# 2016 Azorean regional election

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 | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Duarte Freitas | 1,401 | 92.6 |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 112 | 7.4 |
| Turnout | 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 | 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 | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time |
| Turnout | 11:00 | 11:00 | 11:00 | 16:00 | 16:00 | 16:00 | 19:00 | 19:00 | 19:00 |
| Turnout | 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 | Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | MPs | MPs | MPs | MPs | MPs | MPs %/ votes % |
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | 2012 | 2016 | ± | % | ± | MPs %/ votes % |
| | 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 | 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 | Total valid | 88,270 | 94.69 | 0.8 | 57 | 57 | 0 | 100.00 | 0.0 | — |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 2,697 | 2.90 | 0.3 | | | | | | |
| Invalid ballots | Invalid ballots | 2,227 | 2.40 | 1.1 | | | | | | |
| Total | Total | 93,194 | 100.00 | | | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 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 |
| Constituency | PS | PS | PSD | PSD | CDS-PP | CDS-PP | BE | BE | CDU | CDU | PPM | PPM | | Total S |
| 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 ||||||||||||||