2016 Azorean regional election

2016 Azorean regional election

16 October 2016
57 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores 29 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	40.8% 7.0 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Vasco Cordeiro Duarte Freitas Artur Lima Party PS PSD CDS–PP Leader since 2012 2013 2008 Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Terceira Last election 31 seats, 49.0% 20 seats, 33.0% 3 seats, 5.6% Seats won 30 19 4 Seat change 1 1 1 Popular vote 43,274 28,793 6,674 Percentage 46.4% 30.9% 7.2% Swing 2.6 pp 2.1 pp 1.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Zuraida Soares João Corvelo Paulo Estêvão Party BE PCP PPM Alliance CDU Leader since 2016 2008 Leader's seat São Miguel Flores Corvo Last election 1 seat, 2.3% 1 seats, 1.9% 1 seat, 0.9% Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 1 0 0 Popular vote 3,414 2,437 866 Percentage 3.7% 2.6% 0.9% Swing 1.4 pp 0.7 pp 0.8 pp
Map showing island constituencies won by political parties
President before election Vasco Cordeiro PS Elected President Vasco Cordeiro PS

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.

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

Leadership changes and challenges

Social Democratic Party

Following 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:

Ballot: 18 December 2012

Candidate		Votes	%
	Duarte Freitas	1,401	92.6
Blank/Invalid ballots		112	7.4
Turnout		1,513	–
Source:

Electoral system

The 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
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

The 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

Poll 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

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	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

The 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

Results

Summary of the 16 October 2016 Legislative Assembly of Azores elections results

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

Vote share PS   46.43% PSD   30.90% CDS-PP   7.16% BE   3.66% CDU   2.61% PAN   1.44% PPM   0.93% Others   1.57% Blank/Invalid   5.30%

Parliamentary seats PS   52.63% PSD   33.33% CDS-PP   7.02% BE   3.51% CDU   1.75% PPM   1.75%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 2016 election of the Legislative Assembly of Azores
by constituency

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

External links

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