1979 Portuguese legislative election
The Portuguese legislative election of 1979 took place on 2 December. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic, 13 seats less than those elected in 1976.
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250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 125 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 7,249,346 ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 6,007,453 (82.9%)![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The last election, three and a half years before, in April 1976, was won by the Socialist Party under the lead of Mário Soares, who became the Prime-Minister of the 1st Constitutional government after the revolution.
However, the government suffered several attacks and in December 1977, Soares lost the voting of a confidence resolution because all the opposition, the Democratic and Social Center, the Social Democrats and the Communists united in order to vote against it, and so, the Soares' government fell. Soares would become Prime-Minister again in January 1978, in coalition with the Democratic Social Center, but in July this party would force the end of the government due to disagreements about agrarian reform. In August, Nobre da Costa became Prime-Minister by personal decision of the President of President Ramalho Eanes, after a failed attempt to unite the parties on the Parliament. However, the program of Nobre da Costa's government was never approved and two months later, da Costa was replaced by Mota Pinto who would govern with extreme difficulties for less than one year.
In July 1979, the President finally decided to dissolve the Parliament and call for a new election for December. Mota Pinto was replaced in the period between the dissolution and the election by Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (the only women to lead a government in Portugal).
The right-wing parties, the Social Democratic, the Democratic and Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party united in the Democratic Alliance (Portuguese: Aliança Democrática or AD) under the lead of Sá Carneiro won the election, receiving 43% of the vote. The Socialists lost more than 30 MPs and the Communists, now allied with the Portuguese Democratic Movement in the United People Alliance achieved their highest total ever, with almost 20% of the voting.
Electoral system
The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members elected to four-year terms. The total number of MPs was reduced to 250 from the previous 263, elected in 1976. 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.[3]
The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[4] 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.[5]
For these elections, and compared with the 1976 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[6]
District | Number of MPs |
---|---|
Lisbon | 56 (-2) |
Porto | 38 |
Setúbal | 17 |
Braga | 15 |
Aveiro | 15 |
Santarém | 12 (-1) |
Coimbra | 12 |
Leiria | 11 |
Viseu | 10 (-1) |
Faro | 9 |
Castelo Branco | 6 (-1) |
Viana do Castelo | 6 (-1) |
Vila Real | 6 (-1) |
Madeira | 5 (-1) |
Azores | 5 (-1) |
Beja | 5 (-1) |
Évora | 5 (-1) |
Guarda | 5 (-1) |
Bragança | 4 (-1) |
Portalegre | 4 |
Europe | 2 |
Outside Europe | 2 |
Parties
The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the first half of the 1st legislature (1976-1980), as this election was a national by-election, and that also contested the elections:
Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | 1976 result | Seats at dissolution[7] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista |
Social democracy | Centre-left | Mário Soares | 34.9% | 107 / 263 |
98 / 263 | |
PPD/PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata |
Portuguese social democracy | Centre | Francisco Sá Carneiro | 24.4%[lower-alpha 2] | 72 / 263 |
36 / 263 | |
CDS | Democratic and Social Center Centro Democrático e Social |
Christian democracy Neoliberalism |
Centre-right to right-wing |
Diogo Freitas do Amaral | 16.0%[lower-alpha 2] | 42 / 263 |
40 / 263 | |
PCP | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português |
Communism Marxism–Leninism |
Far-left | Álvaro Cunhal | 14.4%[lower-alpha 3] | 40 / 263 |
40 / 263 | |
UDP | Popular Democratic Union União Democrática Popular |
Marxism Socialism |
Left-wing | Mário Tomé | 1.7% | 1 / 263 |
1 / 263 | |
ASDI | Independent Social-Democratic Action Acção Social Democrata Independente |
Democratic Socialism Social democracy |
Centre-left | António de Sousa Franco | N/A | 42 / 263 | ||
Campaign period
Party slogans
Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|
AD | « A maioria certa » | "The right majority" | [8] | |
PS | « O direito à liberdade » | "The right to freedom" | [9] | |
APU | « Para a vitória democrática » | "For the democratic victory" | [10] | |
UDP | « O voto certo da mudança » | "The right vote for change" | [11] |
National summary of votes and seats
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Parties | Votes | % | ± | Seats | MPs %/ votes % | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1976 | 1979 | ± | % | ± | |||||||
Democratic Alliance[A] | 2,554,458 | 42.52 | N/A | N/A | 121 | N/A | 48.40 | N/A | 1.14 | ||
Social Democratic[B] | 141,227 | 2.35 | N/A | 73 | 7 | N/A | 2.80 | N/A | 1.19 | ||
Democratic and Social Centre[B] | 23,523 | 0.39 | N/A | 42 | 0 | N/A | 0.00 | N/A | 0.0 | ||
Total Democratic Alliance | 2,719,208 | 45.26 | ![]() |
1151 | 128 | ![]() |
51.20 | ![]() |
1.13 | ||
Socialist | 1,642,136 | 27.33 | ![]() | 107 | 74 | ![]() | 29.60 | ![]() | 1.08 | ||
United People Alliance[C] | 1,129,322 | 18.80 | ![]() | 40 | 47 | ![]() | 18.80 | ![]() | 1.00 | ||
People's Democratic Union | 130,842 | 2.18 | ![]() | 1 | 1 | ![]() | 0.40 | ![]() | 0.18 | ||
Christian Democratic | 72,514 | 1.21 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | ![]() | 0.00 | ![]() | 0.0 | ||
Workers' Communist Party | 53,268 | 0.89 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | ![]() | 0.00 | ![]() | 0.0 | ||
UEDS | 43,325 | 0.72 | N/A | N/A | 0 | N/A | 0.00 | N/A | 0.0 | ||
Revolutionary Socialist | 36,978 | 0.62 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | ![]() | 0.00 | ![]() | 0.0 | ||
Workers Party of Socialist Unity | 12,713 | 0.21 | N/A | N/A | 0 | N/A | 0.00 | N/A | 0.0 | ||
OCMLP | 3,433 | 0.06 | N/A | N/A | 0 | N/A | 0.00 | N/A | 0.0 | ||
Total valid | 5,843,739 | 97.28 | ![]() |
263 | 250 | ![]() |
100.00 | ![]() |
— | ||
Blank ballots | 42,863 | 0.71 | — | ||||||||
Invalid ballots | 120,851 | 2.01 | ![]() | ||||||||
Total | 6,007,453 | 100.00 | |||||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 7,249,346 | 82.86 | ![]() | ||||||||
A Alliance formed by the Social Democratic Party (73 seats), the Democratic and Social Centre (43 seats) and the People's Monarchist Party (5 seats). B Social Democratic Party and Democratic and Social Centre electoral list only in Azores and Madeira. C Portuguese Communist Party (44 MPs) and Portuguese Democratic Movement (3 MPs) ran in coalition.[12] | |||||||||||
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |
1 Democratic Alliance results are compared to the combined totals of the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Centre and the People's Monarchist Party in the 1976 election.
Distribution by constituency
Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AD | PS | APU | PSD | UDP | |||||||
Azores | 30.0 | 2 | 3.1 | - | 52.0 | 3 | 1.7 | - | 5 | ||
Aveiro | 56.7 | 9 | 28.4 | 5 | 7.9 | 1 | 1.2 | - | 15 | ||
Beja | 19.0 | 1 | 22.0 | 1 | 50.7 | 3 | 1.8 | - | 5 | ||
Braga | 51.9 | 9 | 30.2 | 5 | 10.0 | 1 | 1.4 | - | 15 | ||
Bragança | 60.7 | 3 | 22.2 | 1 | 5.8 | - | 1.9 | - | 4 | ||
Castelo Branco | 49.9 | 4 | 27.8 | 2 | 12.4 | - | 1.9 | - | 6 | ||
Coimbra | 44.8 | 6 | 35.1 | 5 | 11.2 | 1 | 1.3 | - | 12 | ||
Évora | 26.9 | 1 | 16.9 | 1 | 48.9 | 3 | 1.7 | - | 5 | ||
Faro | 34.6 | 4 | 34.0 | 3 | 20.3 | 2 | 3.2 | - | 9 | ||
Guarda | 60.6 | 4 | 26.3 | 1 | 5.4 | - | 0.9 | - | 5 | ||
Leiria | 56.2 | 7 | 23.2 | 3 | 10.9 | 1 | 1.5 | - | 11 | ||
Lisbon | 40.0 | 24 | 25.8 | 15 | 26.0 | 16 | 2.8 | 1 | 56 | ||
Madeira | 17.2 | 1 | 3.1 | - | 57.8 | 4 | 6.6 | - | 5 | ||
Portalegre | 32.1 | 2 | 29.8 | 1 | 29.4 | 1 | 1.7 | - | 4 | ||
Porto | 44.5 | 18 | 34.8 | 14 | 14.5 | 6 | 1.9 | - | 38 | ||
Santarém | 41.3 | 6 | 27.3 | 3 | 21.7 | 3 | 2.2 | - | 12 | ||
Setúbal | 22.3 | 4 | 21.4 | 4 | 47.0 | 9 | 4.0 | - | 17 | ||
Viana do Castelo | 54.8 | 4 | 24.9 | 2 | 9.8 | - | 0.9 | - | 6 | ||
Vila Real | 57.7 | 4 | 21.4 | 2 | 6.1 | - | 1.5 | - | 6 | ||
Viseu | 64.1 | 8 | 21.4 | 2 | 5.5 | - | 1.4 | - | 10 | ||
Europe | 38.3 | 1 | 33.2 | 1 | 13.4 | - | 5.7 | - | 2 | ||
Rest of the World | 77.3 | 2 | 5.7 | - | 3.1 | - | 0.7 | - | 2 | ||
Total | 42.5 | 121 | 27.3 | 74 | 18.8 | 47 | 2.4 | 7 | 2.2 | 1 | 250 |
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |
Maps
- Most voted political force by municipality.
Notes
- As leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
- The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic Social Center (CDS) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) would contest the 1979 election in a coalition called Democratic Alliance (AD).
- The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) would contest the 1979 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU).
References
- Diário da Républica, 24 de Dezembro de 1979 - Lista de candidatos eleitos
- Fundação Mário Soares
- "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 2 de Dezembro de 1979". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição da Assembleia da República de 2 de Dezembro de 1979. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- Composição dos Grupos Parlamentares/Partidos
- "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS INTERCALARES DE 1979 – ALIANÇA DEMOCRÁTICA". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1979 – PS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "ALIANÇA POVO UNIDO (APU) – 1979 / ELEIÇÕES INTERCALARES DE 1979 – APU". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "UDP – 1979". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "Electoral results - Assembly of the Republic". Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2012-09-02.