2024 Azorean regional election
No later than October 2024
57 seats to the Legislative Assembly of the Azores[1]
29 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
 
Portrait of José Manuel Bolieiro.jpg
Vasco Cordeiro 2016.jpg
CH
Leader José Manuel Bolieiro[lower-alpha 1] Vasco Cordeiro José Pacheco
Party PSD PS CHEGA
Alliance AD
Leader since 2019 2012 2022
Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel[2] Compensation
Last election 26 seats, 41.6%[lower-alpha 2] 25 seats, 39.1% 2 seats, 5.1%
Current seats 26 25 1
 
BE
Nuno Barata Almeida e Sousa.jpg
Pedro Neves PAN.png
Leader António Lima Nuno Barata[lower-alpha 3]
José Luís Parreira		 Pedro Neves
Party BE IL PAN
Leader since 2018 2019 2019
Leader's seat São Miguel[2] São Miguel
Terceira		 São Miguel
Last election 2 seats, 3.8% 1 seat, 1.9% 1 seat, 1.9%
Current seats 2 1 1
Incumbent President

José Manuel Bolieiro
PSD


A regional election will be held in Azores no later than October 2024, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Azores. The election will replace all 57 members of the Azores Assembly, and the new members will then elect the President of the Autonomous Region.

The current president, José Manuel Bolieiro from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), is currently leading a coalition government between the Social Democrats and the CDS – People's Party (CDS-PP) and People's Monarchist Party (PPM), with the parliamentary support of CHEGA. The Liberal Initiative (IL) initially supported the PSD coalition government but withdrew their support from the government on 8 March 2023.[3] The Social Democrats, the CDS – People's Party and the People's Monarchist Party will contest this election in a joint coalition as stipulated in their 2020 coalition agreement.[4]

Background

2023 government crisis

The PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition government was, since the beginning, marred by unstability due to political tensions between or within parties, especially CHEGA, which already lost a member of the regional Parliament in the meantime.[5] But, on 8 March 2023, the Liberal Initiative decided to remove their support for the government, citing deep disagreements on policy and tensions between the minor parties within the coalition, CDS-PP and PPM particularly.[6] Shortly after, the independent MP Carlos Furtado, a CHEGA dissident, also withdrew his support for the government accusing the government of lack of institutional respect and for failing to follow the deal between them and Furtado.[7]

Following these announcements, that made the government lose its majority, President José Manuel Bolieiro rejected the idea of a motion of confidence and said that he will continue to govern, but that elections could be on the table.[8] The PS, the main opposition party, discussed the possibility of presenting a motion of no confidence against the government,[9] but the idea was dropped, and the PSD coalition government will govern as a minority and negotiate case by case with parties.[10]

Rejection of the budget proposal for 2024

In 23 November 2023, the parliament of Azores failed to approve the regional government's budget proposal for 2024. 28 MPs voted against it, 27 MPs voted in favor and 2 MPs abstained. The votes against it were cast by PS (25), BE (2) and IL (1). The votes in favor were by PSD (21), CDS-PP (3), PPM (2) and the independent MP Carlos Furtado (1). CHEGA (1) and PAN (1) abstained. According to the Framework Law for the Budget of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the regional government must present a new budget proposal within 90 days of the rejection of the previous proposal. The president of the regional government, José Manuel Bolieiro, said he wanted to present a new budget proposal. That same day, the President of Portugal scheduled meetings for 30 November, at the Belém Palace in Lisbon, with the parties represented in the parliament of Azores.[11][12][13]

On the meeting with the President of Portugal, in 30 November, José Manuel Bolieiro said that it seemed pointless to present a second budget proposal without a guarantee of its approval and that early regional legislative elections should be held as quickly as possible. He suggested the date of 4 February 2024 for the elections and announced that PSD, CDS-PP and PPM would run together as a coalition. PS, CDS-PP, BE, PPM and IL also said they wanted early elections.[14][15]

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. Current distribution of MPs by constituency:

Constituency Total
MPs		 Registered
voters
Corvo 2
Faial 4
Flores 3
Graciosa 3
Pico 4
Santa Maria 3
São Jorge 3
São Miguel 20
Terceira 10
Compensation 5
Total 57

Parties

Current composition

The table below lists parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of the Azores before the election.

Name Ideology Leader 2020 result Current
seats
Votes (%) Seats
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 Social democracy Vasco Cordeiro 39.1%
25 / 57
25 / 57
PSD Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrata		 Liberal conservatism José Manuel Bolieiro 33.7%
21 / 57
21 / 57
CDS-PP CDS – People's Party
Centro Democrático Social – Partido Popular		 Conservatism Artur Lima 5.5%
3 / 57
3 / 57
CH CHEGA!
Chega!		 Economic liberalism
Right-wing populism		 José Pacheco[16] 5.1%
2 / 57
1 / 57
BE Left Bloc
Bloco de Esquerda		 Left-wing populism António Lima 3.8%
2 / 57
2 / 57
PPM People's Monarchist Party
Partido Popular Monárquico		 Monarchism Paulo Estêvâo 2.4%
2 / 57
2 / 57
IL Liberal Initiative
Iniciativa Liberal		 Liberalism Nuno Barata
José Luís Parreira		 1.9%
1 / 57
1 / 57
PAN People Animals Nature
Pessoas-Animais-Natureza		 Animal welfare
Environmentalism		 Pedro Neves 1.9%
1 / 57
1 / 57
Ind. Independent
Independente		 Carlos Furtado (expelled from CHEGA caucus)[17]
1 / 57

Opinion polls

Polling firm/Link Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout PS Democratic Alliance CH BE PAN IL O Lead
PSD CDS–PP PPM
2022 Legislative election 30 Jan 2022 — 36.7 42.8 33.9 5.9 4.3 1.4 4.1 7.6 8.9
2021 Local Elections 26 Sep 2021 — 54.2 43.1 46.4 1.2 1.8 0.5 1.2 5.8 3.3
2020 Regional Election 25 Oct 2020 — 45.4 39.1
25		 33.7
21		 5.5
3		 2.4
2		 5.1
2		 3.8
2		 1.9
1		 1.9
1		 6.6
0		 5.4

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ As leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
  2. ↑ Sum of votes and seats of the PSD, CDS–PP and PPM in the 2020 election. PSD: 33.7%, 21 seats; CDS–PP: 5.5%, 3 seats; PPM: 2.4%, 2 seats.
  3. ↑ Nuno Barata shown in the image.

References

  1. ↑ Alteração à Lei Eleitoral da ALRA dos Açores - CNE (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: Comissão Nacional dos Eleições, archived from the original on 2009-02-19
  2. 1 2 Assembleia Legislativa dos Açores - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  3. ↑ IL rompe com PSD nos Açores e ex-Chega imita-o. PS já fala em “certidão de óbito” Público, 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Acordo político entre PSD, CDS e PPM nos Açores é para duas legislaturas TVI24, 14 November 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  5. ↑ Chega-Açores perde líder e um deputado: Carlos Furtado passa a independente “com alegria” Público, 14 July 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  6. ↑ IL rompe acordo de incidência parlamentar com Governo dos Açores Notícias ao Minuto, 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  7. ↑ Açores. Após IL, deputado independente também rompe acordo com Governo Notícias ao Minuto, 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  8. ↑ Bolieiro recusa moção de confiança e ser "fator de instabilidade" Jornal de Notícias, 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  9. ↑ "Temos assistido permanentemente a situações de instabilidade". PS Açores decide sobre moção de censura na quinta-feira CNN Portugal, 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  10. ↑ Crise política nos Açores: Bolieiro promete estabilidade governativa SIC Notícias, 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  11. ↑ Henriques, João (23 November 2023). "Parlamento dos Açores chumba orçamento. Marcelo convoca partidos". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "Orçamento dos Açores para 2024 chumbado com votos contra da IL, PS e BE e abstenções do Chega e PAN". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). 23 November 2023. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  13. ↑ "Lei n.º 79/98, de 24 de novembro". Diário da República (in Portuguese). Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  14. ↑ Martins, Susana (30 November 2023). "PSD quer eleições antecipadas nos Açores. "Mais vale antecipar uma decisão do povo"". Radio Renascença (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  15. ↑ Soares, Tiago; Correia, João. "Governo regional dos Açores pede eleições antecipadas para 4 de fevereiro". Expresso (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  16. ↑ Deputado regional José Pacheco eleito presidente do Chega nos Açores Sapo24, 23 April 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  17. ↑ Ex-deputado do Chega/Açores fica na Assembleia Regional como independente, TSF Radio, 14 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
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