1987 Portuguese legislative election
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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
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". 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 an 82-vote difference.[7] The results are the following:
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Adriano Moreira | 533 | 54.2 |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Vítor Constâncio | WIN | |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | 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 at dissolution | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | Seats | |||||||
| 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 Classical liberalism |
Centre-right | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | 29.9% | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar |
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| | PS | Socialist Party Partido SocialistaScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Social democracy | Centre-left | Vítor Constâncio | 20.8% | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar |
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| | PRD | Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovador DemocráticoScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Centrism Third Way |
Centre | António Ramalho Eanes | 17.9% | Template:Composition bar | 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 | 15.5% Template:Efn |
Template:Composition bar | 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 | 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 Conservatism |
Centre-right to right-wing |
Adriano Moreira | 10.0% | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar |
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"| | Ind. | Independent IndependenteScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (left the Socialist Party caucus)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".[18] Maria Amélia Santos (left the Portuguese Communist Party caucus)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".[19] Rui Oliveira e Costa (left the Social Democratic Party caucus)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".[20] |
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Seat changes
- On 16 November 1985, MP Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, elected in the Socialist Party list for Porto, left the party and became an Independent, following the agreement he made with the party in order to be elected.[21]
- Also on 16 November 1985, MP Maria Amélia Santos, elected in the United People Alliance list for Lisbon, became an Independent representing the Ecologist Party "The Greens".[22]
- On 24 June 1986, MP Rui Oliveira e Costa, elected in the Social Democratic Party list for Lisbon, became an Independent after leaving the PSD caucus following disagreements with the party's leadership regarding policy and the 1986 Presidential election.[23]
Campaign period
Party slogans
| Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| | PSD | « Portugal não pode parar » | "Portugal cannot stop" | [24] |
| width="1" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| | PS | « A alternativa » | "The alternative" | [25] |
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| | CDU | « CDU, É melhor para Portugal » | "CDU, It's better for Portugal" | [26] |
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| | PRD | « Agora Portugal » | "Now Portugal" | [27] |
| style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"| | CDS | « Vote prá maioria » | "Vote for the majority" | [28] |
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.[29]
Opinion polling
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| Polling firm/Link | Date Released | PSD | PS | PRD | CDU | CDS | 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;"| | |||||
| 1987 legislative election | 19 Jul 1987 | 50.2 Template:Font |
22.2 Template:Font |
4.9 Template:Font |
12.1 Template:Font |
4.4 Template:Font |
6.2 Template:Font |
28.0 | |
| RTP1 | 19 Jul 1987 | 48–50 | 21–23 | 5–7 | 12.5–14.5 | 3–5 | – | 27 | |
| Antena1 | 19 Jul 1987 | 45–47 | 24–25 | – | – | – | – | 21–22 | |
| Rádio Comercial | 19 Jul 1987 | 50.1 | 21.9 | 5.7 | 12.1 | 4.0 | 6.2 | 28.2 | |
| Euroexpansão | 17 Jul 1987 | 41–44 | 22–25 | 11–14 | 13–15 | 4–6 | – | 19 | |
| Euroexpansão | 17 Jul 1987 | 50.1 | 22.5 | 5.0 | 12.5 | 4.4 | – | 27.6 | |
| Euroexpansão | 10 Jul 1987 | 47.5 | 20.8 | 5.0 | 11.4 | 4.4 | – | 26.7 | |
| Euroexpansão | 3 Jul 1987 | 41.2 | 18.3 | 4.6 | 11.2 | 3.5 | – | 22.9 | |
| Euroexpansão | 26 Jun 1987 | 38.1 | 16.5 | 3.9 | 7.8 | 3.3 | – | 21.6 | |
| Euroexpansão | 14 Mar 1987 | 41.3 | 27.2 | 11.1 | 8.8 | 7.5 | 4.1 | 14.1 | |
| Euroexpansão | Feb 1987 | 41.7 | 28.8 | 11.5 | 8.6 | 5.5 | 3.9 | 12.9 | |
| Euroexpansão | Jun 1986 | 41.0 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Tempo | 9 Oct 1986 | 35.6 | 24.8 | 9.2 | — | 9.8 | – | 10.8 | |
| 1985 local elections | 15 Dec 1985 | 34.2 | 27.6 | 4.7 | 19.6 | 9.8 | 4.1 | 6.6 | |
| 1985 legislative election | 6 Oct 1985 | 29.9 Template:Font |
20.8 Template:Font |
17.9 Template:Font |
15.5 Template:Font |
10.0 Template:Font |
5.9 Template:Font |
9.1 | |
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Results
National summary
| Parties | Votes | % | ± | MPs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1987 | ± | % | ± | |||||
|
2,850,784 | 50.22 | Increase20.3 | 88 | 148 | Increase60 | 59.20 | Increase24.0 | |
|
1,262,506 | 22.24 | Increase1.4 | 57 | 60 | Increase3 | 24.00 | Increase1.2 | |
|
689,137 | 12.14 | Decrease3.4 | 38 | 31 | Decrease7 | 12.40 | Decrease2.8 | |
|
278,561 | 4.91 | Decrease13.0 | 45 | 7 | Decrease38 | 2.80 | Decrease15.2 | |
|
251,987 | 4.44 | Decrease5.6 | 22 | 4 | Decrease18 | 1.60 | Decrease7.2 | |
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=Template:Party color align="center" | | People's Democratic Union | 50,717 | 0.89 | Decrease0.4 | 0 | 0 | Steady0 | 0.00 | Steady0.0 |
|
32,977 | 0.58 | Decrease0.0 | 0 | 0 | Steady0 | 0.00 | Steady0.0 | |
|
32,607 | 0.57 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | |
|
31,667 | 0.56 | Decrease0.1 | 0 | 0 | Steady0 | 0.00 | Steady0.0 | |
|
23,218 | 0.41 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | |
|
20,800 | 0.37 | Increase0.1 | 0 | 0 | Steady0 | 0.00 | Steady0.0 | |
|
18,544 | 0.33 | Increase0.1 | 0 | 0 | Steady0 | 0.00 | Steady0.0 | |
|
9,185 | 0.16 | Decrease0.6 | 0 | 0 | Steady0 | 0.00 | Steady0.0 | |
| Total valid | 5,552,690 | 97.82 | Increase0.3 | 250 | 250 | Steady0 | 100.00 | Steady0.0 | |
| Blank ballots | 50,135 | 0.88 | Increase0.1 | ||||||
| Invalid ballots | 73,533 | 1.30 | Decrease0.4 | ||||||
| Total | 5,676,358 | 100.00 | |||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 7,930,668 | 71.57 | Decrease2.6 | ||||||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições | |||||||||
Distribution by constituency
| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSD | PS | CDU | PRD | CDS | |||||||
| Azores | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|66.7 | 4 | 20.0 | 1 | 2.3 | - | 3.0 | - | 3.3 | - | 5 |
| Aveiro | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|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 | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|53.4 | 10 | 25.9 | 5 | 6.1 | 1 | 3.3 | - | 5.9 | 1 | 17 |
| Bragança | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|60.8 | 3 | 19.2 | 1 | 3.2 | - | 1.3 | - | 7.6 | - | 4 |
| Castelo Branco | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|52.1 | 4 | 22.4 | 2 | 7.1 | - | 6.0 | - | 4.7 | - | 6 |
| Coimbra | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|50.0 | 6 | 28.7 | 4 | 7.2 | 1 | 3.5 | - | 4.5 | - | 11 |
| Template:HsÉvora | 32.1 | 2 | 15.4 | - | 36.2 | 2 | 7.7 | - | 2.1 | - | 4 |
| Faro | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|46.7 | 5 | 24.9 | 3 | 10.9 | 1 | 6.3 | - | 3.1 | - | 9 |
| Guarda | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|60.0 | 4 | 21.8 | 1 | 3.3 | - | 2.0 | - | 6.6 | - | 5 |
| Leiria | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|60.8 | 9 | 18.7 | 2 | 5.9 | - | 3.0 | - | 6.0 | - | 11 |
| Lisbon | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|45.8 | 28 | 21.2 | 12 | 16.5 | 10 | 6.9 | 4 | 3.7 | 2 | 56 |
| Madeira | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|65.5 | 4 | 16.2 | 1 | 1.9 | - | 3.3 | - | 5.2 | - | 5 |
| Portalegre | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|37.4 | 1 | 25.1 | 1 | 20.9 | 1 | 6.3 | - | 3.1 | - | 3 |
| Porto | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|50.9 | 22 | 26.7 | 11 | 9.4 | 4 | 4.0 | 1 | 4.0 | 1 | 39 |
| Santarém | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|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 | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|54.5 | 5 | 20.3 | 1 | 6.3 | - | 4.8 | - | 7.7 | - | 6 |
| Vila Real | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|62.5 | 5 | 20.3 | 1 | 4.1 | - | 1.4 | - | 5.0 | - | 6 |
| Viseu | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|64.1 | 8 | 17.9 | 2 | 2.9 | - | 1.7 | - | 7.0 | - | 10 |
| Europe | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|37.0 | 1 | 28.4 | 1 | 15.9 | - | 4.9 | - | 6.6 | - | 2 |
| Outside Europe | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|63.2 | 2 | 7.3 | - | 1.4 | - | 1.7 | - | 19.9 | - | 2 |
| Total | style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"|50.2 | 148 | 22.2 | 60 | 12.1 | 31 | 4.9 | 7 | 4.4 | 4 | 250 |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições | |||||||||||
Maps
-
Winner and seats by constituency.
-
Most voted political force by municipality.
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Notes
See also
References
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- ↑ "1987. Da moção de censura à primeira maioria de Cavaco", Jornal i, 30 August 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
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- ↑ "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.
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- ↑ Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
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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
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