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250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 126 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 7,930,668 ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 5,676,358 (71.6%)![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1987 Portuguese legislative election took place on 19 July. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.
In the previous election, in 1985, the Social Democratic Party had won a minority government managing to survive in coalition with the Democratic and Social Center and the Democratic Renewal Party, and after the approval of a no-confidence motion from the left-wing parties, with the aid of the Democratic Renewal Party, the government fell. The PS tried to form a new government with the support of the PRD and CDU, but Mário Soares, the President at the time, rejected the idea and called for a new election.[1]
The PSD was reelected in a landslide, winning a majority government with just over 50 percent of the votes and 148 of the 250 seats, a majority of 46. Not only was this the most seats that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election, but it was first time since the Carnation Revolution that a single party won an absolute majority. Although the PSD was very popular going into the election, the size of its victory far exceeded the party's most optimistic expectations. The PSD won every district with the exception of Setúbal, Évora and Beja, which voted for the CDU.
The Socialist Party gained a few seats and got a slightly higher share of the vote, 22 percent compared with the almost 21 percent in 1985, but the scale of the PSD victory made the party lose most of its influence. Like in 1979, 1980 and 1985, the PS failed to win a single district. The left-wing Democratic Unity Coalition lost some of its MPs to the Socialist Party and the Democratic Renewal Party, now led by former President António Ramalho Eanes, lost almost all of its influence, mainly due to its responsibility in the fall of the former PSD minority government. The right-wing Democratic and Social Center lost almost half of its vote share, due to the effect of tactical voting for the also right-wing, Social Democratic Party.
European elections were held on the same day.
Background
Fall of the government
In the first months of 1987, a trip of a Portuguese parliamentary delegation to the Soviet Union, which also passed by Estonia, a territory that wasn't recognized by Portugal as under Soviet control, created a diplomatic issue that was used by the Opposition to bring down the Cavaco Silva minority government.[2] Parliament approved, by a 134 to 108 vote, a motion of no confidence and the government fell.[3] President Mário Soares refused an alternative PS-PRD-PCP government and decided to dissolve Parliament and call a snap election.[4]
Leadership changes and challenges
CDS 1986 leadership election
The 1985 general election results were quite disappointing for CDS, and then party leader Francisco Lucas Pires resigned from the leadership.[5] Adriano Moreira, supported by the more conservative wings, and João Morais Leitão, supported by the more "centrist" wings of the party, were the two candidates running for the leadership in the April 1986 congress.[6] Adriano Moreira was elected new party leader by a 82-vote difference.[7] The results are the following:
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Adriano Moreira | 533 | 54.2 | |
João Morais Leitão | 451 | 45.8 | |
Turnout | 984 | ||
Source: Results |
PS 1986 leadership election
In the 1985 general election the PS nominated António Almeida Santos, while an internal leadership, head by António Macedo, ruled the party, but the Socialists achieved their worst result ever, just 20.8 percent.[8] The PS candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Mário Soares, was narrowly elected to that post by a 51 to 49 percent margin against Diogo Freitas do Amaral, the candidate supported by CDS and PSD.[9] After that victory, the party called a party congress, for late June 1986, to elect a new leader. There were two candidates on the ballot, Vítor Constâncio and Jaime Gama.[10] Vítor Constâncio was elected as new party leader.[11]
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Vítor Constâncio | WIN | ||
Jaime Gama | |||
Turnout | |||
Source: |
PRD 1986 leadership election
The Democratic Renewal Party surprised with their excellent results in the 1985 elections, winning almost 18 percent of the votes.[12] António Ramalho Eanes, the main figure and inspiration for PRD, left the post of President of the Republic in March 1986, and, shortly after in late April, was unanimously elected as the new leader of the PRD, succeeding Hermínio Martinho.[13]
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
António Ramalho Eanes | Voice vote | ||
Turnout | 100.0 | ||
Source: |
Electoral system
The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members elected to four-year terms. Governments do not require absolute majority support of the Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 126 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.[14]
The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[15] The use of the d'Hondt method makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the Hare quota or Sainte-Laguë method, which are more generous to small parties.[16]
For these elections, and compared with the 1985 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[17]
District | Number of MPs | Map |
---|---|---|
Lisbon | 56 | |
Porto | 39 | |
Braga(+1) and Setúbal | 17 | |
Aveiro | 15 | |
Santarém | 12 | |
Leiria and Coimbra | 11 | |
Viseu | 10 | |
Faro | 9 | |
Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real | 6 | |
Azores, Beja, Guarda and Madeira | 5 | |
Bragança and Évora(–1) | 4 | |
Portalegre | 3 | |
Europe and Outside Europe | 2 |
Parties
The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 4th legislature (1985–1987) and that also partook in the election:
Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | 1985 result | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | Seats | ||||||
PPD/PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata |
Liberal conservatism Classical liberalism |
Centre-right | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | 29.9% | 88 / 250
| |
PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista |
Social democracy | Centre-left | Vítor Constâncio | 20.8% | 57 / 250
| |
PRD | Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovador Democrático |
Centrism Third Way |
Centre | António Ramalho Eanes | 17.9% | 45 / 250
| |
PCP | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português |
Communism Marxism–Leninism |
Far-left | Álvaro Cunhal | 15.5% [a] |
35 / 250
| |
MDP/CDE | Portuguese Democratic Movement Movimento Democrático Português |
Left-wing nationalism Democratic socialism |
Left-wing | José Manuel Tengarrinha | 3 / 250
| ||
CDS | Democratic and Social Centre Centro Democrático e Social |
Christian democracy Conservatism |
Centre-right to right-wing |
Adriano Moreira | 10.0% | 22 / 250
|
Campaign period
Party slogans
Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|
PSD | « Portugal não pode parar » | "Portugal can't stop" | [18] | |
PS | « A alternativa » | "The alternative" | [19] | |
CDU | « CDU, É melhor para Portugal » | "CDU, It's better for Portugal" | [20] | |
PRD | « Agora Portugal » | "Now Portugal" | [21] | |
CDS | « Vote prá maioria » | "Vote for the majority" | [22] |
Candidates' debates
No debates between the main parties were held as the PSD leader and Prime Minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, refused to take part in any debate.[23]
Opinion polling
The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed were represented in parliament (1985-1987). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1985 and 1987 for reference.
Exit poll
Date Released | Polling Firm | ![]() |
PS | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Others | Lead | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19 Jul 1987 | Leg. election | 50.2 148 |
22.2 60 |
4.9 7 |
12.1 31 |
4.4 4 |
6.2 0 |
28.0 | |
19 Jul 1987 | RTP1 | 48.0–50.0 | 21.0–23.0 | 5.0–7.0 | 12.5–14.5 | 3.0–5.0 | – | 27.0 | |
19 Jul 1987 | Antena1 | 45.0–47.0 | 24.0–25.0 | – | – | – | – | 21.0–22.0 | |
17 Jul 1987 | Euroexpansão/Expresso | 41.0–44.0 | 22.0–25.0 | 11.0–14.0 | 13.0–15.0 | 4.0–6.0 | – | 19.0 | |
9 Oct 1986 | Tempo | 35.6 | 24.8 | 9.2 | — | 9.8 | – | 10.8 | |
15 Dec 1985 | Local elections | 34.2 | 27.6 | 4.7 | 19.6 | 9.8 | 4.1 | 6.6 | |
6 Oct 1985 | Leg. election | 29.9 88 |
20.8 57 |
17.9 45 |
15.5 38 |
10.0 22 |
5.9 0 |
9.1 | |
National summary of votes and seats
![]() | ||||||||||
Parties | Votes | % | ± | MPs | MPs %/ votes % | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1985 | 1987 | ± | % | ± | ||||||
Social Democratic | 2,850,784 | 50.22 | ![]() |
88 | 148 | ![]() |
59.20 | ![]() |
1.18 | |
Socialist | 1,262,506 | 22.24 | ![]() |
57 | 60 | ![]() |
24.00 | ![]() |
1.08 | |
Democratic Unity Coalition[b][c] | 689,137 | 12.14 | ![]() |
38 | 31 | ![]() |
12.40 | ![]() |
1.02 | |
Democratic Renewal | 278,561 | 4.91 | ![]() |
45 | 7 | ![]() |
2.80 | ![]() |
0.57 | |
Democratic and Social Centre | 251,987 | 4.44 | ![]() |
22 | 4 | ![]() |
1.60 | ![]() |
0.36 | |
People's Democratic Union | 50,717 | 0.89 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.00 | ![]() |
0.0 | |
Revolutionary Socialist | 32,977 | 0.58 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.00 | ![]() |
0.0 | |
Portuguese Democratic Movement | 32,607 | 0.57 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |
Christian Democratic | 31,667 | 0.56 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.00 | ![]() |
0.0 | |
People's Monarchist | 23,218 | 0.41 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |
Portuguese Workers' Communist | 20,800 | 0.37 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.00 | ![]() |
0.0 | |
Communist Party (Reconstructed) | 18,544 | 0.33 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.00 | ![]() |
0.0 | |
Workers Party of Socialist Unity | 9,185 | 0.16 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.00 | ![]() |
0.0 | |
Total valid | 5,552,690 | 97.82 | ![]() |
250 | 250 | ![]() |
100.00 | ![]() |
— | |
Blank ballots | 50,135 | 0.88 | ![]() |
|||||||
Invalid ballots | 73,533 | 1.30 | ![]() | |||||||
Total | 5,676,358 | 100.00 | ||||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 7,930,668 | 71.57 | ![]() | |||||||
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |
Distribution by constituency
Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSD | PS | CDU | PRD | CDS | |||||||
Azores | 66.7 | 4 | 20.0 | 1 | 2.3 | - | 3.0 | - | 3.3 | - | 5 |
Aveiro | 60.4 | 11 | 22.9 | 4 | 4.4 | - | 2.7 | - | 5.3 | - | 15 |
Beja | 24.5 | 1 | 20.3 | 1 | 38.7 | 3 | 5.7 | - | 2.0 | - | 5 |
Braga | 53.4 | 10 | 25.9 | 5 | 6.1 | 1 | 3.3 | - | 5.9 | 1 | 17 |
Bragança | 60.8 | 3 | 19.2 | 1 | 3.2 | - | 1.3 | - | 7.6 | - | 4 |
Castelo Branco | 52.1 | 4 | 22.4 | 2 | 7.1 | - | 6.0 | - | 4.7 | - | 6 |
Coimbra | 50.0 | 6 | 28.7 | 4 | 7.2 | 1 | 3.5 | - | 4.5 | - | 11 |
Évora | 32.1 | 2 | 15.4 | - | 36.2 | 2 | 7.7 | - | 2.1 | - | 4 |
Faro | 46.7 | 5 | 24.9 | 3 | 10.9 | 1 | 6.3 | - | 3.1 | - | 9 |
Guarda | 60.0 | 4 | 21.8 | 1 | 3.3 | - | 2.0 | - | 6.6 | - | 5 |
Leiria | 60.8 | 9 | 18.7 | 2 | 5.9 | - | 3.0 | - | 6.0 | - | 11 |
Lisbon | 45.8 | 28 | 21.2 | 12 | 16.5 | 10 | 6.9 | 4 | 3.7 | 2 | 56 |
Madeira | 65.5 | 4 | 16.2 | 1 | 1.9 | - | 3.3 | - | 5.2 | - | 5 |
Portalegre | 37.4 | 1 | 25.1 | 1 | 20.9 | 1 | 6.3 | - | 3.1 | - | 3 |
Porto | 50.9 | 22 | 26.7 | 11 | 9.4 | 4 | 4.0 | 1 | 4.0 | 1 | 39 |
Santarém | 47.9 | 7 | 21.7 | 3 | 12.6 | 1 | 7.3 | 1 | 3.6 | - | 12 |
Setúbal | 32.6 | 6 | 17.6 | 3 | 32.7 | 7 | 8.7 | 1 | 1.9 | - | 17 |
Viana do Castelo | 54.5 | 5 | 20.3 | 1 | 6.3 | - | 4.8 | - | 7.7 | - | 6 |
Vila Real | 62.5 | 5 | 20.3 | 1 | 4.1 | - | 1.4 | - | 5.0 | - | 6 |
Viseu | 64.1 | 8 | 17.9 | 2 | 2.9 | - | 1.7 | - | 7.0 | - | 10 |
Europe | 37.0 | 1 | 28.4 | 1 | 15.9 | - | 4.9 | - | 6.6 | - | 2 |
Outside Europe | 63.2 | 2 | 7.3 | - | 1.4 | - | 1.7 | - | 19.9 | - | 2 |
Total | 50.2 | 148 | 22.2 | 60 | 12.1 | 31 | 4.9 | 7 | 4.4 | 4 | 250 |
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |
Maps
-
Most voted political force by municipality.
Notes
- ^ The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) contested the 1985 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU) and won a combined 15.5% of the vote and elected 39 MPs to parliament.
- ^ Portuguese Communist Party (29 MPs) and "The Greens" (2 MPs) ran in coalition.
- ^ In 1985, as United People Alliance.
References
- ^ "1987. Da moção de censura à primeira maioria de Cavaco", Jornal i, 30 August 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- ^ "1987. Da moção de censura à primeira maioria de Cavaco" (in Portuguese). Jornal i. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
- ^ "A única moção de censura e as duas moções de rejeição que derrubaram governos" (in Portuguese). Jornal Económico. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
- ^ "Crise. Soares dissolveu em 1987. Cavaco não o pode fazer em 2015" (in Portuguese). Jornal i. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
- ^ "Histórica CDS-PP", CDS-PP. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "Do CDS ao CDS-PP: o Partido do Centro Democrático Social e o seu papel na política portuguesa", Richard A. H. Robinson, 1996. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ^ "Adriano Moreira completa hoje 90 anos", TSF, 6 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "Quando o candidato do PS não foi o líder", Diario de Notícias, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "1986, o ano de "Soares é fixe"", TSF, 7 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "20 Anos Acção Socialista 1978-1998", Socialist Party, 1998. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Vítor Constâncio (n.1943)", Centro Documentação 25 de Abril. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "PRD é a surpresa das legislativas de 1985 ", RTP, 8 September 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "Exclusivo 1986. Eanes assume liderança do PRD", Diario de Notícias, 29 April 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
- ^ "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
- ^ Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
- ^ "Eleição da Assembleia da República de 19 de Julho de 1987". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição da Assembleia da República de 19 de Julho de 1987. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1987 – PSD". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "Evolução da Comunicação Política e Eleitoral em Portugal" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1987 – CDU – AUTOCOLANTES". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "Campanha eleitoral do PRD". RTP (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1987 – CDS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "O que mudam os debates na TV". Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 4 September 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
Further reading
- David B. Goldey, "The Portuguese elections of 1987 and 1991 and the presidential election of 1991." Electoral Studies 11.2 (1992): 171–176.
External links
- Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político