2004 Azorean regional election

2004 Azorean regional election

← 2000 17 October 2004 2008 →
52 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores 27 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	55.2% 1.9 pp
First party Second party   Leader Carlos César Victor do Couto Cruz Party PS PSD Alliance CA Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Last election 30 seats, 49.2% 20 seats, 42.1%[1] Seats won 31 21 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 60,140 38,883 Percentage 57.0% 36.8% Swing 7.8 pp 5.3 pp
President before election Carlos César PS Elected President 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 percent 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 percent of the votes.^[2]

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

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.

For the 2004 election, the Azores regional parliament elected 52 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.

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
• Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU);

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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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 Unitary 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 the 17 October 2004 Legislative Assembly of the Azores election results

31 21
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
					2000	2004	±	%	±
	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	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	People's Monarchist	293	0.28	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic	248	0.23	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	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

• 
  Map showing island constituencies won by political parties.

• Comissão Nacional de Eleições
• Legislative Assembly of Azores - Official website

• 2004 Madeira regional election