1985 Portuguese legislative election

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The 1985 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

In June of the same year, the then incumbent Prime Minister, Mário Soares, resigned from the job due to the lack of parliamentary support, the government was composed by a coalition of the two major parties, the center-right Social Democratic and the center-left Socialist, in what was called the Central Bloc, however this was an unstable balance of forces and several members of each party opposed such alliance.

The new leader of the Social Democratic Party, Cavaco Silva, elected in May, was among those that never supported such alliance, and short after being elected leader of the party made the coalition fall in July. Mário Soares didn't run again and resigned as party leader, as he decided to run for the 1986 Presidential elections. The PS nominated Almeida Santos, minister of state in Soares government, as intern leader and as the party candidate for Prime Minister.

A new election was called by the President and the Social Democrats won with a short majority and Cavaco became the Prime-Minister. The election was the first of three consecutive election victories for the Social Democratic Party. Meanwhile, a new party had been founded by supporters of the President Ramalho Eanes, the Democratic Renewal Party, led by Hermínio Martinho and which the main figure of the party's campaign was First lady Manuela Ramalho Eanes,[1] that surprisingly gained 45 MPs and more than one million votes in the election, becoming the parliamentary support of the Cavaco's government until 1987, when it removed its support, making Cavaco fall.

The Communists and the Socialists lost votes and MPs, and the left would only return to the government ten years later, in 1995.

Background

Government fall

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The unpopularity of the Central Bloc government was creating deep rifts between PS and PSD and also within both parties, as growing poverty, budget cuts and unemployment, due to the International Monetary Fund bailout policies, were leading to massive protests. In February 1985, Carlos Mota Pinto resigned from the PSD leadership and planned to contest the next party congress.[2] However, he died before the congress and Cavaco Silva was elected as leader. Shortly after his election, Cavaco Silva withdraw his party from the government and Soares Central Bloc government fell.[3]

Leadership changes and challenges

PSD 1985 leadership election

By 1985, deep divisions were consuming the PSD regarding their role in the Central Bloc government with the PS.[4] Then deputy Prime Minister and PSD leader Carlos Mota Pinto, resigned from both the government and the party's leadership and a snap party congress was called.[5] But, Mota Pinto, who was expected to run for the leadership in the snap congress, died suddenly just 10 days before the start of the congress in Figueira da Foz.[6] João Salgueiro, the candidate from "Mota Pinto's wing" was expected to win easily, but former finance minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva surprised the party by announcing a late candidacy, in what is now known as the "Running-in of Cavaco's new Citroën".[7] Cavaco Silva had the support of the wings against the Central Bloc, and against all odds he defeated Salgueiro by just 57 votes.[8] The results were the following:

Ballot: 19 May 1985Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Candidate Votes %
bgcolor=Template:Party color| Aníbal Cavaco Silva 422 53.6
bgcolor=Template:Party color| João Salgueiro 365 46.4
Turnout 787
Source: Results[9]

PS 1985 nomination selection

After the fall of the Central Bloc government, Mário Soares was acclaimed as the PS candidate for the 1986 Presidential election, and shortly after, António Almeida Santos was unanimously selected as the party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 1985 general elections.[10]

Ballot: 3 September 1985Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Candidate Votes %
bgcolor=Template:Party color| António Almeida Santos 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.[11]

The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[12] 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.[13]

For these elections, and compared with the 1983 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[14]

District Number of MPs Map
Lisbon 56
Porto(+1) 39
Setúbal 17
Braga 16
Aveiro 15
Santarém 12
Leiria and Coimbra 11
Viseu 10
Faro 9
Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real 6
Azores, Beja, Évora, Guarda and Madeira 5
Bragança 4
Portalegre(–1) 3
Europe and Outside Europe 2

Parties

Before the election, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) considered running in a joint coalition for the elections, with the PSD "offering" the CDS 25 safe seats in the lists, but this proposal was rejected by the CDS and the two parties decided to contest the election separately.[15] The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 3rd legislature (1983–1985) and that also partook in the election:

Name Ideology Political position Leader 1983 result[16]
% Seats
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| PS Socialist Party
Partido SocialistaScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Social democracy Centre-left Almeida Santos 36.1% Template:Composition bar
UEDS Left-wing Union for the Socialist Democracy
União da Esquerda para a Democracia SocialistaScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Democratic Socialism
Workers' self-management 		Left-wing António Lopes Cardoso Template:Composition bar
ASDI Independent Social-Democratic Action
Acção Social Democrata IndependenteScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Democratic Socialism
Social democracy 		Centre-left António de Sousa Franco Template:Composition bar
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| PPD/PSD Social Democratic Party
Partido Social DemocrataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Liberal conservatism Centre-right Aníbal Cavaco Silva 27.2% Template:Composition bar
PCP Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista PortuguêsScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Communism
Marxism–Leninism 		Far-left Álvaro Cunhal
18.1%
Template:Efn 		Template:Composition bar
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| MDP/CDE Portuguese Democratic Movement
Movimento Democrático PortuguêsScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Left-wing nationalism
Democratic socialism 		Left-wing José Manuel Tengarrinha Template:Composition bar
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| CDS Democratic and Social Centre
Centro Democrático e SocialScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Christian democracy Centre-right
to right-wing 		Francisco Lucas Pires 12.6% Template:Composition bar

Campaign period

Party slogans

Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs
width="1" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| PS « O que prometo, faço. Vamos a isto. » "What I promise, I do. Let's do this." [17]
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| PSD « Retomar a esperança » "Resuming hope" [18]
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| APU « Vitória da APU para salvar o país » "Victory for APU to save the country" [19]
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| CDS « Confiança, razão, força para Portugal » "Trust, reason, strength for Portugal" [20]
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| PRD « Mais Portugal » "More Portugal" [21]

Candidates' debates

1985 Portuguese legislative election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)   Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:Colors Present  Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:Colors Absent inviteeScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:Colors Non-invitee Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
PS
SantosScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		PSD
CavacoScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		APU
CunhalScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		CDS
PiresScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		Refs
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|
3 Sep RTP1 P ATemplate:Efn P P [22]
5 Sep RTP1 N ATemplate:Efn P P [23]
10 Sep RTP1 P P N P [24]
12 Sep RTP1 P P P N [24]
Candidate viewed as "most convincing" in each debateScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Date Organisers Polling firm/Link
PS PSD APU CDS Notes
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|
3 Sep RTP1 Expresso Template:Party shading/PS| 36 — 23 25 16% NeitherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Opinion polling

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1983 and 1985 for reference.

  1. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline
Polling firm/Link Date Released PS PSD APU CDS PRD O Lead
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;|
1985 legislative election 6 Oct 1985 20.8
Template:Font 		29.9
Template:Font 		15.5
Template:Font 		10.0
Template:Font 		17.9
Template:Font 		5.9
Template:Font 		9.1
RTP1 6 Oct 1985 Template:Font 22.0–26.9 26.8–29.7 15.0–18.1 9.3–10.8 14.5–16.5 – 2.8
4.8
RTP1 6 Oct 1985 Template:Font 23.8–26.9 28.0–29.8 17.3–18.1 9.8–10.7 11.1–14.9 – 2.9
6.0
Rádio Comercial 6 Oct 1985 19–22 29–31 14–16 8–16 18–22 – 9–10
Expresso 4 Oct 1985 28–32 27–31 15–17 9–12 8–11 – 1
Norma 29 Apr 1985 24.7 16.4 18.4 17.1 8.4 15.0 6.3
Norma Mar 1985 21.1 18.4 20.0 19.2 5.5 15.8 1.1
Marktest Feb 1985 15.0 21.3 15.0 17.1 28.6 3.0 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 7.3
Norma 25 Feb 1985 20.7 21.6 17.8 17.6 10.0 12.3 0.9
Norma 21 Jan 1985 21.3 22.9 20.3 16.2 — 19.3 1.6
Marktest Dec 1984 18.6 23.0 14.3 16.2 25.4 2.5 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 2.4
Norma Dec 1984 23.5 25.2 23.4 13.2 — 14.7 1.7
Marktest Nov 1984 19.8 24.0 15.5 14.9 23.3 2.5 0.7
Norma Nov 1984 20.7 22.7 22.4 17.5 — 16.7 0.3
Marktest Oct 1984 20.6 23.4 15.8 13.4 25.0 1.8 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 4.0
Norma 15 Oct 1984 23.9 24.8 23.1 14.7 — 13.5 0.9
Marktest Sep 1984 18.8 22.6 15.2 15.7 26.6 1.1 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 4.0
Marktest Aug 1984 19.2 22.8 13.8 15.6 26.9 1.7 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 4.1
Marktest Jul 1984 17.9 20.6 16.9 13.4 29.0 2.2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 7.7
Norma Jul 1984 21.5 23.6 20.3 15.4 — 19.2 2.1
Marktest Jun 1984 19.8 16.7 16.6 16.9 27.5 2.5 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 7.7
Norma Jun 1984 24.2 21.5 22.1 17.0 — 15.2 2.1
Marktest May 1984 25.4 19.8 13.9 14.6 24.6 1.7 0.8
Marktest Apr 1984 28.7 19.5 15.2 10.8 17.7 8.1 9.2
Norma Apr 1984 21.9 26.0 21.4 15.7 — 15.0 4.1
Marktest Mar 1984 22.6 16.6 14.1 12.7 15.0 19.0 6.0
Marktest Feb 1984 18.3 15.9 12.4 10.3 20.8 22.3 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 2.5
Marktest Jan 1984 19.9 15.4 12.5 7.3 22.7 22.2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" | 2.8
Norma Jan 1984 31.8 22.8 21.2 13.3 — 10.9 9.0
1983 legislative election 25 Apr 1983 36.1
Template:Font 		27.2
Template:Font 		18.1
Template:Font 		12.6
Template:Font 		— 6.0
Template:Font 		8.9

Results

National summary

Summary of the 6 October 1985 Assembly of the Republic elections resultsScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
File:AR Eleicoes 1985.svg
Parties Votes % ± MPs
1983 1985 ± % ±
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

1,732,288 29.87 Increase2.7 75 88 Increase13 35.20 Increase5.2
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

1,204,321 20.77 Decrease15.3 101 57 Decrease44 22.80 Decrease17.6
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

1,038,893 17.92 — — 45 — 18.00 —
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shellTemplate:Efn

898,281 15.49 Decrease2.6 44 38 Decrease6 15.20 Decrease2.4
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

577,580 9.96 Decrease2.6 30 22 Decrease8 8.80 Decrease3.2
style="width:10px;background-color:Template:Party color;text-align:center;" | People's Democratic Union 73,401 1.27 Increase0.8 0 0 Steady0 0.00 Steady0.0
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

41,831 0.72 Increase0.0 0 0 Steady0 0.00 Steady0.0
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

35,238 0.61 Increase0.4 0 0 Steady0 0.00 Steady0.0
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

19,943 0.34 Decrease0.1 0 0 Steady0 0.00 Steady0.0
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

19,085 0.33 Decrease0.0 0 0 Steady0 0.00 Steady0.0
  1. REDIRECT Template:Party name with color

Template:Redirect category shell

12,749 0.22 Increase0.2 0 0 Steady0 0.00 Steady0.0
Total valid 5,653,610 97.49 Increase0.1 250 250 Steady0 100.00 Steady0.0
Blank ballots 48,709 0.84 Increase0.1
Invalid ballots 96,610 1.67 Decrease0.1
Total 5,798,929 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 7,818,981 74.16 Decrease3.6
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

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Vote share
PSD
 
 29.87%
PS
 
 20.77%
PRD
 
 17.92%
APU
 
 15.49%
CDS
 
 9.96%
UDP
 
 1.27%
PDC
 
 0.72%
PSR
 
 0.61%
Others
 
 0.89%
Blank/Invalid
 
 2.51%
Parliamentary seats
PSD
 
 35.20%
PS
 
 22.80%
PRD
 
 18.00%
APU
 
 15.20%
CDS
 
 8.80%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 1985 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituencyScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Constituency % S % S % S % S % S Total
S
PSD PS PRD APU CDS
Azores style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|48.3 3 20.1 1 15.2 1 4.4 - 6.5 - 5
Aveiro style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|38.4 6 23.0 4 13.4 2 6.5 1 13.5 2 15
Beja 13.7 1 20.1 1 11.6 - 44.9 3 2.2 - 5
Braga style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|32.8 6 21.8 4 16.8 3 8.5 1 14.0 2 16
Bragança style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|39.2 2 22.7 1 6.9 - 5.3 - 17.1 1 4
Castelo Branco style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|31.2 3 18.5 1 24.4 2 8.9 - 9.6 - 6
Coimbra style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|29.5 4 28.5 3 16.9 2 10.1 1 8.6 1 11
Template:HsÉvora 19.1 1 14.3 1 15.8 1 41.2 2 3.3 - 5
Faro style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|28.4 3 22.3 2 20.5 2 15.4 2 6.1 - 9
Guarda style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|33.6 2 23.3 2 10.9 - 5.2 - 19.5 1 5
Leiria style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|38.6 5 19.6 2 15.3 2 7.9 1 12.2 1 11
Lisbon style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|25.6 15 19.8 12 21.3 13 20.1 12 8.1 4 56
Madeira style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|56.8 4 13.2 1 9.7 - 3.2 - 7.8 - 5
Portalegre 20.9 1 23.7 1 18.9 - 25.2 1 4.9 - 3
Porto style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|29.3 12 23.6 10 20.5 8 12.1 5 9.8 4 39
Santarém style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|27.8 4 18.6 2 23.8 3 16.4 2 7.7 1 12
Setúbal 15.4 3 16.5 3 20.4 4 38.2 7 3.8 - 17
Viana do Castelo style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|33.5 3 18.4 1 16.2 1 8.2 - 16.6 1 6
Vila Real style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|42.2 3 23.0 2 8.6 - 5.9 - 12.5 1 6
Viseu style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|37.7 5 20.0 2 10.9 1 5.0 - 19.9 2 10
Europe style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|24.3 1 24.2 1 7.1 - 18.8 - 17.3 - 2
Outside Europe style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|40.5 1 7.8 - 3.3 - 2.6 - 37.9 1 2
Total style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|29.9 88 20.8 57 17.9 45 15.5 38 10.0 22 250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

Aftermath

Fall of the government

In early 1987, a trip of a Portuguese parliamentary delegation to the Soviet Union created a diplomatic issue as the delegation also traveled to Estonia, a territory that wasn't recognized by the Portuguese State as a Soviet controlled territory. Because of this incident, Opposition parties accused Cavaco Silva of disallowing Parliament and, shortly after, the Democratic Renewal Party proposed a motion of no confidence against the Government, and the party's leader, Hermínio Martinho, communicated to President Mário Soares their intentions.[25] At first, the Socialists weren't supportive of the PRD's motion, but, last minute negotiations led the PS to also support the motion. On 3 April 1987, the motion was approved by a 134 to 108 vote and the government fell:[26]

Motion of no confidence
Aníbal Cavaco Silva (PSD)
Ballot → 3 April 1987
Required majority → 126 out of 250
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Script error: No such module "collapsible list". Template:Composition bar
Script error: No such module "collapsible list". Template:Composition bar
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Result → Approved checkY
Sources[27][28]

Mário Soares was in an official trip to Brazil when he was informed, which unpleased the President, and he then returned to Lisbon to meet with parties. The PS, PRD and PCP proposed an alternative government to the PSD minority, but Soares rejected and called a snap general election for 19 July 1987, which resulted in a landslide PSD majority government.[29]

See also

Notes

Template:Notes

References

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  1. ↑ "PRD", Diario de Notícias, 30 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ "1985 o ano que lançou Cavaco, por Ferreira Fernandes", Diario de Notícias, 9 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  5. ↑ "Bloco Central junta PS e PSD", Diario de Notícias, 7 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Mota Pinto, o aliado de Soares que militava no PPD", Público, 15 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "19 de Maio de 1985: O líder inesperado ", Expresso, 17 May 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "Cavaco Silva e as Eleições Legislativas de 1985: uma Introdução", Alexandre António da Costa Luís, 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "Aníbal Cavaco Silva, o PSD e a Evolução da Democracia Portuguesa: o XI Governo Constitucional (1987-1991)", Nuno Marques Freire, UNIVERSIDADE DA BEIRA INTERIOR Faculdade de Ciências Socias e Humanas, October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "Quando o candidato do PS não foi o líder", Diario de Notícias, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Composição dos Grupos Parlamentares/Partidos
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Sources

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External links

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