1969 Portuguese legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 26 October 1969.[1] The elections were announced on 12 August, and were the first under Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano, appointed in the previous year to replace long-term Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who had been left incapacitated after a stroke. The quasi-sovereign National Union won all seats with an official turnout of 62.5%.

1969 Portuguese National Assembly election
26 October 1969
All 130 seats of the National Assembly, elected by plurality-at-large voting
65 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Marcello Caetano Francisco Pereira de Moura Mario Soares
Party UN CDE CEUD
Last election 130 seats none none
Seats won 130 0 0
Seat change 0 0 0
Popular vote 981,263 114,745 16,863
Percentage 88.0% 10.3% 1.5%
Prime Minister before election

Marcelo Caetano
UN

 Prime Minister-elect

Marcelo Caetano
UN

Electoral system

The constitution of 1933 stated that elections were to be held in all of Portugal's 18 constituencies by majority party list system, with all seats in each constituency going to the party list with a plurality of votes. In order to select a specific candidate, voters were formally able to strike out names.

The electoral law of 5 December 1958 (rearranged to allow for the National Assembly to appoint the President) guaranteed universal suffrage for all mature, literate citizens, but unofficially curtailed female participation. All natural-born nationals residing in Portugal for the previous five years were allowed to stand for election.

The Chamber of Corporations, consisting of 200 members or more, was appointed by the government following the election to the National Assembly. The Electoral Commissions were officially banned on 8 November, with numerous candidates having retired prematurely due to reportedly extensive harassment and voter manipulation.[2]

Parties

The major parties involved and the respective leaders:

Results
Party Votes % Seats
National Union981,26387.99130
Democratic Electoral Commission114,74510.290
United Democratic Electoral Commission16,8631.510
Monarchist Electoral Commission1,3240.120
Invalid/blank votes1,053––
Total1,115,248100130
Registered voters/turnout1,784,34162.5–
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union

References
  1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1542 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Portugal Inter-Parliamentary Union

See also
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