Portuguese legislative election, 1979
Encyclopedia
The Portuguese legislative election of 1979 took place on December 2. 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 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 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.
The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Francisco Sá Carneiro, member of the Social Democratic Party
was nominated Prime-Minister.
! 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"|1976
! align="center"|1979
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
|-
|2,554,458||42.52||—||—||121||—||48.40||—
|-
|141,227||2.35||—||73||7||—||2.80||—
|-
|23,523||0.39||—||42||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#00FFFF"|Total Democratic Alliance
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|2,719,208
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|45.26
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|4.41
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|1151
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|128
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|131
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|51.20
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|7.51
|-
|1,642,136||27.33||7.6||107||74||33||29.60||11.1
|-
|1,129,322||18.80||4.4||40||47||7||18.80||3.6
|-
|130,842||2.18||0.5||1||1||0||0.40||0.0
|-
|72,514||1.21||0.7||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|53,268||0.89||0.2||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|43,325||0.72||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|36,978||0.62||0.5||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|12,713||0.21||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|3,433||0.06||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,843,739
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|97.28
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2.0
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|263
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|250
|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|Blank ballots
|42,863||0.71||—||colspan=5 rowspan=3|
|-
|colspan=2|Invalid ballots
|120,851||2.01||2.7
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout 82.87%)
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|6,007,453
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.6
|-
| colspan=10 align=left|Alliance formed by the Social Democratic Party
(73 seats), the Democratic and Social Centre (43 seats) and the
People's Monarchist Party (5 seats).
Social Democratic Party and Democratic and Social Centre electoral list only in Azores and Madeira.
|-
| colspan=10 align=left | 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.
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:...
, 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 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
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...
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 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.
The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
- United People AllianceUnited People AllianceThe United People Alliance , was an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Portuguese Democratic Movement...
(APU), 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:... - Democratic AllianceDemocratic Alliance (Portugal)The Democratic Alliance was a coalition in Portugal between the Social Democratic Party , the Democratic Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party , including also a group of...
(AD), 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...
The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Francisco Sá Carneiro, member of the Social Democratic Party
Social 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...
was nominated Prime-Minister.
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"|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...
! align="center"|1979
Portuguese legislative election, 1979
The Portuguese legislative election of 1979 took place on December 2. 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...
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
|-
|2,554,458||42.52||—||—||121||—||48.40||—
|-
|141,227||2.35||—||73||7||—||2.80||—
|-
|23,523||0.39||—||42||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#00FFFF"|Total Democratic Alliance
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|2,719,208
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|45.26
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|4.41
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|1151
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|128
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|131
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|51.20
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#00FFFF"|7.51
|-
|1,642,136||27.33||7.6||107||74||33||29.60||11.1
|-
|1,129,322||18.80||4.4||40||47||7||18.80||3.6
|-
|130,842||2.18||0.5||1||1||0||0.40||0.0
|-
|72,514||1.21||0.7||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|53,268||0.89||0.2||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|43,325||0.72||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|36,978||0.62||0.5||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|12,713||0.21||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|3,433||0.06||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,843,739
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|97.28
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2.0
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|263
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|250
|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|Blank ballots
|42,863||0.71||—||colspan=5 rowspan=3|
|-
|colspan=2|Invalid ballots
|120,851||2.01||2.7
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout 82.87%)
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|6,007,453
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.6
|-
| colspan=10 align=left|Alliance formed by the Social Democratic Party
Social 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...
(73 seats), the Democratic and Social Centre (43 seats) and the
People's Monarchist Party (5 seats).
Social Democratic Party and Democratic and Social Centre electoral list only in Azores and Madeira.
|-
| colspan=10 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
1 Democratic Alliance results are compared to the combined totals of the Social Democratic Party
Social 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...
, the Democratic and Social Centre and the People's Monarchist Party in the 1976 election.
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...