Azores regional election, 2012

Azores regional election, 2012

← 2008 14 October 2012 2016 →
57 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Azores 29 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	107,756 (47.86%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Vasco Cordeiro Berta Cabral Artur Lima Party PS PSD CDS–PP Leader since 2012 2008 2008 Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Terceira Last election 49.9% 30.3% 8.7% Seats before 30 18 5 Seats won 31 20 3 Seat change 1 2 2 Popular vote 52,827 35,572 6,110 Percentage 49.02% 33.01% 5.67% Swing 0.9% 2.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Zuraida Soares Aníbal Pires Paulo Estêvão Party BE CDU People's Monarchist Party Leader since 2008 2008 2008 Leader's seat São Miguel São Miguel Corvo Last election 3.3% 3.1% 0.08% Seats before 2 1 1 Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 1 0 0 Popular vote 2,428 2,045 86 Percentage 2.25% 1.90% 1.75%
Map of the 2012 Azorean Regional Elections, showing civil parish constituencies won by political parties
President before election Carlos Cesar PS President-designate Vasco Cordeiro PS

Carlos Cesar
PS

Vasco Cordeiro
PS

The Azores Regional Election (2012) (Portuguese: Eleições Regionais dos Açores, 2012) was an election held on 14 October 2012 for the legislative assembly and government of the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. in which the Socialist party nominee, under the leadership of Vasco Cordeiro won an absolute majority with 49% of the vote, in comparison to their direct rivals, the Social Democratic Party (led by Berta Cabral), who achieved only 33% of the vote. Voter turnout was low (although higher than in 2008) with just under 47.9% of the electorate casting their ballot on election day.

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.

The election was called by the President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva after consulting with all the parties represented in the Azorean Legislative Assembly. Each of the parties had proposed different dates for these elections, with the Communists and Bloc representatives preferring 21 October 2012, while the Social Democrats favouring 7 or 14 October. The PPM preferred 30 September, the earliest date that these elections could be undertaken, defending that "the faster the better", although also proposing 7 October, as an alternative.

The elections marked the end of a 16 years of consecutive Socialist mandates led by outgoing regional President Carlos Cesar, who had announced his intention not to continue to lead the Socialist Party (PS) on 8 October 2011. In his place, the PS nominated Vasco Cordeiro to represent their party during several months of pre-campaigning against their rivals the Social Democrats (PSD), under the stewardship of then incumbent mayor of Ponta Delgada, Berta Cabral. The election occurred as a culmination of a years round of campaigning that started with the nomination of Vasco Cordeiro to replace the outgoing Carlos Cesar as leader of the party.