2000 Azorean regional election

The Azores regional election, 2000 (Portuguese: Eleições Regionais dos Açores, 2000) was an election held on 15 October 2000 to elect the 52 members of the regional legislative assembly for the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. The Socialist Party, under the leadership of Carlos César was reelected, receiving 49 percent of the votes, and winning an absolute majority, while their direct rivals, the Social Democratic Party fell to just 32 percent. Voter turnout was the lowest to date, with just 53.3 percent 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 1996. The seats were distributed by the nine 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 nine islands elect a number of MPs proportional to the number of registered voters. MPs are allocated by using the D'Hondt method.

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 Manuel Arruda

Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), is a coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Açores and the Greens (PEV)

Results

For a second term, the Socialist Party won the regional election in Azores, increasing its share of the vote from 45% to 49%, and re-electing Carlos César to the presidency of the Regional Government. With the Social Democrats losing seats, César and his party obtained an absolute majority of 30 seats out of the assembly's 52 seats.

The Social Democrats, who had dominated the island's politics since the Carnation Revolution, lost almost 10% of the vote, and six MPs, following four years of deep internal divisions.