The election of the new Azorean Diaspora Councilors started this Tuesday, May 20, and runs until May 24. During this period, voting will take place solely online through the Azoreans in the World platform: https://acorianosnomundo.azores.gov.pt/.

This process, promoted by the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities, through the Regional Directorate for Communities, aims to elect 19 representatives of the Azorean diaspora, distributed among the regions with the largest presence of Azorean communities: Bermuda (1), the United States of America (5), Canada (5), Brazil (5), Uruguay (1), national territory outside the Autonomous Region of the Azores (1) and the rest of the world (1), who will be part of the Azorean Diaspora Council for a second four-year term, 2025-2029.

The candidates for councillors are:

From Bermuda – Richard George da Silva Ambrósio;

From Brazil in the geographical areas of Rio de Janeiro – Hugo Desio Ormonde Rocha and Marcos Godinho Borba; for Rio Grande do Sul – Alexsander Borges Ribeiro and Regis Albino Marques Gomes; for Santa Catarina – Lucas Vinicius de Oliveira, Marcos Henrique Oliveira Pinheiro, André Arthur Dutra and Ronaldo Cardinal da Fontoura; for São Paulo – Luís Carlos Medeiros and António Tavares Arruda;

From the remaining states – Ivison Xavier Duarte, Vânia Mendes Ramos da Silva, Guilherme Fanchin, José Roberto Bezerra de Medeiros, and Giuliano Alves de Sousa;

From Canada in the geographical areas of British Columbia – Esmeralda de Jesus Correia Cabral; for Manitoba – Paulo Jorge de Melo Pimentel Cabral; for Ontario – Matthew Jay Fidalgo Correia and Suzanne Maria Cunha; for the Remaining Provinces and Territories – Carlos Eduardo Boiteux de Almeida;

From the United States of America for the geographical areas of California – Zeto Nuno Melo Carvalho; for Massachusetts – Danny Romão de Melo; and for the Remaining States – David Rebelo Pimentel and Katherine Sousa Soares;

From Uruguay – Sofía Lilí Quintana Ruiz;

From mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Region of Madeira – Rui Manuel de Medeiros Melo Silva and Fernando Melo de Souza;

From the Rest of the World – Tiago Augusto Garcia Domingues.

The Azoreans in the World platform allows all Azoreans living outside the Azores archipelago to register, offering them the chance to stand as councillors, vote, and elect representatives from their geographical area of residence.

Applications were submitted between April 1 and 10, followed by the validation of the electoral lists and candidates, whose names were announced on April 15, which also marked the start of the electoral campaign. During the election period, all Azoreans living in the diaspora who have validated their registration on the platform by May 18 can vote. Voting takes place entirely digitally, is secure and accessible from anywhere worldwide, and allows each voter to vote only once.

After voting has closed, the Electoral Commission will calculate and validate the results, which will be approved by a member of the Regional Government responsible for emigration and Azorean communities. In the event of a tie in a given geographical area, a second round will be held between the tied candidates, with voting taking place between May 28 and 30, 2025.

The Azorean Diaspora Council was founded in 2019 to ensure the participation, collaboration, and consultation of those who contribute to or intend to contribute to the Azores’ development project through debates, the issuing of opinions, suggestions, and proposals.

All the stages of this process are available on the Azoreans in the World platform, via the link https://acorianosnomundo.azores.gov.pt/.

From José Andrade-Regional Director for the Azorean Communities.