The Portuguese Autonomous Regions of Azores and Madeira held their own Regional Legislative election of 1996 on October 13. In the Azores, there were 52 seats in the Regional Parliament in dispute, one more than in the , in 1992. The seats were distributed by the 9 islands of the archipelago proportionally to the population of each island. In Madeira, there were 59 seats in dispute, two more than in the previous election, distributed by the 11 municipalities of the archipelago proportionally to the population of each municipality.