1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election

The Portuguese Constituent Assembly election, 1975 was carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution. The election elected all 250 members of the Portuguese Constituent Assembly.

1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election
25 April 1975
250 seats to the Portuguese Constituent Assembly
125 seats needed for a majority
Registered6,231,372
Turnout5,711,829 (91.7%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Mário Soares Francisco Sá Carneiro Álvaro Cunhal
Party PS PPD PCP
Leader since 19 April 1973 6 May 1974 1961
Leader's seat Lisbon[1] Porto[2] Lisbon
Seats won 116 81 30
Popular vote 2,162,972 1,507,282 711,935
Percentage 37.9% 26.4% 12.5%
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Diogo Freitas do Amaral José Manuel Tengarrinha
Party CDS MDP/CDE
Leader since 19 July 1974 1969
Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon
Seats won 16 5
Popular vote 434,879 236,318
Percentage 7.6% 4.1%
This article is part of the series:
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It was the first free election held in Portugal since 1925, and only the seventh free election in all of Portuguese history. Turnout was a record 91.66 percent, which remains (as of 2020) the highest ever in any Portuguese democratic elections (General, Regional, Local or European).

The main aim of the election was the election of a Constituent Assembly, in order to write a new constitution to replace the Estado Novo regime's authoritarian Constitution of 1933 and so this freely-elected parliament had a single-year mandate and no government was based on parliamentary support; the country continued to be governed by a military-civilian provisional administration during the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly.

The election was won by the Socialist Party. The Social Democratic Party (then known as the Democratic People's Party, PPD) was the second-most voted party, defending a project that it would soon abandon, social democratic centrism, the Portuguese "Social-Democracy" becoming the major right-wing party in the country a few years after. The parliament had a large majority of parties defending socialist or "democratic socialist" ideas and the Constitution, approved one year after, reflected such influence. The Portuguese Communist Party achieved a surprisingly low total, considering the overwhelming support in the south of the country and the radical turn to the left of the revolutionary process after the failed fascist coup, one month before.

With the PPD's shift away from the left and towards the right coming after this election, the only right-of-centre party elected was the CDS, which received 7.6 percent of the vote and 16 seats.

Background
Election posters on the facade of Rossio Station, Lisbon, on the eve of the elections.

The previous parliamentary elections were held on October 28, 1973, still under the authoritarian rule of the Estado Novo (New State). The People's National Action (ANP), the single party of the president of the council Marcelo Caetano had won the all 150 deputies of the National Assembly, with a participation rate of 66.5% of registered.

On April 25, 1974, the Carnation Revolution, initiated by the captains of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), ended the authoritarian regime established in 1932 by António de Oliveira Salazar. After the revolutionary forces proclaimed victory, the National Salvation Junta, presided by General António de Spínola, takes over the position of Head of State and Government.[3]

With political parties once again legal, the Socialist Party (PS) leader, Mário Soares, and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Secretary General, Álvaro Cunhal, return to Portugal less than a week later. In addition, the members of the "liberal wing" of the ANP, favorable to a democratization of the "Estado Novo" before its fall, found the Democratic People's Party (PPD) which claimed to be social democratic.[4]

At the end of three weeks, Spínola takes the oath as President of the Republic, and nominates Adelino da Palma Carlos Prime Minister as the head of the 1st provisional government where civil and military members plus independent, socialists, social democrats and communists were also part of.

As early as July 18, Vasco Gonçalves, a military man seen as very close to the Communist Party, replaces Palma Carlos as head of the government. After this, the first party that doesn't claim to be from the left or the center-left appears, the Democratic and Social Center (CDS), which says to be an advocate to Christian democracy and liberalism.

Barely two and a half months later, after failing to carry out a counter-revolution, Spínola resigns as President of the Republic and is replaced by General Francisco da Costa Gomes, his deputy in the National Salvation Junta. On March 19, 1975, President Costa Gomes officially calls an election to elect members to write a new Constitution.[5]

Electoral system

The electoral system adopted, set by the electoral law approved on November 15, 1974,[6] establishes the election of members of parliament by proportional representation according to the D'Hondt method, known to benefit the parties that come first.

The law fixes the number of one deputy per 25,000 inhabitants and one more per fraction of 12,500. Deputies were elected in twenty-three constituencies, namely the eighteen metropolitan districts, Horta, Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo, Funchal, Mozambique, Macau, and the rest of the world.

In application of these provisions, 250 seats were to be filled.

For these elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[7]

DistrictNumber of MPs
Lisbon55
Porto36
Setúbal16
Aveiro and Braga15
Santarém13
Coimbra12
Leiria11
Viseu10
Faro9
Castelo Branco7
Beja, Funchal, Guarda, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real6
Évora5
Bragança and Portalegre4
Ponta Delgada3
Angra do Heroísmo2
Emigration, Horta, Macau and Mozambique1

Parties

The table below lists the major parties that contested the elections:

Name Ideology Political position Leader
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 Social democracy Centre-left Mário Soares
PPD Democratic People's Party
Partido Popular Democrático		 Portuguese social democracy Centre Francisco Sá Carneiro
PCP Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português		 Communism
Marxism–Leninism		 Far-left Álvaro Cunhal
CDS Democratic and Social Center
Centro Democrático e Social		 Christian democracy
Neoliberalism		 Centre-right
to right-wing		 Diogo Freitas do Amaral
MDP/CDE Portuguese Democratic Movement
Movimento Democrático Português		 Left-wing nationalism
Democratic socialism		 Left-wing José Manuel Tengarrinha
UDP Popular Democratic Union
União Democrática Popular		 Marxism
Socialism		 Left-wing João Pulido Valente
ADIM Independent Democratic Association of Macau
Associação para a Defesa dos Interesses de Macau		 Conservatism
Macau interests		 Right-wing Diamantino Ferreira

Campaign period

Party slogans
Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs
PS « A verdadeira escolha » "The real choice" [8]
PPD « Tu decides votando » "You decide by voting" [9]
PCP « Dá mais força à Liberdade » "Empower Freedom" [10]
CDS « O voto certo » "The right vote" [11]
MDP « O voto do povo » "The people's vote" [12]
UDP « Em frente com a UDP » "Moving forward with UDP" [13]

Opinion polling
Date Released Polling Firm PS PPD PCP CDS MDP Others Lead
Mar 1975 IPOPE 47.0 21.0 17.0 2.0 4.0 9.0 26.0
Dec 1974 CUF 35.1 27.0 10.8 2.7 24.4 8.1

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 25 April 1975 Constituent Assembly elections results
Parties Votes % MPs MPs %/
votes %
1975 %
Socialist 2,162,97237.8711646.401.23
Democratic People's 1,507,28226.398132.401.23
Communist 711,93512.463012.000.96
Democratic and Social Centre 434,8797.61166.400.84
Portuguese Democratic Movement 236,3184.1452.000.48
People's Socialist Front 66,3071.1600.000.0
Movement of Socialist Left 58,2481.0200.000.0
People's Democratic Union 44,8770.7910.400.51
Communist Electoral Front (Marxist–Leninist) 33,1850.5800.000.0
People's Monarchist 32,5260.5700.000.0
Popular Unity 13,1380.2300.000.0
Internationalist Communist League 10,8350.1900.000.0
Independent Democratic Association of Macau[A] 1,6220.0310.4013.33
Democratic Centre of Macau[A] 1,0300.0200.000.0
Total valid 5,315,064 93.05 250 100.00 —
Invalid ballots 396,6756.95
Total 5,711,829 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,231,37291.66
A Independent Democratic Association of Macau and Democratic Centre of Macau electoral list only in Macau.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share
PS
 
 37.87%
PPD
 
 26.39%
PCP
 
 12.46%
CDS
 
 7.61%
MDP/CDE
 
 4.14%
FSP
 
 1.16%
MES
 
 1.02%
UDP
 
 0.79%
FEC(m-l)
 
 0.58%
PPM
 
 0.57%
ADIM
 
 0.03%
Others
 
 0.43%
Blank/Invalid
 
 6.95%
Parliamentary seats
PS
 
 46.40%
PPD
 
 32.40%
PCP
 
 12.00%
CDS
 
 6.40%
MDP/CDE
 
 2.00%
UDP
 
 0.40%
ADIM
 
 0.40%

Distribution by constituency
 Results of the 1975 election of the Portuguese Constituent Assembly by constituency
Constituency%S%S%S%S%S%S%S Total
S
PS PPD PCP CDS MDP/CDE UDP ADIM
Angra do Heroísmo 23.0 - 62.8 2 2.4 - 6.1 - 1.1 - 2
Aveiro 31.8 5 42.9 7 3.2 - 11.1 2 3.9 - 14
Beja 35.6 3 5.3 - 39.0 3 2.2 - 5.5 - 1.4 - 6
Braga 27.4 5 37.7 7 3.7 - 18.0 3 2.9 - - - 15
Bragança 24.7 1 43.0 3 2.7 - 13.5 - 3.7 - - - 4
Castelo Branco 41.5 5 24.3 2 5.6 - 6.4 - 3.9 - 0.8 - 7
Coimbra 43.2 7 27.2 4 5.7 1 4.6 - 4.4 - 12
EvoraÉvora 37.9 3 6.9 - 37.1 2 2.8 - 7.8 - 0.9 - 5
Faro 45.4 6 13.9 1 12.3 1 3.4 - 9.5 1 1.1 - 9
Funchal 19.6 1 61.9 5 1.7 - 10.0 - 1.3 - 6
Guarda 28.2 2 33.3 3 2.9 - 19.5 1 3.6 - 6
Horta 23.0 - 67.6 1 2.4 - 3.1 - 1
Leiria 33.2 5 35.6 5 6.4 - 6.8 1 3.4 - 1.1 - 11
Lisbon 46.0 29 15.0 9 18.9 11 4.8 3 4.1 2 1.7 1 55
Macau 56.4 1 1
Mozambique 41.1 1 1
Ponta Delgada 30.4 1 54.8 2 1.5 - 3.1 - 2.7 - 3
Portalegre 52.4 3 9.9 - 17.5 1 4.0 - 4.5 - 1.2 - 4
Porto 42.6 18 29.4 12 6.7 2 8.9 3 2.6 1 0.6 - 36
Santarém 42.9 8 18.8 3 15.1 2 4.3 - 4.1 - 1.0 - 13
Setúbal 38.2 7 5.7 1 37.8 7 1.6 - 6.0 1 1.3 - 16
Viana do Castelo 24.5 2 36.0 3 3.8 - 14.5 1 7.1 - 6
Vila Real 27.1 2 45.8 4 2.9 - 7.2 - 2.3 - 6
Viseu 21.5 2 43.9 6 2.3 - 17.2 2 4.0 - 10
zEmigration 34.4 - 45.6 1 4.6 - 11.0 - 1
Total 37.9 116 26.4 81 12.5 30 7.6 16 4.1 5 0.8 1 0.0 1 250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

References
  1. "Assembleia Constituinte - Deputados por círculo eleitoral". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  2. Assembleia Constituinte - Lista de deputados substituídos Archived 2007-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 25 de Abril de 1974, RTP, retrieved 25 February 2018.
  4. As primeiras eleições livres, Correio da Manhã, retrieved 25 February 2018.
  5. Official call of 1975 Constituent Assembly election
  6. Electoral Law of 1974
  7. "Mapa com o número de deputados da Eleição para a Assembleia Constituinte de 25 de Abril de 1975". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Mapa com o número de deputados da Eleição para a Assembleia Constituinte de 25 de Abril de 1975. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  8. "PS – 1975". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  9. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1983 – PSD". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  10. "Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)" (PDF). Francisco Teixeira (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  11. "Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)" (PDF). Francisco Teixeira (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  12. "MDP – CDE – 1975". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  13. "UDP – 1975". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.

See also
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