2009 European Parliament election in Portugal

The European Parliament election of 2009 in Portugal was the election of the delegation from Portugal to the European Parliament held on 7 June 2009.

European Parliament election in Portugal, 2009
7 June 2009
24 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout36.8% 1.8 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Paulo Rangel Vital Moreira Miguel Portas
Party PSD PS BE
Alliance EPP PES EACL
Last election 7 seats 12 seats 1 seat
Seats won 8 7 3
Seat change 1 5 2
Popular vote 1,131,744 946,818 382,667
Percentage 31.7% 26.5% 10.7%
Swing [lower-alpha 1] 18.0 pp 5.8 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Ilda Figueiredo Nuno Melo
Party CDU CDS–PP
Alliance GUE/NGL EPP
Last election 2 seats 2 seats
Seats won 2 2
Seat change 0 0
Popular vote 379,787 298,423
Percentage 10.6% 8.4%
Swing 1.5 pp [lower-alpha 1]

The election was a huge setback for the Socialist Party (PS), which lost almost 18 percentage points. Basically all predictions that said that the PS would win comfortably the election, were wrong. As a result, the party also lost five of its twelve MEP's. The Social Democrats (PSD) were the big winners in these elections, surprising pundits and analysts who predicted a very complicated result for the PSD leader, Manuela Ferreira Leite. The PSD won 31.7% of the vote and 8 seats. It was the first victory of the PSD, in European elections, since 1989. The People's Party (CDS-PP) also had a surprising result, winning 8% of the vote and electing 2 MEP's. Both PSD and CDS-PP, who ran in a joint list in 2004, increased sharply their scores and together they won more than 40% of the vote and 10 MEP's.

On the left, both the Left Bloc (BE) and Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) achieved very good results with the historic fact that BE surpassed CDU in term of votes and seats for the first time, although only just. Both parties increased their scores at the expense of the Socialist Party. The Left Bloc won 10.7% of the vote and 3 MEP's, their best score in EU elections to date, and CDU surpassed once again the 10% mark winning 10.6% of the vote, but maintaining the 2 MEP they got in 2004.

Turnout in the elections was quite low, as only 36.78% of the electorate cast a ballot, a slightly lower share than in the 2004 election. Although the number of ballots cast was higher than in 2004, the number of registered voters increased considerably in these elections, making the final turnout share lower than in 2004.

Electoral System

The voting method used, for the election of European members of parliament, is by proportional representation using the d'Hondt method, which is known to benefit leading parties. In the 2009 EU elections, Portugal had 22 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

Parties and candidates

The lists were headed by[1]

Opinion Polling and preliminary exit polls

Exit polls from the three major television networks in Portugal, RTP1, SIC and TVI were given precisely at 20:00 pm (local time) on 7 June 2009.

Date Released Polling Firm PS PSD CDS-PP CDU BE Others Lead
7 June 2009 Election Results 26.5
7 seats		 31.7
8 seats		 8.4
2 seats		 10.6
2 seats		 10.7
3 seats		 12.1 5.2
7 June 2009 Exit Poll – RTP1
Universidade Católica		 28.0–33.0
7 / 8 		29.0–34.0
8 / 9 		7.0–10.0
2 		9.0–12.0
2 / 3 		9.0–12.0
2
—
 1.0
7 June 2009 Exit Poll – SIC
Eurosondagem		 27.7–31.5
7 / 8 		29.2–33.0
7 / 8 		7.5–9.3
2 		9.5– 11.3
2 / 3 		11.6–13.4
3
—
 1.5
7 June 2009 Exit Poll – TVI
INTERCAMPUS		 24.1–28.1
6 / 8 		30.4–34.4
8 / 9 		6.7– 9.3
1 / 2 		9.7–12.7
2 / 3 		9.8–12.8
2 / 3
—
 6.3
Exit polls
5 June 2009 Universidade Católica 34.0 32.0 4.0 11.0 9.0 10.0 2.0
5 June 2009 Eurosondagem 36.0 31.9 6.1 9.0 10.1 6.9 4.1
4 June 2009 Aximage 36.2 30.9 5.0 10.1 10.2 7.6 5.3
4 June 2009 Marktest 29.4 32.5 3.3 8.9 8.9 17.0 3.1
1 June 2009 Marktest 31.9 30.1 4.7 7.1 7.1 19.1 1.8
29 May 2009 Eurosondagem 35.5 32.5 6.5 9.2 8.8 7.5 3.0
22 May 2009 Eurosondagem 34.3 32.1 6.9 8.9 10.1 7.7 2.2
9 May 2009 Marktest 33.1 32.9 4.5 7.6 8.4 13.5 0.2
1 May 2009 Universidade Católica 39.0 36.0 4.0 7.0 12.0 2.0 3.0
24 April 2009 INTERCAMPUS 34.0 33.5 6.9 7.9 18.0 N/A 0.5
13 June 2004 Election Results 44.5
12 seats		 33.3
9 seats		 9.1
2 seats		 4.9
1 seats		 8.2 11.2

Results
 Summary of the results of Portugal's 7 June 2009 election to the European Parliament
← 2004 • 2009 • 2014 →
National party European party Main candidate Votes % +/– Seats +/–
Social Democratic Party (PSD) EPP Paulo Rangel 1,131,744 31.71 [lower-alpha 1] 8 * 1
Socialist Party (PS) PES Vital Moreira 946,818 26.53 17.99 7 5
Left Bloc (BE) EACL / PEL Miguel Portas 382,667 10.72 5.81 3 2
Democratic Unitarian Coalition (CDU)
• Communist Party (PCP)
• Ecologist Party (PEV)		 GUE/NGL Ilda Figueiredo 379,787 10.64 1.55 2
2
0
0
0
People's Party (CDS–PP) EPP Nuno Melo 298,423 8.36 [lower-alpha 1] 2 * 0
Hope for Portugal Movement (MEP) None Laurinda Alves 55,072 1.54 new 0 0
Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP) None Orlando Alves 42,940 1.20 0.13 0 0
Others (parties or candidates that won less than 1% of the vote and no seats) 95,744 2.69 — 0 0
Valid votes 3,333,195 93.39
Blank and invalid votes 235,748 6.61
Totals 3,568,943 100.00 — 22 2
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 9,704,559 36.78 1.82
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share
PSD
 
 31.71%
PS
 
 26.53%
BE
 
 10.72%
CDU
 
 10.64%
CDS-PP
 
 8.36%
MEP
 
 1.54%
PCTP/MRPP
 
 1.20%
MPT
 
 0.67%
MMS
 
 0.61%
Others
 
 1.40%
Blank/Invalid
 
 6.61%

Distribution by European group
Summary of political group distribution in the 7th European Parliament (2009–2014) [2]
Groups Parties Seats Total %
European People's Party (EPP)
8
2		 10 45.45
Party of European Socialists (PES) 7 7 31.82
European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 3
2		 5 22.73
Total 22 22 100.00

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See also

Notes
  1. The Social Democratic Party and the People's Party contested, together, the 2004 election in a coalition (Forward Portugal).

References
  1. "Lista de candidatos ao PE 2009 / Candidate list for EP 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 4 June 2009.
  2. "Elecciones al Parlamento Europeo: Resultados por países 1979 - 2014". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 November 2017.
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