1987 Portuguese legislative election

The Portuguese legislative election of 1987 took place on 19 July. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

1987 Portuguese legislative election
19 July 1987
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly
126 seats needed for a majority
Registered7,930,668 1.4%
Turnout5,676,358 (71.6%)
2.6 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva Vítor Constâncio Álvaro Cunhal
Party PSD PS PCP
Alliance CDU
Leader since 2 June 1985 29 June 1986 30 September 1987
Leader's seat Lisbon[1] Lisbon[2] Lisbon
Last election 88 seats, 29.9% 57 seats, 20.8% 38 seats, 15.5%
Seats won 148 60 31
Seat change 60 3 7
Popular vote 2,850,784 1,262,506 689,137
Percentage 50.2% 22.2% 12.1%
Swing 20.3 pp 1.4 pp 3.4 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Ramalho Eanes Adriano Moreira
Party PRD CDS
Leader since 1986 24 February 1985
Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon
Last election 45 seats, 17.9% 22 seats, 10.0%
Seats won 7 4
Seat change 38 18
Popular vote 278,561 251,987
Percentage 4.9% 4.4%
Swing 13.0 pp 5.6 pp
Prime Minister before election

Aníbal Cavaco Silva
PSD

 Elected Prime Minister

Aníbal Cavaco Silva
PSD

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.[3]

The PSD was reelected in a landslide, winning a majority government with 50% of the votes and almost 60% of the seats, the biggest that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election and the 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% compared with the almost 21% 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 Renovator 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.

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.[4]

The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[5] 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.[6]

For these elections, and compared with the 1985 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[7]

DistrictNumber of MPs
Lisbon56
Porto39
Setúbal17
Braga17 (+1)
Aveiro15
Santarém12
Leiria11
Coimbra11
Viseu10
Faro9
Viana do Castelo6
Vila Real6
Madeira5
Azores5
Beja5
Castelo Branco5
Guarda5
Bragança4
Évora4 (-1)
Portalegre3
Europe2
Outside Europe2

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
Votes (%) Seats
PPD/PSD Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrata		 Liberal conservatism
Classical liberalism		 Centre-right Aníbal Cavaco Silva 29.9%
88 / 250
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 Social democracy Centre-left Vítor Constâncio 20.8%
57 / 250
PRD Democratic Renewal Party
Partido Renovador Democrático		 Centrism
Third Way		 Centre António Ramalho Eanes 17.9%
45 / 250
PCP Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português		 Communism
Marxism–Leninism		 Far-left Álvaro Cunhal 15.5%
[lower-alpha 1]
35 / 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		 Adriano Moreira 10.0%
22 / 250

Campaign period

Party slogans
Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs
PSD « Portugal não pode parar » "Portugal can't stop" [8]
PS « A alternativa » "The alternative" [9]
CDU « CDU, É melhor para Portugal » "CDU, It's better for Portugal" [10]
PRD « Agora Portugal » "Now Portugal" [11]
CDS « Vote prá maioria » "Vote for the majority" [12]

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.[13]

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 (1985-1987). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1985 and 1987 for reference.

Date Released Polling Firm PSD PS CDU PRD CDS Others Lead
19 Jul 1987 Leg. Election 50.2
148 seats		 22.2
60 seats		 12.1
31 seats		 4.9
7 seats		 4.4
4 seats		 6.2
0 seats		 28.0
19 Jul RTP1 48.0–50.0 21.0–23.0 12.5–14.5 5.0–7.0 3.0–5.0 – 27.0
19 Jul Antena1 45.0–47.0 24.0–25.0 – – – – 21.0–22.0
Exit polls
17 Jul Euroexpansão/Expresso 41.0–44.0 22.0–25.0 13.0–15.0 11.0–14.0 4.0–6.0 – 19.0
1987
6 Oct 1985 Leg. Election 29.9
88 seats		 20.8
57 seats		 15.5
38 seats		 17.9
45 seats		 10.0
22 seats		 5.9
0 seats		 9.1

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 19 July 1987 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties Votes % ± MPs MPs %/
votes %
1985 1987 ± % ±
Social Democratic 2,850,78450.2220.3881486059.2024.01.18
Socialist 1,262,50622.241.45760324.001.21.08
Democratic Unity Coalition[A][B] 689,13712.143.43831712.402.81.02
Democratic Renewal 278,5614.9113.0457382.8015.20.57
Democratic and Social Centre 251,9874.445.6224181.607.20.36
People's Democratic Union 50,7170.890.40000.000.00.0
Revolutionary Socialist 32,9770.580.00000.000.00.0
Portuguese Democratic Movement 32,6070.57N/AN/A0N/A0.00N/A0.0
Christian Democratic 31,6670.560.10000.000.00.0
People's Monarchist 23,2180.41N/AN/A0N/A0.00N/A0.0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 20,8000.370.10000.000.00.0
Communist Party (Reconstructed) 18,5440.330.10000.000.00.0
Workers Party of Socialist Unity 9,1850.160.60000.000.00.0
Total valid 5,552,690 97.82 0.3 250 250 0 100.00 0.0 —
Blank ballots 50,1350.880.1
Invalid ballots 73,5331.300.4
Total 5,676,358 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 7,930,66871.572.6
A In 1985, as United People Alliance.
B Portuguese Communist Party (29 MPs) and "The Greens" (2 MPs) ran in coalition.[14]
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share
PSD
 
 50.22%
PS
 
 22.24%
CDU
 
 12.14%
PRD
 
 4.91%
CDS
 
 4.44%
UDP
 
 0.89%
PSR
 
 0.58%
MDP
 
 0.57%
PDC
 
 0.56%
Others
 
 1.27%
Blank/Invalid
 
 2.18%
Parliamentary seats
PSD
 
 59.20%
PS
 
 24.00%
CDU
 
 12.40%
PRD
 
 2.80%
CDS
 
 1.60%

Distribution by constituency
 Results of the 1987 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency
Constituency%S%S%S%S%S Total
S
PSD PS CDU PRD CDS
Azores 66.7 4 20.0 1 2.3 - 3.0 - 3.3 - 5
Aveiro 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 53.4 10 25.9 5 6.1 1 3.3 - 5.9 1 17
Bragança 60.8 3 19.2 1 3.2 - 1.3 - 7.6 - 4
Castelo Branco 52.1 4 22.4 2 7.1 - 6.0 - 4.7 - 6
Coimbra 50.0 6 28.7 4 7.2 1 3.5 - 4.5 - 11
EvoraÉvora 32.1 2 15.4 - 36.2 2 7.7 - 2.1 - 4
Faro 46.7 5 24.9 3 10.9 1 6.3 - 3.1 - 9
Guarda 60.0 4 21.8 1 3.3 - 2.0 - 6.6 - 5
Leiria 60.8 9 18.7 2 5.9 - 3.0 - 6.0 - 11
Lisbon 45.8 28 21.2 12 16.5 10 6.9 4 3.7 2 56
Madeira 65.5 4 16.2 1 1.9 - 3.3 - 5.2 - 5
Portalegre 37.4 1 25.1 1 20.9 1 6.3 - 3.1 - 3
Porto 50.9 22 26.7 11 9.4 4 4.0 1 4.0 1 39
Santarém 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 54.5 5 20.3 1 6.3 - 4.8 - 7.7 - 6
Vila Real 62.5 5 20.3 1 4.1 - 1.4 - 5.0 - 6
Viseu 64.1 8 17.9 2 2.9 - 1.7 - 7.0 - 10
zEurope 37.0 1 28.4 1 15.9 - 4.9 - 6.6 - 2
zRest of the World 63.2 2 7.3 - 1.4 - 1.7 - 19.9 - 2
Total 50.2 148 22.2 60 12.1 31 4.9 7 4.4 4 250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

Notes
  1. The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) contested the 1985 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU) and won a combined 15.5% of the vote and elected 39 MPs to parliament.

References
  1. Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  2. Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  3. "1987. Da moção de censura à primeira maioria de Cavaco", Jornal i, 30 August 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  4. "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  5. "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  6. Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
  7. "Eleição da Assembleia da República de 19 de Julho de 1987". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição da Assembleia da República de 19 de Julho de 1987. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  8. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1987 – PSD". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  9. "Evolução da Comunicação Política e Eleitoral em Portugal" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  10. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1987 – CDU – AUTOCOLANTES". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  11. "Campanha eleitoral do PRD". RTP (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  12. "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1987 – CDS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  13. "O que mudam os debates na TV". Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 4 September 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  14. "Electoral results - Assembly of the Republic". Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2012-09-02.

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.

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.