Next Azorean regional election

The next Azorean regional election will be held on or before 22 October 2028, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, Portugal. The election will replace all 57 members of the Azores Assembly, and the new members will then elect the President of the Autonomous Region.

President José Manuel Bolieiro, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) leads a minority coalition government with the CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM). The parties in the coalition government contested the previous election in an electoral coalition, but will contest this election in separate lists.

Background Following the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition win in the 2024 regional election, in the October 2025 local elections, the PSD, CDS–PP and PPM lists, alone or in coalition, won a combined 39.5% of the votes and 10 councils (7 PSD; 1 PSD/CDS; 1 PSD/CDS/PPM; 1 CDS), holding the region's capital, Ponta Delgada, and also Horta. Despite winning the popular vote by the narrowest of margins, just 0.1% ahead of the PSD-led coalition, the PS won 8 councils, losing one compared to 2021. Independent movements held on to one council, while Chega made little progress.

End of the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition In late April 2026, PSD-Azores leader and regional president José Manuel Bolieiro announced that the PSD would run alone in the next election, thus ending the coalition between the PSD and CDS–PP/PPM that contested the 2024 election, citing the terms of the agreement signed by the three parties. However, this announcement wasn't well received by the Social Democrats' junior partners, CDS–PP and PPM, with CDS–PP-Azores leader Artur Lima even floating around the idea of the party contesting the election in a coalition with the Socialist Party (PS).

Leadership changes and challenges Socialist Party A few weeks after the February 2024 election, Vasco Cordeiro announced his intention to not run for another term as party leader. A leadership ballot was called for 28 and 29 June 2024. Only one candidate was on the ballot, Francisco César, son of former President of the Regional Government Carlos César. As expected, Francisco César was easily elected with 93 percent of the votes:

Liberal Initiative The Liberal Initiative held a leadership ballot on 1 and 2 November 2024. Nuno Barata, IL-Azores regional leader and regional parliament member decided not to run for another term as regional leader. Hugo Almeida was the sole candidate on the ballot. On 2 November 2024, Hugo Almeida was elected with 82 percent of the delegates votes:

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: ConstituencyTotalMPsRegisteredvotersCorvo2Faial4Flores3Graciosa3Pico4Santa Maria3São Jorge3São Miguel20Terceira10Compensation5Total57

The next regional election is scheduled to take place between 28 September and 28 October 2028, so it must be held no later than 22 October 2028 if the legislature lasts its full 4-year term.

Parties

Current composition The table below lists parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of the Azores before the election. NameIdeologyLeader2024 result Status%SeatsPPD/PSDSocial Democratic PartyLiberal conservatismJosé Manuel Bolieiro42.1% rowspan="3" CDS–PPCDS – People's PartyChristian democracyArtur LimaPPMPeople's Monarchist PartyMonarchismPaulo EstêvãoPSSocialist PartySocial democracyFrancisco César35.9% rowspan="5" CHEnough!National conservatismJosé Pacheco9.2%BELeft BlocDemocratic socialismAntónio Lima2.5%ILLiberal InitiativeClassical liberalismHugo Almeida2.1%PANPeople Animals NatureAnimal welfarePedro Neves1.6%

Opinion polls Polling firm/Link Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2025 local elections 12 Oct 2025 53.9 39.539.6 7.9 0.7 1.3 1.0 10.0 0.1 2025 legislative election 18 May 2025 43.836.6 23.6 22.9 2.1 3.5 1.3 1.2 2.5 6.4 13.0 2024 EP election 9 Jun 2024 24.238.4 32.3 8.1 3.7 6.1 1.3 1.7 2.4 6.0 6.1 2024 legislative election 10 Mar 2024 46.239.8 29.2 15.8 3.4 2.7 1.6 1.1 1.7 4.8 10.6 2024 regional election 4 Feb 2024 50.3 42.135.9 9.2 2.5 2.1 1.6 1.6 0.6 3.1 6.2

Notes

References

External links Comissão Nacional de Eleições ERC - Official publication of polls

Next Azorean regional election

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