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.
[1] 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.
The Military Governor of the Azores was by default the president of the Regional Junta, with the representatives nominated by the national government.
[2] Representatives were selected from between political personalities of great importance, from the electoral results of the April 1975 Constituent Assembly, that included:[2] The Regional Junta was the provisional government in the Azores, which tried to resolve many of urgent problems in the region, in addition to begin the process of administrative and political unification, following 150 years of the effects of the district system.
[3] The multi-party commission elaborated a counter-proposal that, even today, was considered polemic: the political equalization of voting power between islands and decentralization of governmental departments.