Regional Junta of the Azores

The Regional Junta of the Azores (Portuguese: Junta Regional dos Açores) was the governing body created under Decree-Law 458-B/75 (22 August 1975), to substitute the Civil Governors of the autonomous districts of Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo and Horta and their individual General Juntas (Portuguese: Juntas Gerais). The Regional Junta was initially proposed by the Group of 11 (Portuguese: Grupo dos Onze, presided by the Civil Governor of the autonomous district of Ponta Delgada, António Borges Coutinho, in January 1975. Ironically, its creation was attributed to the events on 6 June 1975. The Regional Junta of the Azores governed for little more than a year, between 22 August 1975 and 8 September 1976.

Until the 19th century, the governing bodies of the Azores and Madeira were independent entities and treated as overseas territories by the national government in Lisbon.

After 2 March 1895, the Azores and Madeira began to operate as autonomous territories of Portugal, and was institutionalized in the Portuguese Constitution. The Azores functioned as autonomous districts under the administration of district General Juntas, the upper-tier institution responsible for fiscal policy and with the competencies to manage the regional economy. In practice, though, the Azores was abandoned politically and neglected from development programs, with emigration becoming the only "exit strategy" for local overcapacity and poverty. This autonomy and economic status remained until 1974. Yet, progressively, after 1910, many of these territory's rights and responsibilities were gradually reduced.

The Regional Junta functioned as a dependency of the Prime Minister and was composed of a president and six representatives. The Military Governor of the Azores was by default the president of the Regional Junta, with the representatives nominated by the national government. The other members of this organ included representatives for:

The Governing Junta of the Azores (Portuguese: Junta Governativa dos Açores) was nominated on 22 August 1975, and presided by Altino Amadeu Pinto de Magalhães, who at that time was the Military Governor. Representatives were selected from between political personalities of great importance, from the electoral results of the April 1975 Constituent Assembly, that included: