2004 Azorean regional election

2004 Azorean regional election
	17 October 2004
	17 October 2004
52 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores; 27 seats needed for a majority
President before election; Carlos César; PS	President-designate ; Carlos César; PS

The Azores Regional Election, 2004 (Portuguese: Eleições Regionais dos Açores, 2004) was an election held on 17 October 2004 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 won 57% of the votes, and got an absolute majority, for the 2nd consecutive turn. The Social Democratic Party ran in a coalition with the People's Party, called Azores Coalition, but was massively defeated gathering just 37% of the votes.[2]

Voter turnout increased, for the first time since the 1992 election, with 55.2% of the electorate casting their ballot on election day.

Background

In the Azores, there were 52 seats in the Regional Parliament in dispute, the same of the previous election, in 2000. 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.

Political parties

A total of 7 parties and/or coalitions ran in these elections. The parties/coalitions listed on the voting ballots were the following:

Left Bloc (BE);
Earth Party (MPT);
Democratic Party of the Atlantic (PDA);
People's Monarchist Party (PPM);
Socialist Party (PS), leader Carlos César;
Social Democratic Party / People's Party (PSD/CDS–PP) Azores Coalition (CA), leader Victor do Couto Cruz
Unitarian Democratic Coalition (CDU);

Results

For a third consecutive term, the Socialist Party won the regional election in Azores, increasing its share of the vote from 49% to 57%, and re-electing Carlos César to the presidency of the Regional Government. César and his party obtained an absolute majority with 31 of the assembly's 52 seats.[3]

The Social Democrats and the People's Party contested these elections in a joint coalition called "Azores Coalition". The coalition achieved a very disappointing result, polling 20% below the Socialists. The PSD/CDS-PP coalition only won 37% of the votes, but was able to increase the number of parliament members to 21, against the combined total of 20 both parties had since 2000. In fact, the bad result from this PSD/CDS-PP coalition was one of the reasons PSD and CDS didn't contest, in a coalition, the 2005 general elections.[4] Due to the strong bipolarization of the race, both PS and PSD/CDS-PP gathered a total of almost 94% of the votes, and due to the application of the Hondt election model in the nine islands, the smaller parties were severely punished. The Unitarian Democratic Coalition (CDU), led by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), saw their share of vote reduced by almost half and they lost all representation in the regional parliament. The Left Bloc also suffered a setback by polling below 1%.

The People's Monarchist Party, the Earth Party and the Democratic Party of the Atlantic also failed to make any inroads.

Summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 17 October 2004 Legislative Assembly of the Azores election results
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	2000	2004	±	%	±	MPs %/ votes %
	Socialist	60,140	56.97	7.8	30	31	1	59.62	1.9	1.05
	Azores Coalition (PSD / CDS–PP)	38,883	36.84	5.3	20	21	1	40.38	1.9	1.10
	Democratic Unity Coalition	2,942	2.79	2.0	2	0	2	0.00	3.9	0.0
	Left Bloc	1,022	0.97	0.4	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
	Earth	369	0.35	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	0.00	N/A	0.0
	People's Monarchist	293	0.28	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	0.00	N/A	0.0
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic	248	0.23	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	0.00	N/A	0.0
Total valid		103,897	98.43	0.2	52	52	0	100.00	0.0	—
Blank ballots		879	0.83	0.1
Invalid ballots		780	0.74	0.1
Total		105,556	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		191,127	55.23	1.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share

PS			56.97%
CA (PSD/CDS-PP)			36.84%
CDU			2.79%
BE			0.97%
MPT			0.35%
PPM			0.28%
PDA			0.23%
Blank/Invalid			1.57%

Parliamentary seats

PS			59.62%
CA (PSD/CDS-PP)			40.38%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 2004 election of the
Legislative Assembly of Azores
by constituency
Constituency	%	S	%	S	Total S
Constituency	PS		CA		Total S
Corvo	49.4	1	36.1	1	2
Faial	39.8	2	40.2	2	4
Flores	46.2	2	35.9	1	3
Graciosa	52.7	2	44.3	1	3
Pico	49.4	2	46.3	2	4
Santa Maria	68.7	2	25.5	1	3
São Jorge	44.3	2	50.7	2	4
São Miguel	65.6	12	33.8	7	19
Terceira	59.1	6	37.0	4	10
Total	57.0	31	36.8	21	52
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

References

PSD: 32.5%, 18 seats; CDS-PP: 9.6%, 2 seats.
Maioria Absoluta nos Açores, Correio da Manhã, 17 October 2004. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
Os Senhores das Ilhas, Correio da Manhã, 17 October 2004. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
As eleições e a Coligação, Correio da Manhã, 24 October 2004. Retrieved 18 June 2018.