2000 Azorean regional election

The Azores Regional Election, 2000 (Portuguese: Eleições Regionais dos Açores, 2000) was an election held on 15 October 2000 for the legislative assembly and government of the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores, in which the Socialist Party, under the leadership of Carlos César received 49 percent of the votes, and got an absolute majority, in comparison to their direct rivals, the Social Democratic Party with 32 percent. Voter turnout was the lowest til then with just 53.3 percent of the electorate casting their ballot on election day.

2000 Azorean regional election

← 1996 15 October 2000 2004 →
52 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores 27 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	53.3% 5.9 pp
First party Second party   Leader Carlos César Alberto Costa Party PS PSD Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Last election 24 seats, 45.8% 24 seats, 41.0% Seats won 30 18 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 49,438 32,642 Percentage 49.2% 32.5% Swing 3.4 pp 8.5 pp
Map of Azores showing constituencies won
President before election Carlos César PS Elected President Carlos César PS

Background

In the Azores, there were 52 seats in the Regional Parliament in dispute, the same of the previous election, in 1996. The seats were distributed by the 9 islands of the archipelago proportionally to the population of each island; however, each island is entitled to at least two members of parliament.

Electoral system

For the 2000 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[1]
Corvo	2	341
Faial	4	11,519
Flores	3	3,241
Graciosa	3	3,936
Pico	4	11,836
Santa Maria	3	4,432
São Jorge	4	7,912
São Miguel	19	98,490
Terceira	10	44,623
Total	52	186,330

Issues

Political parties

The political parties, movements and alliances during these elections mirrored many of the parties that appeared in the national legislative and/or European elections of that year, but specifically included the following:

• Left Bloc (BE)
• People's Monarchist Party-Democratic Party of the Atlantic (PPM-PDA), actually two independent parties; the PPM and PDA, ran as a coalition; leaders of each party: Miguel Pignatelli Queirós (PPM) and Joaquim de Aguiar Cabral (PDA)
• People's Party (CDS–PP);
• Socialist Party (PS);
• Social Democratic Party (PSD), leader Alberto Madruga da Costa
• Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), is a coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Açores and the Greens (PEV)^[2]

Results

For a second term, the Socialist Party won the regional election in Azores, increasing its share of the vote from 30% to 49%, and re-electing Carlos César to the presidency of the Regional Government. Many of the Social Democrat's mandates were lost, while César and his teram obtained an absolute majority with 30 of the assembly's 52 seats.

The Social Democrats, who had dominated the politics of the islands since the Carnation Revolution lost almost 10% of the vote, and six MPs. The People's Party (CDS), despite raising their share of the vote (by more than 2%), lost one of their representatives, due to the application of the Hondt election model in the nine islands. The People's Monarchist Party, which had not participated in the previous election, ran in coalition with the Democratic Party of the Atlantic, but were unsuccessful in obtaining any representation. The Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), led by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) raised their popular vote by 1%, achieving another deputy (on the island of Faial).

After aligning itself with many of the smaller left-of-centre parties, the People's Democratic Union (UDP), elements of the party merged with the Left Bloc, but did not achieve any representation.

Summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 15 October 2000 Legislative Assembly of the Azores election results

2 30 18 2
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs
					1996	2000	±	%	±
	Socialist	49,438	49.20	3.4	24	30	6	57.69	11.5
	Social Democratic	32,642	32.48	8.5	24	18	6	34.62	11.5
	People's	9,605	9.56	2.2	3	2	1	3.85	1.9
	Democratic Unity Coalition	4,856	4.83	1.4	1	2	1	3.85	1.9
	Left Bloc	1,387	1.38	—	—	0	—	0.00	—
	PPM / PDA	799	0.80	—	—	0	—	0.00	—
Total valid		98,727	98.25	0.6	52	52	0	100.00	0.0
Blank ballots		895	0.89	0.3
Invalid ballots		862	0.86	0.3
Total		100,484	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		188,543	53.30	5.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share PS   49.20% PSD   32.48% CDS-PP   9.56% CDU   4.83% BE   1.83% PPM/PDA   0.80% Blank/Invalid   1.75%

Parliamentary seats PS   57.69% PSD   34.62% CDS-PP   3.85% CDU   3.85%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 2000 election of the Legislative Assembly
of Azores by constituency

Constituency	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	Total S
	PS		PSD		CDS-PP		CDU
Corvo	32.5	1	31.8	1	31.1	-			2
Faial	35.4	2	30.2	1	3.8	-	27.8	1	4
Flores	26.9	1	26.8	1	21.8	-	21.9	1	3
Graciosa	51.4	2	42.0	1	3.2	-	1.1	-	3
Pico	45.4	2	44.2	2	5.7	-	1.9	-	4
Santa Maria	65.7	2	24.5	1	5.0	-	1.4	-	3
São Jorge	34.0	2	45.4	2	15.5	-	1.3	-	4
São Miguel	53.3	12	30.1	6	8.7	1	3.2	-	19
Terceira	49.5	6	32.2	3	12.8	1	2.3	-	10
Total	49.2	30	32.4	18	9.6	2	4.8	2	52
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

• 
  Map showing island constituencies won by political parties.