2019 European Parliament election in Portugal

The European Parliament election of 2019, in Portugal, elected the Portuguese delegation to the European Parliament from 2019 to 2024. This was the eighth European election held in Portugal. The election was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019.

European Parliament election in Portugal, 2019

26 May 2019
All 21 Portuguese seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	30.7% 3.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pedro Marques Paulo Rangel Marisa Matias Party PS PSD BE Alliance S&D EPP GUE/NGL Last election 8 seats, 31.5% 6 seats[lower-alpha 1] 1 seats, 4.6% Seats won 9 6 2 Seat change 1 0 1 Popular vote 1,106,345 727,207 325,534 Percentage 33.4% 21.9% 9.8% Swing 1.9 pp [lower-alpha 1] 5.3 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader João Ferreira Nuno Melo Francisco Guerreiro Party CDU CDS–PP PAN Alliance GUE/NGL EPP Green Last election 3 seats, 12.7% 1 seat[lower-alpha 1] 0 seats, 1.7% Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 1 0 1 Popular vote 228,157 205,111 168,501 Percentage 6.9% 6.2% 5.1% Swing 5.8 pp [lower-alpha 1] 3.4 pp
Map of districts and autonomous regions.

The Socialist Party (PS) was the winner of the elections, scoring 33.4% of the vote. The party increased their share of the votes by 2% from the 2014 election, and won an additional seat. It was one of the only three times in Portuguese history where the government party won a European Election.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) achieved its worst results ever as a standalone party, with 21.9% of the vote, distancing more than eleven points from the winner. The People's Party (CDS), which ran alongside the PSD in the previous election, as part of the Portugal Alliance, also fell below expectations at 6.2% of the vote, only being able to elect their top candidate Nuno Melo.

The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) scored their worst result as well, narrowly electing two MEPs compared to their former three. On the other hand, the Left Bloc (BE) rebounded to previous support levels, more than doubling its vote share to 9.8% and electing a new member.

The big surprise of the elections was the result of People-Animals-Nature (PAN). Headed by civil engineer André Silva, PAN won 5.1% of the votes and was able to elect its first ever European Parliament member, over-performing the polls.

Turnout, again, fell to the lowest level ever, with only 30.7% of voters casting a ballot. Abstention reached an unprecedented level of 99.04% for Portuguese citizens living abroad.[1]

Electoral system

The voting method used, for the election of European members of parliament, is by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method. For the 2019 EU elections, Portugal has 21 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

This election was also the first in which the changes in the electoral law, approved in 2018, were put into practice. The main changes were the automatic registration of all Portuguese citizens, at home and abroad, above 17 year's old, prompting the number of registered voters to increase from 9.7 million to almost 10.8 million, the introduction of early voting to all voters without filling an excuse, in previous elections voters could only vote early if they were unable to attend a polling station on election day, and the end of the "voting card", as voters would only need their ID card in order to cast a ballot.[2] To vote early, 19,584 voters, 0.2% of all registered voters, requested an early ballot. According to the government, 14,909 voters cast an early ballot.[3]

Parties and candidates

The major parties that participated in the election and their EP list leaders, ranked by percentage of the vote received, were:

• Socialist Party (PS), Pedro Marques[4]
• Social Democratic Party (PSD), Paulo Rangel[5]
• Left Bloc (BE), Marisa Matias[6]
• Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), João Ferreira[7]
• People's Party (CDS), Nuno Melo[8]
• People–Animals–Nature (PAN), Francisco Guerreiro[9]
• Alliance (A), Paulo Sande[10]
• LIVRE (L), Rui Tavares[11]
• Basta (B), André Ventura[12]
• We, the Citizens! (NC), Paulo de Morais[13]
• Liberal Initiative (IL), Ricardo Arroja[14]
• Portuguese Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP), Luís Júdice[15]
• National Renovator Party (PNR), João Patrocínio[16]
• Democratic Republican Party (PDR), António Marinho e Pinto[17]
• United Party of Retirees and Pensioners (PURP), Fernando Loureiro[18]
• Portuguese Labour Party (PTP), Gonçalo Madaleno[19]
• Socialist Alternative Movement (MAS), Vasco Santos[20]

Campaign period

Party slogans

Party or alliance		Original slogan	English translation	Refs
	PS	« #Somos Europa »	"#We are Europe"	[21]
	PSD	« Marcar a diferença em Portugal e na Europa »	"Making a difference in Portugal and in Europe"	[22]
	CDU	« Defender o povo e o País »	"Defending the people and the country"	[23]
	CDS–PP	« Portugal, a Europa é aqui »	"Portugal, Europe is here"	[24]
	BE	« Lado a Lado, pelo que é de todos »	"Side by side, by what is everyone's"	[25]
	PDR	« A voz em Português que faz a diferença no Parlamento Europeu »	"The Portuguese voice that makes the difference in the European Parliament"	[26]
	PAN	« A Europa começa em ti »	"Europe starts with you"	[27]
	A	« Para ganhar uma Europa nova »	"To win a new Europe"	[28]
	LIVRE	« Faz a tua Europa » / «Todos votam. Todos contam »	"Make your Europe" / «Everyone votes. Everyone counts. »	[29]
	PNR	« Portugal português numa Europa europeia »	"Portuguese Portugal in a European Europe"	[30]
	B	« Basta! »	"Enough! "	[31]

Candidates' debates

2019 European Parliament election in Portugal debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-inviteee
			PS	PSD	CDU	CDS–PP	BE	PDR	PAN	L	NC	B	PCTP	A	IL	PNR	PTP	PURP	MAS	Refs
1 May	SIC	Bento Rodrigues	P Marques	P Rangel	P Ferreira	P Melo	P Matias	P Pinto	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	[32]
2 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	N	N	N	P Melo	P Matias	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
3 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	N	P Rangel	P Ferreira	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
4 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	P Marques	N	N	P Melo	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
5 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	N	P Rangel	N	N	P Matias	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
6 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	P Marques	N	P Ferreira	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
7 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	N	P Rangel	N	P Melo	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
7 May	SIC	Bento Rodrigues	N	N	N	N	N	N	P Guerreiro	P Tavares	P Morais	P Ventura	P Júdice	P Sande	P Arroja	N	N	N	N	[33]
8 May	TVI	José Alberto Carvalho	P Marques	P Rangel	P Ferreira	P Melo	P Matias	P Pinto	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	[34]
8 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	N	N	P Ferreira	N	P Matias	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
9 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	P Marques	N	N	N	P Matias	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
10 May	RTP3	Cristina Esteves	N	N	P Ferreira	P Melo	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
11 May	RTP1	Cristina Esteves	P Marques	P Rangel	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	[35]
13 May	RTP1	Maria Flor Pedroso	N	N	N	N	N	A Pinto	P Guerreiro	P Tavares	P Morais	A Ventura	P Júdice	P Sande	P Arroja	P Patrocínio	P Madaleno	P Loureiro	P Santos	[36]
20 May	RTP1	Maria Flor Pedroso	I Marques	I Rangel	I Ferreira	I Melo	I Matias	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	[37]

Opinion polls

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Link	Fieldwork date	Sample size	TO				CDU		PAN				O	Lead
2019 EP election	26 May 2019	N/A	30.7	33.4 9	21.9 6	6.2 1	6.9 2	9.8 2	5.1 1	0.4 0	1.9 0	1.5 0	12.9 0	11.5
CESOP–UCP[lower-alpha 2]	26 May 2019	12,227	32.5	32 8/9	22 5/6	6 1/2	8 1/2	10.5 2/3	5 1/2				16.5 0	10
GfK/Metris[lower-alpha 2]	26 May 2019	7,169	31.5	32.9 8/9	23.8 6/7	6.0 1/2	6.8 2	10.0 2/3	6.0 1/2				14.5 0	9.1
Aximage	16–23 May 2019	766	34.9	32.4 8/9	25.1 6/7	7.1 1	8.3 2	11.1 3	1.8 0		2.5 0		11.7 0	7.3
Eurosondagem	15–22 May 2019	2,025	?	35.5 8/10	25.5 7	7.0 1/2	7.6 2	6.9 1/2	2.5 0/1		2.5 0/1		12.5 0	10.0
Aximage	16–20 May 2019	622	34.2	32.5 8/9	25.4 6/7	6.8 1/2	9.3 2	11.4 3	1.4 0		2.5 0		10.7 0	7.1
Pitagórica	10–19 May 2019	605	?	32.4 7/8	24.8 6/7	6.7 1/2	7.1 1/2	12.9 2/3	3.3 1	2.1 0/1	1.2 0	1.0 0	8.5 0	7.6
CESOP–UCP	16–19 May 2019	1,882	?	33 8/9	23 5/6	8 2	8 2	9 2	3 0/1		3 0/1		13 0	10
GfK/Metris	7–12 May 2019	803	?	36 8/9	28 6/7	8 1/2	8 1/2	9 2	2 0				9 0	8
GfK/Metris	22 Apr–3 May 2019	802	?	34 8	28 7	9 2	9 2	8 2	3 0				9 0	6
Eurosondagem	28 Apr–2 May 2019	2,010	?	34.0 9/10	27.1 7/8	7.1 1/2	8.1 2	7.1 1/2	3.3 0/1		3.3 0/1		10.0 0	6.9
Aximage	13–16 Apr 2019	612	?	31.7 8/9	29.0 7/8	7.7 1/2	8.4 2	8.3 2	1.3 0		1.3 0	1.8 0	10.5 0	2.7
Pitagórica	3–13 Apr 2019	605	?	30.3 7/8	28.0 7/8	7.6 2	6.5 1	11.3 2/3		1.7 0			14.6 0	2.3
Aximage	30 Mar–1 Apr 2019	602	43.8	33.6 8	31.1 8	6.8 1	9.4 2	8.0 2	1.3 0		1.3 0		8.5 0	2.5
Aximage	9–13 Mar 2019	600	44.5	34.1 8/9	29.1 7/8	7.3 1/2	9.2 2	7.6 2	1.9 0		2.0 0		8.8 0	5.0
Aximage[lower-alpha 3]	5–10 Feb 2019	602	38.2	36.0 9	26.2 6	8.6 2	8.8 2	9.7 2	1.5 0		1.9 0		7.3 0	9.8
Aximage[lower-alpha 4]	4–7 Jan 2019	608	36.0	38.5 8/10	23.4 5/7	9.9 2/3	13.4 2/3	7.4 2/3	2.4 0		1.4 0		3.5 0	15.1
2014 EP election	25 May 2014	N/A	33.7	31.5 8	27.7 6+1		12.7 3	4.6 1	1.7 0	*[lower-alpha 5]	N/A	0.9 0	20.9 2[lower-alpha 6]	3.8

Results

 Summary of the results of Portugal's 26 May 2019 election to the European Parliament

← 2014 • 2019 • 2024 →
National party		European party	Main candidate	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Socialist Party (PS)	PES	Pedro Marques	1,106,328	33.38	1.90	9	1
	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	EPP	Paulo Rangel	727,224	21.94	[lower-alpha 1]	6	0
	Left Bloc (BE)	PEL / EACL	Marisa Matias	325,533	9.82	5.26	2	1
	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) • Communist Party (PCP) • Ecologist Party (PEV)	PEL / EGP	João Ferreira	228,156	6.88	5.81	2 2 0	1 0
	CDS - People's Party (CDS-PP)	EPP	Nuno Melo	205,106	6.19	[lower-alpha 1]	1	0
	People–Animals–Nature (PAN)	APEU / EGP	Francisco Guerreiro	168,501	5.08	3.36	1	1
	Alliance (A)	ALDE	Paulo Sande	61,753	1.86	new	0	new
	LIVRE (L)	DiEM25 / EGP	Rui Tavares	60,575	1.83	0.35	0	0
	Basta! (B) • Enough (CH) • People's Monarchist Party (PPM) • Citizenship and Christian Democracy (PPV/CDC)	ECPM	André Ventura	49,496	1.49	0.58 [lower-alpha 7]	0 0 0 0	new 0 0
	We, the Citizens! (NC)	ALDE	Paulo de Morais	34,672	1.05	new	0	[38] 1
	Liberal Initiative (IL)	ALDE	Ricardo Arroja	29,120	0.88	new	0	new
	Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP)	None	Luís Júdice	27,223	0.82	0.85	0	0
	National Renovator Party (PNR)	AENM	João Patrocínio	16,165	0.49	0.04	0	0
	Democratic Republican Party (PDR)	ALDE	Marinho e Pinto	15,790	0.48	new	0	[39] 1
	United Party of Retirees and Pensioners (PURP)	None	Fernando Loureiro	13,582	0.41	new	0	new
	Portuguese Labour Party (PTP)	None	Gonçalo Madaleno	8,640	0.26	0.43	0	0
	Socialist Alternative Movement (MAS)	EACL	Vasco Santos	6,641	0.20	0.18	0	0
Valid votes				3,084,505	93.06
Blank and invalid votes				229,909	6.93
Totals				3,314,414	100.00	—	21	0
Eligible voters / turnout				10,786,068	30.73	2.94
Source: Europeias 2019, Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share PS   33.38% PSD   21.94% BE   9.82% CDU   6.88% CDS-PP   6.19% PAN   5.08% Alliance   1.86% L   1.83% Basta!   1.49% NC   1.05% IL   0.88% PCTP/MRPP   0.82% Others   1.84% Blank/Invalid   6.93%

Distribution by European group

Summary of political group distribution in the 9th European Parliament (2019–2024)

Groups		Parties	Seats	Total	%
	Party of European Socialists (PES)	Socialist Party (PS)	9	9	42.86
	European People's Party (EPP)	Social Democratic Party (PSD) People's Party (CDS–PP)	6 1	7	33.33
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)	Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Left Bloc (BE)	2 2	4	19.05
	Greens–European Free Alliance (G/EFA)	People–Animals–Nature (PAN)	1	1	4.76
Total			21	21	100.00

Maps

• 
  Most voted political force by municipality.

Electorate

Demographic		Size	PS	PSD	BE	CDU	CDS–PP	PAN	Others
Total vote		100%	33.4%	21.9%	9.7%	6.9%	6.2%	5.1%	16.8%
Sex
Men		47%	33.1%	22.2%	8.1%	8.1%	6.0%	4.0%	18.5%
Women		53%	33.6%	21.6%	11.3%	5.8%	6.4%	6.1%	15.2%
Age
18–24 years old		8%	22.2%	17.2%	9.9%	4.6%	6.6%	13.9%	25.5%
25–34 years old		10%	18.9%	17.9%	13.7%	5.5%	7.0%	11.2%	25.9%
35–44 years old		17%	26.0%	20.9%	12.1%	7.0%	6.7%	7.3%	20.0%
44–54 years old		21%	25.1%	24.6%	10.8%	7.7%	8.5%	4.4%	18.9%
55–64 years old		18%	38.0%	22.1%	11.3%	5.9%	5.9%	2.4%	14.3%
65 and older		26%	50.2%	23.4%	5.1%	8.0%	3.8%	1.1%	8.4%
Education
No High-school		14%	54.8%	17.9%	6.6%	6.7%	2.8%	2.1%	9.0%
High-school		34%	37.4%	20.2%	8.5%	8.2%	4.5%	4.9%	16.3%
College graduate		52%	24.9%	24.2%	11.6%	6.0%	8.3%	6.0%	19.1%
Source: CESOP–UCP exit poll

See also

• 2019 European Parliament election
• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal

Notes

1. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested the 2014 election in a coalition called Portugal Alliance (AP) and won a combined 27.7% of the vote and elected 7 MP's to the European parliament.
2. This poll provides data ranges and/or approximations. In order to simplify, the average of these data is given.
3. Results presented here exclude undecideds (5.3%). With their inclusion results are: PS: 34.1%; PSD: 24.8%; BE: 9.2%; CDU: 8.3%; PP: 8.1%; A: 1.8%; PAN: 1.4%; Others: 7.0%.
4. Results presented here exclude undecideds (15.4%). With their inclusion results are: PS: 32.6%; PSD: 19.8%; CDU: 11.3%; PP: 8.4%; BE: 6.3%; PAN: 2.0%; A: 1.2%; Others: 3.0%.
5. The main candidate for the Earth Party (MPT) in 2014, António Marinho e Pinto, left MPT in late 2014 and formed his own party, the Democratic Republican Party (PDR).
6. Includes the 7.2%, and 2 seats, won by MPT in the 2014 EP elections. MPT dropped out from the 2019 EP elections due to internal infighting.
7. Compared with the combined total of 0.91% of PPM and PPV/CDC in the 2014 EP elections.

References

1. Europeias. Abstenção de 99% entre os emigrantes, Expresso, 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
2. Domingo é mais fácil votar, Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
3. Voto antecipado nas europeias teve abstenção de 24%, Eco newspaper, 25 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
4. Ministro do Planeamento vai ser cabeça-de-lista do PS às europeias , SIC Notícias, 06 February 2019. Retrieved 06 February 2019.
5. Rui Rio já fez o convite. Os pormenores estão acertados. Paulo Rangel é o candidato do PSD às Europeias, Observador, 05 February 2019. Retrieved 06 February 2019.
6. Marisa Matias vai ser cabeça de lista do Bloco de Esquerda às europeias, Correio da Manhã, 10 November 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
7. João Ferreira é o candidato da CDU ao Parlamento Europeu, Público, 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
8. CDS dá tiro de partida para as eleições europeias , Expresso, 19 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
9. Francisco Guerreiro é o cabeça de lista pelo PAN às Europeias Archived 2018-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, People–Animals–Nature 13 December 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
10. Sande é assessor de Marcelo e será cabeça de lista de Santana Lopes às europeias , Jornal de Negócios, 1 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
11. Rui Tavares é cabeça de lista do LIVRE, 'Público, 04 March 2019. Retrieved 04 March 2019.
12. Tribunal Constitucional aceita coligação Basta. André Ventura é o cabeça de lista, TSF, 12 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
13. Paulo de Morais avança pelo Nós, Cidadãos! mas conta com apoio do eurodeputado do MPT, Observador, 14 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
14. Arroja é cabeça de lista às Europeias por partido que defende “uma enorme redução dos impostos”, Jornal de Negócios, 23 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
15. PCTP/MRPP candidata-se às eleições para o parlamento europeu, Jornal da Madeira 1 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
16. “Eurocético” PNR quer deputado na Europa para “combater a invasão” pelos “chamados refugiados”, Observador, 23 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
17. Marinho e Pinto recandidata-se ao Parlamento Europeu, Observador, 01 February 2019. Retrieved 06 February 2019.
18. Fernando Loureiro é o cabeça de lista do PURP às Eleições Europeias, Sul Informação, 18 February 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
19. , TSF, 15 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
20. Vasco Santos é candidato às Eleições Europeias, Socialist Alternative Movement, 13 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
21. "PS Europeias". PS (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 April 2019.
22. "PSD Europeias 2019". PSD (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 April 2019.
23. "CDU Parlamento Europeu 2019". CDU (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 April 2019.
24. "CDS Parlamento Europeu". CDS-PP (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 April 2019.
25. "Europeias 2019: a campanha do Bloco". BE (in Portuguese). 18 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
26. "ELEIÇÕES PARA O PARLAMENTO EUROPEU (2019) -PDR". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). 21 February 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
27. "Europeias 2019 – PAN lança programa eleitoral". PAN (in Portuguese). 17 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
28. "ELEIÇÕES PARA O PARLAMENTO EUROPEU – 2019 – ALIANÇA". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). 24 March 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
29. "Partido Livre Europeias 2019". Partido Livre (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 April 2019.
30. "João Patrocínio é o candidato do PNR às Europeias 2019". PNR (in Portuguese). 2 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
31. "Coligação BASTA assume que objetivo é eleger eurodeputados". Chega (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 April 2019.
32. "Europeias com dois debates nas televisões. SIC tentou frente-a-frente do "centrão"". Visão (in Portuguese). 13 March 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
33. SAPO. "Europeias: RTP arranca hoje com os debates frente-a-frente". SAPO 24 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-05-02.
34. https://www.esquerda.net/artigo/europeias-debates-televisivos-arrancam-1-de-maio/61049
35. "Europeias. PS só aceita debates a cinco. Dois já estão marcados na SIC e na RTP". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 15 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
36. SAPO. "Europeias: RTP arranca hoje com os debates frente-a-frente". SAPO 24 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-05-02.
37. "Europeias. PS só aceita debates a cinco. Dois já estão marcados na SIC e na RTP". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 15 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
38. The MP José Inácio Faria was elected in 2014 by Earth Party (MPT) and was running in 2019 by We, the Citizens! (NC) , Observador, 14 April 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
39. The MP António Marinho e Pinto was elected in 2014 by Earth Party (MPT) and was running in 2019 by Democratic Republican Party (PDR) , Público, 1 April 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

External links

• Official results site, Portuguese Ministry of Internal Administration
• Portuguese Electoral Commission
• ERC – Official publication of polls