Democratic Party (Portugal) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Democratic Party officially known as the Portuguese Republican Party ( [pɐɾˈtiðu ʁɛpuβliˈkɐnu puɾtuˈɣeʃ]), was a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

left-wing political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

during the Portuguese First Republic

Portuguese First Republic

The Portuguese First Republic spans a complex 16 year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926...

. It was also the self-proclaimed successor to the original Portuguese Republican Party

Portuguese Republican Party

The Portuguese Republican Party was a Portuguese political party formed during the late years of monarchy that proposed and conducted the substitution of the Constitutional Monarchy by the Portuguese First Republic....

, which had been behind the revolution

5 October 1910 revolution

The revolution of 1910 was a republican coup d'état that occurred in Portugal on 5 October 1910, which deposed King Manuel II and established the Portuguese First Republic....

that established the Portuguese First Republic in 1910.

The name "Democratic Party" was never the official name of the party, as the Portuguese Republican Party never ceased to exist. However, the party was de facto different and thus the other parties (that belonged to the PRP before 1910) used the new expression to assert their opposition to the claim of continuation of the PRP by Afonso Costa

Afonso Costa

Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL was a Portuguese lawyer, professor, and republican politician.-Political career:Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party, and he was one of the major figures of the Portuguese First Republic. He was a republican deputy in the Chamber of Deputies...

, the first leader of the Democratic Party. Other names were given to the members of the Democratic Party, like the Afonsists, named after Afonso Costa

Afonso Costa

History

When the Evolutionists and Unionists seceded from the Portuguese Republican Party in February 1912, the Democratic Party declared itself the latter party's heir. It soon controlled its electoral and propagandistic structure, a fact that would influence the dominance of the Democratic Party during the First Republic.

During the First Republic, the Democratic Party, led by Afonso Costa

Afonso Costa

, managed to hold power despite suffering several revolutionary attempts, both monarchist

Monarchism

Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...

and republican

Republicanism

Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...

. Although some of the coups partially succeeded (Monarchy of the North, Pimenta de Castro, Sidónio Pais

Sidónio Pais

Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais was a Portuguese politician and diplomat, the fourth President in 1918. He was known as the President-King.-Family:...

) the Democratic Party always managed to retain power.

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, in which Portugal participated

Portugal in the Great War

Despite its old alliance with Britain started with the Treaty of Windsor in 1386 , Portugal did not initially form part of the system of alliances involved in World War I and thus initially kept its neutrality...

, the party entered a coalition government

Coalition government

A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

with the Evolutionist Party called "Sacred Union", to face the problems of the war. Following the war, discontent grew and the union was eventually dissolved. Sidónio took advantage of this and established a dictatorial government of his National Republican Party. Sidónio Pais was assassinated in 1917. By 1919 the Democratic Party was again in power.

After 1919, with Afonso Costa in Paris, the party was led by António Maria da Silva

António Maria da Silva

António Maria da Silva, GCTE was a Portuguese politician. An engineer, he was a prominent member of the Portuguese Republican Party. He was Prime Minister for four times, during the Portuguese First Republic. After his party victory in the legislative elections of 8 November 1925, he was invited...

. In the next phase of the party's existence, political, popular and syndicalist

Syndicalism

Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...

opposition created a climate of constant revolt. Groups also seceded from the party, with the creation of the Republican Party of the Democratic Left-Wing and the Reformist Party, both on the Left.

Relations with the Republic Party

The identification of the First Republic with the Democratic Party was so close, as the party dominated all political life between 1911 and 1926, that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa, ComSE, GCIH is a Portuguese politician and former Minister and Member of Parliament, law professor, former journalist, political analyst and pundit.-Background:...

described it as a "multi-party system

Multi-party system

A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...

with a dominant party" and historian Fernando Rosas

Fernando Rosas

Fernando José Mendes Rosas is a Portuguese historian and politician.- Early life and education :Rosas was born on the April 18, 1946. He studied at the Pedro Nunes high school, and in 1961, he joined the school's Portuguese Communist Party organization, a party for which he was later a militant.He...

called it a "political monopoly" and a "democratic dictatorship".

Prime ministers

Augusto de Vasconcelos
Augusto de Vasconcelos
Augusto César de Almeida de Vasconcelos Correia, GCSE , better known as Augusto de Vasconcelos was a Portuguese surgeon, politician and diplomat.-Career:...

(1911-1912)
Duarte Leite
Duarte Leite
Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva, GCC Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva, GCC Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva, GCC (Porto, 11 August 1864 - Porto, 29 September 1950; , was a Portuguese historian, mathematician, journalist, diplomat and politician. He graduated in Mathematics at the University of Coimbra, in...

(1912-1913)
Afonso Costa
Afonso Costa
Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL was a Portuguese lawyer, professor, and republican politician.-Political career:Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party, and he was one of the major figures of the Portuguese First Republic. He was a republican deputy in the Chamber of Deputies...

(1913-1914; 1915-1916; 1917 - in coalition with the evolutionists [Sacred Union])
Bernardino Machado (1914; 1921)
Victor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho (1914-1915)
António José de Almeida
António José de Almeida
António José de Almeida, GCTE, GCA, GCC, GCSE, , son of José António de Almeida and wife Maria Rita das Neves, was a Portuguese political figure...

- Evolutionist in coalition (Sacred Union) - (1916-1917)
José Relvas
José Relvas
José Maria Mascarenhas Relvas José Maria Mascarenhas Relvas José Maria Mascarenhas Relvas (Golegã, Golegã, March 5, 1858 - Alpiarça, Casa dos Patudos, October 31, 1929; , was a Portuguese politician.-Political career:...

(1919)
Domingos Pereira (1919; 1920; 1925)
Alfredo de Sá Cardoso
Alfredo de Sá Cardoso
Alfredo Ernesto de Sá Cardoso , commonly known as Alfredo de Sá Cardoso , or just Sá Cardoso, was a Portuguese republican politician of the Portuguese First Republic, who served twice as Prime Minister of Portugal.- Biography :Sá Cardoso was the son of Adelaide Leopoldina de Sá Cardoso...

(1919-1920; 1920)
António Maria Baptista
António Maria Baptista
António Maria Baptista, GCTE was a Portuguese military officer and politician. When he was lieutenant, he fought in Mozambique, during the wars of pacification against the Vátuas, led by Gungunhana. He was promoted to colonel in 1917. He fought the monarchist uprising of 1919, and was nominated...

(1920)
José Ramos Preto
José Ramos Preto
José Ramos Preto was a Portuguese jurist and politician during the Portuguese First Republic. Among other posts, he served as civil governor, senator, minister and president of the Ministry...

(1920)
António Maria da Silva
António Maria da Silva
António Maria da Silva, GCTE was a Portuguese politician. An engineer, he was a prominent member of the Portuguese Republican Party. He was Prime Minister for four times, during the Portuguese First Republic. After his party victory in the legislative elections of 8 November 1925, he was invited...

(1920; 1922-1923; 1925; 1925-1926)
Liberato Pinto
Liberato Pinto
Liberato Damião Ribeiro Pinto was a Portuguese Lieutenant Colonel of the Republican National Guard , politician and President of the Ministry of one of the governments of the Portuguese First Republic...

(1920-1921)
Alfredo Rodrigues Gaspar
Alfredo Rodrigues Gaspar
Alfredo Rodrigues Gaspar was Portuguese military officer and politician. Rodrigues Gaspar was President of the Ministry of one of the many governments of the Portuguese First Republic....

(1924)
Vitorino Guimarães
Vitorino Guimarães
Vitorino Máximo de Carvalho Guimarães was an economist and politician. He became Chairman of the board of Ministers of one of the governments of First Portuguese Republic in 1925, he entered the School of the Army in 1901, graduating as official of military administration and initiating a career...

(1925)

Presidents of Republic

Manuel de Arriaga
Manuel de Arriaga
Manuel José de Arriaga Brum da Silveira e Peyrelongue was a Portuguese lawyer, the first Attorney-General and the first elected President of the First Portuguese Republic, following the abdication of King Manuel II of Portugal and a Republican Provisional Government headed by Teófilo Braga Manuel...

(1911-1915)

Teófilo Braga
Teófilo Braga
Joaquim Teófilo Fernandes Braga ]] 24 February 1843 – 28 January 1924) was a Portuguese writer, playwright, politician and the leader of the Republican Provisional Government after the abdication of King Manuel II, as well as the second elected President of the First Portuguese Republic, following...

(1915)

Bernardino Machado (1915-1918; 1925-1926)

Manuel Teixeira Gomes
Manuel Teixeira Gomes
Manuel Teixeira Gomes, GCSE was a Portuguese politician and writer. He served as the seventh President of Portugal between 5 October 1923 and 11 December 1925.-Personal life:...

(1923-1925)

History

Relations with the Republic Party

Prime ministers

Presidents of Republic

See also