2019 Madeiran regional election

2019 Madeiran regional election

← 2015 22 September 2019 2023 →
47 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Madeira 24 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	55.5% 5.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Miguel Albuquerque Paulo Cafôfo[a] Rui Barreto Party PSD PS CDS–PP Leader since 10 January 2015 19 January 2018 (PRGM candidate) 22 July 2018 Last election 24 seats, 44.4% 5 seats (CM)[b] 7 seats, 13.1% Seats won 21 19 3 Seat change 3 14 4 Popular vote 56,449 51,207 8,246 Percentage 39.4% 35.8% 5.8% Swing 4.9 pp [b] 7.9 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   JPP Leader Élvio Sousa Edgar Silva Party JPP CDU Leader since 27 January 2015 1996 Last election 5 seats, 10.3% 2 seats, 5.5% Seats won 3 1 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 7,830 2,577 Percentage 5.5% 1.8% Swing 4.8 pp 3.7 pp
The most voted party by municipality.
President before election Miguel Albuquerque PSD Elected President Miguel Albuquerque PSD

Regional elections were held on 22 September 2019^[1] to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira in Portugal. All 47 members of the Assembly were up for election.

The Social Democratic Party continued their 43-year streak of being the largest party in the Madeiran legislature, but failed to hold on to their absolute majority, and would require a coalition for the first time to remain in power. The party won 39 percent of the votes, a decrease of 5 percentage points, and lost 3 members of the regional party. In the electoral map, the PSD lost the two biggest cities in Madeira, Funchal and Santa Cruz to the PS, although by less than 2 percent of the vote. Overall, the PSD still won the majority of municipalities, obtaining victory in 7 of the 11 in Madeira.

The Socialist Party surged in these elections, polling just two seats and 3.6 points behind the PSD. It was the best showing of the PS in a regional election in Madeira going back to the first regional elections in 1976, two years after the fall of the dictatorship. The party won 4 of the 11 municipalities in Madeira. The People's Party lost a lot of votes and seats in these elections, winning just 3 seats and 5.8 percent of the vote. Together for the People (JPP) also suffered a big setback by losing 2 members and almost 5 percent of the votes. It even failed to obtain second place in their traditional bastion of Santa Cruz, falling behind the PS and PSD. The Unitary Democratic Coalition lost 1 of their 2 seats, and lost 3.7 percent of votes compared to 2015. The Left Bloc was wiped from the regional Assembly completely and only won 1.7 percent of the votes. These elections were fought mainly between the PSD and PS, and many left-wing voters opted to vote tactically for the PS to prevent another PSD victory, but by doing so, they hurt the chances of smaller left-wing parties and alliances such as the Left Bloc and CDU.^[2]

The turnout in these elections increased compared to the previous one for the first time in over a decade, with 55.5 percent of voters casting a ballot, compared with the record-low 49.6 percent in the 2015 elections.

Following the elections, PSD and CDS-PP formed a coalition government with a parliamentary majority, headed by Miguel Albuquerque.^[3]

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