2007 Madeiran regional election

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.

2007 Madeiran regional election
6 May 2007
47 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Madeira
24 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Alberto João Jardim Jacinto Serrão de Freitas
Party PSD PS
Last election 44 seats, 53.7% 19 seats, 27.4%
Seats won 33 7
Seat change 11 12
Popular vote 90,377 16,942
Percentage 64.2% 15.4%
Swing 10.5 pp 12.0 pp
The most voted party in each municipality.
President before election

Alberto João Jardim
PSD

 President-designate

Alberto João Jardim
PSD

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% of the votes and 70% 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% 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%

Turnout in these elections increased very slightly compared with 3 years ago, with 60.8% 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]

Opinion polling
Date Released Polling Firm PSD PS CDS-PP CDU BE Others Lead
6 May 2007 Universidade Católica[5] 64.5 15.5 6.0 5.0 3.0 N/A 49.0
6 May 2007 Eurosondagem[5] 69.0 13.0 5.5 4.1 2.2 N/A 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 %
2004 2007 ± % ±
Social Democratic 90,37764.2410.544331170.215.51.09
Socialist 21,69215.4212.01971214.8913.00.97
Unitary Democratic Coalition 7,6505.440.12204.261.30.78
People's 7,5195.341.72204.261.30.80
Left Bloc 4,1862.980.71102.130.70.71
Earth 3,1752.26N/AN/A1N/A2.13N/A0.94
New Democracy 2,9312.08N/AN/A1N/A2.13N/A1.02
Total valid 137,530 97.75 0.4 68 47 21 100.00 0.0 —
Blank ballots 1,1480.820.2
Invalid ballots 2,0191.430.2
Total 140,697 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 231,60660.750.3
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%

See also

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