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

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

autonomous region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy� ...

of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, under the leadership of

Carlos César Carlos Manuel Martins do Vale César, GCC (born 30 October 1956) is a Portuguese politician and former President of the Regional Government of the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. He currently serves as member of the Assembly of the ...

, 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 In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

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

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 The Democratic Party of the Atlantic ( pt, Partido Democrático do Atlântico, ) was a political party, based in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. A regional party, whose electorate was concentrated on the islands of São Miguel, it was cr ...

(PDA). *

Democratic Unity Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition ( pt, CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP–PEV) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Gr ...

(CDU), an alliance of the

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

and

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...

(PCP). * People's Democratic Union (UDP). * People's Party (CDS-PP), an alliance with the People's Monarchist Party (PPM). *

(PS), leader

. *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(PSD), leader Alberto Costa.

Results

The winner of the election was the

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 The Unitary Democratic Coalition ( pt, CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP–PEV) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Gr ...

, led by the

maintained its one deputy MP by electing one deputy on the island of

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

. The People's Democratic Union did not elect a single deputy.

Summary of votes and seats

, - , colspan="11", , - ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left,

Parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...

! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± pp

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center", MPs ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=MPs %/
votes % , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

! align="center", 1996 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , , 51,906, , 45.82, , 9.4, , 21, , 24, , 3, , 46.15, , 5.0, , 1.01 , - , , 46,449, , 41.00, , 12.6, , 28, , 24, , 4, , 46.15, , 8.7, , 1.13 , - , , 8,346, , 7.37, , —, , 1, , 3, , 2, , 5.77, , 3.8, , 0.78 , - , , 3,940, , 3.48, , 1.2, , 1, , 1, , 0, , 1.92, , 0.1, , 0.55 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#E2062C align="center" , , align=left, People's Democratic Union , 983, , 0.87, , —, , —, , 0, , —, , 0.00, , —, , 0.0 , - , , 340, , 0.30, , 1.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 111,964 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 98.83 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.5 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 51 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 52 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 1 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", — , - , colspan=2, Blank ballots , 705, , 0.62, , 0.1, , colspan=6 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , 624, , 0.55, , 0.6 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 113,293 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 191,477, , 59.17, , 3.0 , - , colspan=11 align=left, 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). , - , colspan=11 align=left , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Distribution by constituency

, - class="unsortable" !rowspan=2, Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S !rowspan=2, Total
S , - class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=2 , PS !colspan=2 ,

PSD PSD may refer to: Educational bodies * Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a Pre-K to 12th grade school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Philippine School Doha, a Filipino schoo ...

!colspan=2 , CDS-PP !colspan=2 , CDU , - , style="text-align:left;" , Corvo , 29.3 , - , 32.9 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 35.8 , 1 , colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA", , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faial , style="background:; color:white;", 44.6 , 2 , 41.7 , 2 , 6.4 , - , 5.5 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 19.6 , 1 , 30.9 , 1 , 14.9 , - , style="background:red; color:white;", 33.4 , 1 , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Graciosa Graciosa Island () (literally "graceful" or "enchanting" in Portuguese) is referred to as the ''White Island'', the northernmost of the Central Group of islands in the Azores. The ovular Portuguese island has an area of , a length of and a width ...

, 42.5 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 53.2 , 2 , 1.9 , - , 0.7 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Pico Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribei ...

, 41.6 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 50.4 , 2 , 4.7 , - , 1.7 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santa Maria , style="background:; color:white;", 60.6 , 2 , 32.3 , 1 , 4.0 , - , 1.5 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , São Jorge , 29.7 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 56.0 , 3 , 12.5 , - , 1.0 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , São Miguel , style="background:; color:white;", 46.6 , 10 , 40.3 , 8 , 5.9 , 1 , 3.8 , - , 19 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Terceira Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 50.4 , 5 , 36.8 , 4 , 10.2 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 10 , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 45.8 , 24 , 41.0 , 24 , 7.4 , 3 , 3.5 , 1 , 52 , - , colspan=10 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

File:Eleições Legislativas Regionais nos Açores de 1996.svg, 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 The CDS – People's Party ( pt, CDS – Partido Popular, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

(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:

References

External links

Comissão Nacional de EleiçõesLegislative Assembly of Azores - Official website