would continue to be the D'Hondt method. The total number of members was also reduced from the 68, in the 2004 elections, to 47 in the 2007 elections.

Parties

The parties that partook in the election, and their leaders, were:^[4]

Left Bloc (BE), Paulo Martinho Martins
Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), Edgar Silva
Earth Party (MPT), João Gonçalves
New Democracy Party (PND), Baltasar de Carvalho Machado Gonçalves de Aguiar
Socialist Party (PS), Jacinto Serrão de Freitas
Social Democratic Party (PSD), Alberto João Jardim
People's Party (CDS–PP), José Manuel Rodrigues

Opinion polling

Date Released	Polling Firm	PSD	PS	CDS-PP	CDU	BE	Others	Lead
Date Released	Polling Firm						Others	Lead
6 May 2007	Universidade Católica^[5]	64.5	15.5	6.0	5.0	3.0	—	49.0
6 May 2007	Eurosondagem^[5]	69.0	13.0	5.5	4.1	2.2	—	56.0
Exit polls
2 May 2007	Intercampus	61.5	19.5	5.0	6.2	5.0	2.6	42.0
29 April 2007	Universidade Católica	66.0	16.0	5.0	4.0	3.0	6.0	50.0
27 April 2007	Eurosondagem	58.0	24.5	4.7	5.3	3.6	3.9	33.5
24 April 2007	Eurosondagem	59.3	23.8	4.8	5.2	3.3	3.6	35.5
23 February 2007	Eurosondagem	59.1	25.0	5.9	4.8	3.4	1.8	34.1
17 October 2004	Election results	53.7 44 seats	27.4 19 seats	7.0 2 seats	5.5 2 seats	3.7 1 seats	2.7	26.3

Summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 6 May 2007 Legislative Assembly of Madeira elections results
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
1 2 7 1 33 2 1
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	2004	2007	±	%	±	MPs %/ votes %
	Social Democratic	90,377	64.24	10.5	44	33	11	70.21	5.5	1.09
	Socialist	21,692	15.42	12.0	19	7	12	14.89	13.0	0.97
	Unitary Democratic Coalition	7,650	5.44	0.1	2	2	0	4.26	1.3	0.78
	People's	7,519	5.34	1.7	2	2	0	4.26	1.3	0.80
	Left Bloc	4,186	2.98	0.7	1	1	0	2.13	0.7	0.71
	Earth	3,175	2.26	—	—	1	—	2.13	—	0.94
	New Democracy	2,931	2.08	—	—	1	—	2.13	—	1.02
Total valid		137,530	97.75	0.4	68	47	21	100.00	0.0	—
Blank ballots		1,148	0.82	0.2
Invalid ballots		2,019	1.43	0.2
Total		140,697	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		231,606	60.75	0.3
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share

PSD			64.24%
PS			15.42%
CDU			5.44%
CDS-PP			5.34%
BE			2.98%
MPT			2.26%
PND			2.08%
Blank/Invalid			2.25%

Parliamentary seats

PSD			70.21%
PS			14.89%
CDU			4.26%
CDS-PP			4.26%
BE			2.13%
MPT			2.13%
PND			2.13%

Maps

Most voted political force by municipality.

References

^ Alberto João Jardim demite-se, Correio da Manhã, 19 February 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ Resultados finais: PSD-Madeira vence com 64,2 por cento, Público, 6 May 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição para a Assembleia Legislativa da Região Autónoma da Madeira 2007
^ Regionais 2011 - Candidatos
^ ^a ^b This poll provides data ranges and/or approximations. In order to simplify, the average of these data is given.

External links

[1] Alberto João Jardim demite-se, Correio da Manhã, 19 February 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2018.

[2] Resultados finais: PSD-Madeira vence com 64,2 por cento, Público, 6 May 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2018.

[3] Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição para a Assembleia Legislativa da Região Autónoma da Madeira 2007

[4] Regionais 2011 - Candidatos

[Exit_Polls_2007-5] This poll provides data ranges and/or approximations. In order to simplify, the average of these data is given.

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