2011 Madeiran regional election

A regional election was held in Madeira on 9 October 2011, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. In the election, the Social Democratic Party, led by Alberto João Jardim, who has been in power since 1978, archived, once again, an absolute majority.

The campaign for the regional legislative election in Madeira ran from 25 September to 7 October 2011.

The election was marked by the discovery of a "financial hole" in the accounts of the Regional Government, which may have influenced the election results. In fact, the PSD obtained its worst result ever in a regional election (48.56 percent), resulting in the loss of eight deputies in relation to the regional elections of 2007. The CDS–PP grew from 5 percent to 17.6 percent and from 4th most voted party to second most voted party, a result that was considered historical by national party leader Paulo Portas.

The CDS–PP and PS-Madeira claimed that there were irregularities in the election, specifically because of the transportation of voters to the polls with vehicles of various public bodies which led to the formalization of a complaint to the National Elections Commission (CNE).

Electoral system
The 47 members of the Madeiran regional parliament are elected in a single constituency by proportional representation under the D'Hondt method, coinciding with the territory of the Region.

Parties
The parties that partook in the election, and their leaders, were:


 * Left Bloc (BE), Roberto Almada
 * Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), Edgar Silva
 * Earth Party (MPT), João Gonçalves
 * Party for Animals and Nature (PAN), Rui Almeida
 * New Democracy Party (PND), Hélder Spínola de Freitas
 * Socialist Party (PS), Maximiano Martins
 * Social Democratic Party (PPD/PSD), Alberto João Jardim
 * People's Party (CDS–PP), José Manuel Rodrigues
 * Portuguese Labour Party (PTP), José Manuel Coelho

Voter turnout
The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.

Summary of votes and seats
! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing ! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|MPs ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |MPs %/ votes % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center|2007 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center|2011 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
 * colspan="11"|2011 Madeiran Legislative Assembly.svg
 * colspan="11"|2011 Madeiran Legislative Assembly.svg
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * 71,561||48.57||15.7||33||25||8||53.19||17.0||1.10
 * 25,975||17.63||12.3||2||9||7||19.15||14.8||1.09
 * 16,942||11.50||3.9||7||6||1||12.77||2.1||1.11
 * style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#CC0033 align="center" |
 * align=left|Labour
 * 10,115||6.87||N/A||N/A||3||N/A||6.38||N/A||0.93
 * 5,546||3.76||3.8||2||1||1||2.13||2.1||0.57
 * 4,825||3.27||1.2||1||1||0||2.13||0.0||0.65
 * style="width: 10px" bgcolor=teal align="center" |
 * align=left|Party for Animals and Nature
 * 3,134||2.13||N/A||N/A||1||N/A||2.13||N/A||1.00
 * 2,839||1.93||0.3||1||1||0||2.13||0.0||1.10
 * 2,512||1.70||1.3||1||0||1||0.00||2.1||0.0
 * colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
 * width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|143,449
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|97.36
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.4
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|47
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|47
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.0
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—
 * colspan=2|Blank ballots
 * 1,088||0.74||0.1||colspan=6 rowspan=4|
 * colspan=2|Invalid ballots
 * 2,800||1.90||0.5
 * colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total
 * width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|147,337
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|
 * colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout
 * 256,755||57.38||3.4
 * colspan=11 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
 * }
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|47
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.0
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—
 * colspan=2|Blank ballots
 * 1,088||0.74||0.1||colspan=6 rowspan=4|
 * colspan=2|Invalid ballots
 * 2,800||1.90||0.5
 * colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total
 * width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|147,337
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
 * width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|
 * colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout
 * 256,755||57.38||3.4
 * colspan=11 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
 * }
 * colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout
 * 256,755||57.38||3.4
 * colspan=11 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
 * }
 * }