“I will rule with a relative majority”: Boleiro breaks alliances and intends to govern the Azores with 26 deputies

The remaining parties have a share below 3%. The left bloc received 2.54% of the votes, IL – 2.15%, PAN – 1.65%, PCP – 1.58%, Livre – 0.64%, JPP – 0.54%, ADN – 0.33% and MPT Aliança – 0%.

Abstention in the elections was about 50%, the lowest level since 2004.

This Sunday, the PS/Açores lost the regional legislative elections for the first time since 1996, electing 23 deputies, while the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition elected 26 parliamentarians from the Legislative Assembly.

In the early elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the PSD/CDU-PP/PPM coalition elected 26 out of 57 deputies, three short of an absolute majority, while the PS received 23 seats.

Chege managed to elect five deputies, while the Left Bloc, Liberal Initiative and PAN elected one deputy each.

AD reaction

“I will govern with a relative majority. It is in this scenario that I will try to achieve government stability for 4 years,” says Jose Manuel Boleiro. The leader of AD Açores says he is happy and cheerful and says that AD received 5297 votes. “We see that people’s trust is growing, people are joining our management en masse,” he said. The election winner accuses the PS of forming a negative coalition and “still losing.”

“In fact, Boleiro was the winner of the evening. He achieved a victory for this coalition that we had not achieved for 32 years. He is the inspiration for March 10th,” begins Luis Montenegro. “These results create conditions for controllability,” he states.

PS Reaction from the Azores

Vasco Cordeiro begins by already congratulating José Manuel Boleiro on AD’s victory in the elections. “The vote is clear and obvious. My candidacy did not achieve the desired success,” he says. He added that all “decisions and considerations” regarding this outcome “will be made at the appropriate time and place.”

Pedro Nuno Santos states that “when the PS wins, the whole PS wins, and when it loses, the whole PS loses.” The PS leader says he wants stability, social and economic progress.

IL reaction

Rui Rocha begins with gratitude. The Liberal Initiative managed to elect a deputy. “We will continue in parliament, together with our deputy Nuno Barato, to fight for the lives of the Azoreans and the progress of the Azores,” he said. For Rui Rocha, this Sunday’s results show the defeat of the left. “The PS achieved a result unprecedented in recent decades, which was below expectations,” he states.

“AD will determine the path he intends to follow. IL will contribute, be ready to vote and promote proposals that will benefit the Azoreans and against circles that, in our assessment, do not support the progress of the Azores,” he says.

Reaction BE

Mariana Mortagua states that “the context of these elections was difficult, but it is also clear that the Left Bloc did not achieve its goal in these elections, in a year in which it maintained its parliamentary group, remaining with only one deputy and being the fourth force.”

PCP response

Paulo Raimundo, leader of the PKP, says the result was not what was needed because the party was unable to elect a single deputy.

Chegi’s reaction

Andre Ventura says that the PS and the left will not have a parliamentary majority and, according to Chega’s leader, “this is due to Chega’s exponential growth throughout the Azores, in Sao Miguel and Terceira, with larger constituencies.”

Chega more than doubled the results of the 2020 elections. “I have already congratulated the President and the Azores team on the result,” says Andre Ventura.

“From today, with these results, Chega will begin to work together with the PSD to create a government that will ensure stability in the Azores. We are working together to achieve convergence within 4 years,” he states.

CDS-PP reaction

Nuno Melo, leader of the CDS-PP, says he hopes the coalition can “get seven deputies.” He adds that the AD (SDP/CDU-PP/PPM Coalition) “won a great victory.” He adds that “only by voting for the Democratic Alliance can change be achieved, and this change must also happen on March 10, because Portugal needs more than just protests, it needs change.”

“We hope that the final counting of votes and the distribution of mandates will be completed, but AD is the first political force in the Azores,” says Nuno Melo.