1985 Portuguese legislative election

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

1985 Portuguese legislative election
6 October 1985
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly
126 seats needed for a majority
Registered7,818,981 6.6%
Turnout5,798,929 (74.2%)
3.6 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva Almeida Santos Hermínio Martinho
Party PSD PS PRD
Leader since 2 June 1985 13 June 1985 (interim) 10 July 1985
Leader's seat Lisbon[1] Porto[2] Santarem
Last election 75 seats, 27.2% 101 seats, 36.1% New party
Seats won 88 57 45
Seat change 13 44 N/A
Popular vote 1,732,288 1,204,321 1,038,893
Percentage 29.9% 20.8% 17.9%
Swing 2.7 pp 15.3 pp N/A
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Álvaro Cunhal Lucas Pires
Party PCP CDS
Alliance APU
Leader since 1979 20 February 1983
Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon
Last election 44 seats, 18.1% 30 seats, 12.6%
Seats won 38 22
Seat change 6 8
Popular vote 898,281 577,580
Percentage 15.5% 10.0%
Swing 2.6 pp 2.6 pp
Prime Minister before election

Mário Soares
PS

 Elected Prime Minister

Aníbal Cavaco Silva
PSD

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 that surprisingly gained 45 MPs and more than one million votes in the election and became 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.

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.[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 1983 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[6]

DistrictNumber of MPs
Lisbon56
Porto39 (+1)
Setúbal17
Braga16
Aveiro15
Santarém12
Leiria11
Coimbra11
Viseu10
Faro9
Viana do Castelo6
Vila Real6
Madeira5
Azores5
Beja5
Castelo Branco5
Évora5
Guarda5
Bragança4
Portalegre3 (-1)
Europe2
Outside Europe2

Parties

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[7]
Votes (%) Seats
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 Social democracy Centre-left Almeida Santos 36.1%
94 / 250
UEDS Left-wing Union for the Socialist Democracy
União da Esquerda para a Democracia Socialista		 Democratic Socialism
Workers' self-management		 Left-wing António Lopes Cardoso
4 / 250
ASDI Independent Social-Democratic Action
Acção Social Democrata Independente		 Democratic Socialism
Social democracy		 Centre-left António de Sousa Franco
3 / 250
PPD/PSD Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrata		 Portuguese social democracy Centre Aníbal Cavaco Silva 27.2%
75 / 250
PCP Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português		 Communism
Marxism–Leninism		 Far-left Álvaro Cunhal 18.1%
[lower-alpha 1]
41 / 250
MDP/CDE Portuguese Democratic Movement
Movimento Democrático Português		 Left-wing nationalism
Democratic socialism		 Left-wing José Manuel Tengarrinha
3 / 250
CDS Democratic and Social Centre
Centro Democrático e Social		 Christian democracy
Conservatism		 Centre-right
to right-wing		 Lucas Pires 12.6%
30 / 250

Campaign period

Party slogans
Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs
PS « O que prometo, faço. Vamos a isto. » "What I promise, I do. Let's do this." [8]
PSD « Retomar a esperança » "Resuming hope" [9]
APU « Vitória da APU para salvar o país » "Victory for APU to save the country" [10]
CDS « Confiança, razão, força para Portugal » "Trust, reason, strength for Portugal" [11]
PRD « Mais Portugal » "More Portugal" [12]

Candidates' debates
1985 Portuguese legislative election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee 
PS
Santos		 PSD
Cavaco		 APU
Cunhal		 CDS
Pires		 Refs
3 Sep RTP1 P A[lower-alpha 2] P P [13]
5 Sep RTP1 N A[lower-alpha 3] P P [14]
10 Sep RTP1 P P N P [15]
12 Sep RTP1 P P P N [15]
Candidate viewed as "most convincing" in each debate
Date Organisers Polling firm/Link
PS PSD APU CDS Notes
3 Sep RTP1 Expresso 36 N/A 23 25 16% Neither

Opinion polling
See also: Exit poll and Opinion poll

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed were represented in parliament (1983-1985). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1983 and 1985 for reference.

Date Released Polling Firm PS PSD APU CDS PRD Others Lead
6 Oct 1985 Leg. Election 20.8
57 seats		 29.9
88 seats		 15.5
38 seats		 10.0
22 seats		 17.9
45 seats		 5.9
0 seats		 9.1
6 Oct (22:50) RTP1 22.0–26.9 26.8–29.7 15.0–18.1 9.3–10.8 14.5–16.5 – 2.8–4.8
6 Oct (21:10) RTP1 23.8–26.9 28.0–29.8 17.3–18.1 9.8–10.7 11.1–14.9 – 2.9–6.0
6 Oct Rádio Comercial 19.0–22.0 29.0–31.0 14.0–16.0 8.0–16.0 18.0–22.0 – 9.0–10.0
Exit polls
4 Oct Expresso 28.0–32.0 27.0–31.0 15.0–17.0 9.0–12.0 8.0–11.0 – 1.0
1985
25 Apr 1983 Leg. Election 36.1
101 seats		 27.2
75 seats		 18.1
44 seats		 12.6
30 seats		 Did not exist 6.0
0 seats		 8.9

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 6 October 1985 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties Votes % ± MPs MPs %/
votes %
1983 1985 ± % ±
Social Democratic 1,732,28829.872.775881335.205.21.18
Socialist 1,204,32120.7715.3101574422.8017.61.10
Democratic Renewal 1,038,89317.92N/AN/A45N/A18.00N/A1.00
United People Alliance[A] 898,28115.492.64438615.202.40.98
Democratic and Social Centre 577,5809.962.6302288.803.20.88
People's Democratic Union 73,4011.270.80000.000.00.0
Christian Democratic 41,8310.720.00000.000.00.0
Revolutionary Socialist 35,2380.610.40000.000.00.0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 19,9430.340.10000.000.00.0
Workers Party of Socialist Unity 19,0850.330.00000.000.00.0
Communist Party (Reconstructed) 12,7490.220.20000.000.00.0
Total valid 5,653,610 97.49 0.1 250 250 0 100.00 0.0 —
Blank ballots 48,7090.840.1
Invalid ballots 96,6101.670.1
Total 5,798,929 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 7,818,98174.163.6
A Portuguese Communist Party (35 MPs) and Portuguese Democratic Movement (3 MPs) ran in coalition.[16]
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
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 constituency
Constituency%S%S%S%S%S Total
S
PSD PS PRD APU CDS
Azores 48.3 3 20.1 1 15.2 1 4.4 - 6.5 - 5
Aveiro 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 32.8 6 21.8 4 16.8 3 8.5 1 14.0 2 16
Bragança 39.2 2 22.7 1 6.9 - 5.3 - 17.1 1 4
Castelo Branco 31.2 3 18.5 1 24.4 2 8.9 - 9.6 - 6
Coimbra 29.5 4 28.5 3 16.9 2 10.1 1 8.6 1 11
EvoraÉvora 19.1 1 14.3 1 15.8 1 41.2 2 3.3 - 5
Faro 28.4 3 22.3 2 20.5 2 15.4 2 6.1 - 9
Guarda 33.6 2 23.3 2 10.9 - 5.2 - 19.5 1 5
Leiria 38.6 5 19.6 2 15.3 2 7.9 1 12.2 1 11
Lisbon 25.6 15 19.8 12 21.3 13 20.1 12 8.1 4 56
Madeira 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 29.3 12 23.6 10 20.5 8 12.1 5 9.8 4 39
Santarém 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 33.5 3 18.4 1 16.2 1 8.2 - 16.6 1 6
Vila Real 42.2 3 23.0 2 8.6 - 5.9 - 12.5 1 6
Viseu 37.7 5 20.0 2 10.9 1 5.0 - 19.9 2 10
zEurope 24.3 1 24.2 1 7.1 - 18.8 - 17.3 - 2
zRest of the World 40.5 1 7.8 - 3.3 - 2.6 - 37.9 1 2
Total 29.9 88 20.8 57 17.9 45 15.5 38 10.0 22 250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

See also

Notes
  1. The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) contested the 1983 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU) and won a combined 18.1% of the vote and elected 44 MPs to parliament.
  2. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, PSD leader, refused to participate in the debate.
  3. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, PSD leader, refused to participate in the debate, being replaced by Eurico de Melo, however, the latter was forbidden from participating.Fundação Mário Soares 1985

References
  1. Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  2. Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  3. "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  4. "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  5. Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
  6. "Eleição da Assembleia da República de 6 de Outubro de 1985". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição da Assembleia da República de 6 de Outubro de 1985. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  7. Composição dos Grupos Parlamentares/Partidos
  8. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – PS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  9. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – PSD". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  10. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – APU". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  11. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – CDS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  12. "Evolução da Comunicação Política e Eleitoral em Portugal" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  13. "Líderes partidários em confronto na TV". Fundação Mário Soares (in Portuguese). 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  14. "Álvaro Cunhal/Lucas Pires esta noite na RTP". Fundação Mário Soares (in Portuguese). 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  15. "Eleições ganham-se na TV?". Fundação Mário Soares (in Portuguese). 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  16. Electoral results - Assembly of the Republic

Sources


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