Azores regional election, 2000

Azores regional election, 2000

← 1996 15 October 2000 2004 →
52 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores 27 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Carlos César Alberto Costa Party PS PSD Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Last election 24 seats, 45.8% 24 seats, 41.0% Seats won 30 18 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 49,438 32,642 Percentage 49.2% 32.5% Swing 3.4% 8.5%
Map of Azores showing constituencies won
President before election Carlos César PSD President-designate Carlos César PS

Carlos César
PSD

Carlos César
PS

The Azores Regional Election, 2000 (Portuguese: Eleições Regionais dos Açores, 2000) was an election held on 15 October 2000 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 received 49% of the votes, and got an absolute majority, in comparison to their direct rivals, the Social Democratic Party with 32%. Voter turnout was the lowest til then with just 53.3% 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 1996. 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.

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:

For a second term, the Socialist Party won the regional election in Azores, increasing its share of the vote from 30% to 49%, and re-electing Carlos César to the presidency of the Regional Government. Many of the Social Democrat's mandates were lost, while César and his teram obtained an absolute majority with 30 of the assembly's 52 seats.

The Social Democrats, who had dominated the politics of the islands since the Carnation Revolution lost almost 10% of the vote, and six MPs. The People's Party (CDS), despite raising their share of the vote (by more than 2%), lost one of their representatives, due to the application of the Hondt election model in the nine islands. The People's Monarchist Party, which had not participated in the previous election, ran in coalition with the Democratic Party of the Atlantic, but were unsuccessful in obtaining any representation. The Unitarian Democratic Coalition (CDU), led by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) raised their popular vote by 1%, achieving another deputy (on the island of Faial).