Portuguese legislative election, 1976
Encyclopedia
The Portuguese legislative election of 1976 took place on April 25, exactly one year after the previous election, and two years after the Carnation Revolution
. With a new Constitution approved, the country's main aim was the economical recovery and the strengthen of the democratic conquests.
The election was won again by the Socialist Party and Mário Soares
, its leader, became the Prime-Minister of the 1st Constitutional government on July 23. The lack of a socialist majority forced this party to form an unexpected coalition with the Democratic Social Center, the party on the right end of the political spectrum at the time. The nature of such coalition, between a party that defended the socialist way to the country and another that voted against the constitution because of its socialist influences surprised most of the Portuguese voters and marked the start of the right-wing turn of the Socialist Party that would soon be attacked by all the left due to the new government measures against the left-wing conquests of the revolution, mainly the agrarian reform
.
The Social Democratic Party was the second most voted party and the Portuguese Communist Party achieved a relevant increase in the voting, showing its growing influence, mainly in the south of the country.
The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Seats
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
! align="center"|1975
! align="center"|1976
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
|-
|1,912,921||34.89||3.0||116||107||9||40.68||5.7
|-
|1,335,381||24.35||2.0||81||73||8||27.76||4.6
|-
|876,077||15.98||8.4||16||42||26||15.97||9.6
|-
|788,830||14.39||1.9||30||40||10||15.21||3.2
|-
|91,690||1.67||0.9||1||1||0||0.38||0.0
|-
|42,162||0.77||0.4||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|36,200||0.66||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|31,332||0.57||0.4||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|29,874||0.54||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|28,320||0.52||0.1||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|16,269||0.30||0.1||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|15,830||0.29||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|15,778||0.29||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|5,171||0.09||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,225,835
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.30
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2.3
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|250
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|263
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|13
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.0
|-
|colspan=2|Invalid ballots
|257,696||4.70||2.3||colspan=5 rowspan=2|
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout 83.53%)
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,483,461
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|8.2
|-
| colspan=10 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
. With a new Constitution approved, the country's main aim was the economical recovery and the strengthen of the democratic conquests.
The election was won again by the Socialist Party and Mário Soares
Mário Soares
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL, KE , Portuguese politician, served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996.-Family:...
, its leader, became the Prime-Minister of the 1st Constitutional government on July 23. The lack of a socialist majority forced this party to form an unexpected coalition with the Democratic Social Center, the party on the right end of the political spectrum at the time. The nature of such coalition, between a party that defended the socialist way to the country and another that voted against the constitution because of its socialist influences surprised most of the Portuguese voters and marked the start of the right-wing turn of the Socialist Party that would soon be attacked by all the left due to the new government measures against the left-wing conquests of the revolution, mainly the agrarian reform
Agrarian reform
Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land reform measures. Agrarian reform can include credit measures,...
.
The Social Democratic Party was the second most voted party and the Portuguese Communist Party achieved a relevant increase in the voting, showing its growing influence, mainly in the south of the country.
The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
- Portuguese Communist PartyPortuguese Communist PartyThe Portuguese Communist Party is a major left-wing political party in Portugal. It is a Marxist-Leninist party, and its organization is based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself to be patriotic and internationalist....
(PCP), Álvaro CunhalÁlvaro CunhalÁlvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal, who used the name Álvaro Cunhal , was a Portuguese politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of Estado Novo. He served as secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party from 1961 to 1992... - Portuguese Socialist PartySocialist Party (Portugal)The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....
(PS), Mário SoaresMário SoaresMário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL, KE , Portuguese politician, served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996.-Family:... - Social Democratic PartySocial Democratic Party (Portugal)The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...
(PSD), Francisco Sá CarneiroFrancisco Sá CarneiroFrancisco Manuel Lumbrales de Sá Carneiro, GCTE, GCC, GCL founded the Portuguese Social Democratic Party in 1974 and was elected Prime Minister of Portugal in January 1980, but only held office for eleven months, dying in a plane crash with his partner, Snu Abecassis, on December 4, 1980... - Democratic Social Center (CDS), Freitas do Amaral
National summary of votes and seats
|-! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Seats
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
! align="center"|1975
! align="center"|1976
Portuguese legislative election, 1976
The Portuguese legislative election of 1976 took place on April 25, exactly one year after the previous election, and two years after the Carnation Revolution...
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
|-
|1,912,921||34.89||3.0||116||107||9||40.68||5.7
|-
|1,335,381||24.35||2.0||81||73||8||27.76||4.6
|-
|876,077||15.98||8.4||16||42||26||15.97||9.6
|-
|788,830||14.39||1.9||30||40||10||15.21||3.2
|-
|91,690||1.67||0.9||1||1||0||0.38||0.0
|-
|42,162||0.77||0.4||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|36,200||0.66||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|31,332||0.57||0.4||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|29,874||0.54||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|28,320||0.52||0.1||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|16,269||0.30||0.1||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|15,830||0.29||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|15,778||0.29||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|5,171||0.09||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,225,835
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.30
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2.3
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|250
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|263
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|13
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.0
|-
|colspan=2|Invalid ballots
|257,696||4.70||2.3||colspan=5 rowspan=2|
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout 83.53%)
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,483,461
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|8.2
|-
| colspan=10 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
See also
- Politics of PortugalPolitics of PortugalPolitics in Portugal take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of the Republic is the head of state and has several significant political powers, which he...
- List of political parties in Portugal
- Elections in PortugalElections in PortugalElections in Portugal gives information on election and election results in Portugal.Only the elections since the Carnation Revolution of 1974 are listed here. During the period encompassing the Constitutional Monarchy and the First Republic there were also elections, but only for a limited...