Elections in Portugal

Elections in Portugal are free, fair, and regularly held in accordance with election law.[1]

Portugal
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Portugal
Constitution

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 universe of voters. During the Estado Novo regime, from 1926 to 1974, the few elections held were not up to the democratic standards of their time and never resulted in power transfer.

Portugal elects on a national level the President and the national Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. The President is elected for a five-year term by the people while the Parliament has 230 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies, the districts. Also on a national level, Portugal elects 21 members of the European Parliament.

The Autonomous Regions of Azores and Madeira elect their own regional government for a four-year term, usually on the same day. The first regional elections were held in 1976.

On a local level, 308 Municipal Chambers and Municipal Assemblies and 3,092[2] Parish Assemblies are elected for a four-year term in separate elections that usually occur on the same day.

Latest elections

2019 legislative election
Main article: 2019 Portuguese legislative election
Summary of the 6 October 2019 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing MPs MPs %/
votes %
2015 2019 ± % ±
Socialist 1,903,68736.354.0861082246.969.61.29
Social Democratic 1,454,28327.77[lower-alpha 1]89791034.354.31.24
Left Bloc 498,5499.520.7191908.260.00.87
Unitary Democratic Coalition 332,0186.341.9171255.222.20.82
People's 221,0944.22[lower-alpha 1]185132.175.60.51
People–Animals–Nature 173,9313.321.91431.741.30.52
CHEGA 67,5021.29N/AN/A1N/A0.43N/A0.33
Liberal Initiative 67,4431.29N/AN/A1N/A0.43N/A0.33
LIVRE 56,9401.090.40110.430.40.39
Alliance 40,1750.77N/AN/A0N/A0.00N/A0.0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 36,0060.690.40000.000.00.0
React, Include, Recycle 35,1690.67N/AN/A0N/A0.00N/A0.0
National Renovator 16,9920.320.20000.000.00.0
Earth 12,8880.250.20000.000.00.0
We, the Citizens! 12,3460.240.20000.000.00.0
Democratic Republican 11,6740.220.90000.000.00.0
United Party of Retirees and Pensioners 11,4570.220.10000.000.00.0
Together for the People 10,5520.200.10000.000.00.0
People's Monarchist 8,3890.160.10000.000.00.0
Labour 8,2710.16[lower-alpha 2]0000.000.00.0
Socialist Alternative Movement 3,2430.06[lower-alpha 2]0000.000.00.0
Total valid 4,982,609 95.14 1.1 230 230 0 100.00 0 —
Blank ballots 131,3022.510.4
Invalid ballots 123,5732.360.7
Total 5,237,484 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 10,777,25848.607.3
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

2016 presidential election

Summary of the 24 January 2016 Portuguesepresidential election results

 
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Social Democratic Party, People's Party, People's Monarchist Party 2,413,956 52.00
António Sampaio da Nóvoa Independent supported by the Portuguese Workers' Communist Party, LIVRE 1,062,138 22.88
Marisa Matias Left Bloc, Socialist Alternative Movement 469,814 10.12
Maria de Belém Independent 196,765 4.24
Edgar Silva Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" 183,051 3.94
Vitorino Silva Independent 152,374 3.28
Paulo de Morais Independent 100,191 2.16
Henrique Neto Independent 39,163 0.84
Jorge Sequeira Independent 13,954 0.30
Cândido Ferreira Independent 10,609 0.23
Total valid 4,642,015 100.00
Blank ballots 58,964 1.24
Invalid ballots 43,588 0.92
Total (turnout 48.66%) 4,744,597
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Past elections and referendums

Election results 1975-2019
Summary of Portuguese elections for the Assembly of the Republic, 1975-2019
Election PCP MDP PS PSD CDS ADIM UDP APU AD FRS PRD CDU PSN BE PAN L PàF IL CH O/I* Turnout
1975* 12.5 4.1 37.9 26.4 7.6 0.0 0.8 - - - - - - - - - - - - 10.7 91.7
1976 14.4 - 34.9 24.4 16.0 - 1.7 - - - - - - - - - - - - 8.6 83.5
1979 - - 27.3 2.4 0.4 - 2.2 18.8 42.5 - - - - - - - - - - 6.2 82.9
1980 - - 1.1 2.5 0.2 - 1.4 16.8 44.9 26.7 - - - - - - - - - 6.4 83.9
1983 - - 36.1 27.2 12.6 - 0.5 18.1 - - - - - - - - - - - 5.5 77.8
1985 - - 20.8 29.9 10.0 - 1.3 15.5 - - 17.9 - - - - - - - - 4.6 74.2
1987 - 0.6 22.2 50.2 4.4 - 0.9 - - - 4.9 12.1 - - - - - - - 4.7 71.6
1991 - - 29.1 50.6 4.4 - 0.1 - - - 0.6 8.8 1.7 - - - - - - 4.7 67.8
1995 - - 43.8 34.1 9.1 - 0.6 - - - - 8.6 0.2 - - - - - - 3.6 66.3
1999 - - 44.1 32.3 8.3 - - - - - - 9.0 0.2 2.4 - - - - - 3.7 61.1
2002 - - 37.8 40.2 8.7 - - - - - - 6.9 0.0 2.7 - - - - - 3.7 61.5
2005 - - 45.0 28.8 7.2 - - - - - - 7.5 - 6.4 - - - - - 5.1 64.3
2009 - - 36.6 29.1 10.4 - - - - - - 7.9 - 9.8 - - - - - 6.2 59.7
2011 - - 28.1 38.7 11.4 - - - - - - 7.9 - 5.2 1.0 - - - - 7.5 58.0
2015 - - 32.3 1.5 0.2 - - - - - - 8.3 - 10.2 1.4 0.7 36.9 - - 8.5 55.8
2019 - - 36.4 27.8 4.2 - - - - - - 6.3 - 9.5 3.3 1.1 - 1.3 1.3 8.8 48.6
*The 1975 election was for the Constituent Assembly; O/I: Other parties and Invalid/Blank votes.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Autonomous Regions elections

Portugal has two autonomous regions, Azores and Madeira, that elect their own representatives for the regional parliaments every 4 years. The first elections were in 1976 and usually they were both held in the same day until 2007 when Madeira held an early election and Azores held its election the next year. The last election in Azores was in October 2016, and Madeira held an election on September 2019.

  • Elections in Azores
  • Elections in Madeira

European Parliament elections

Presidential elections

Under the Portuguese Constitution adopted in 1976, in the wake of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, the President is elected to a five-year term; there is no limit to the number of terms a president may serve, but a president who serves two consecutive terms may not serve again in the next five years after the second term finishes or in the following five years after his resignation.[3] The official residence of the Portuguese President is the Belém Palace.

The President is elected in a two-round system: if no candidate reaches 50% of the votes during the first round, the two candidates with the most votes face each other in a second round held two weeks later. As of 2020, the 1986 presidential election was the only time a Portuguese presidential election was taken into a second round.

The most recent election was held in 2016 and the next is expected to be in 2021.

Referendums

The Constitution of Portugal defines referendum in Article 115.[4] The referendum is called by the President of Portugal, on a proposal submitted by the Assembly or the Government. The President can refuse a proposal for referendum submitted to him by the Assembly or the Government if it is found to be unconstitutional or illegal. Referendums are binding if turnout is higher than 50% of registered voters.

Citizens of Portugal have the right to submit to the Assembly an initiative for a referendum.

The referendum can be held only on "important issues concerning the national interest which the Assembly of the Republic or the Government must decide by approving an international convention or passing a legislative act" (paragraph 3[4]). The referendum cannot be held on amendments to the Constitution, budget, taxes, finances and competences of the Assembly, except when issue is the object of an international convention, except when the international convention concerns peace or the rectification of borders.

There have been four nationwide referendums in the History of Portugal:

The Constitutional referendum of 1933 did not comply with the standards of a democratic suffrage, as, for example, abstentions were counted as supportive votes. It resulted in the establishing of the Estado Novo regime.

The later three referendums, held in the context of a Western-style liberal democracy had turnout less than 50%, so they were not binding. Nonetheless, decisions of all three referendums were honoured.

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See also

Notes
  1. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested the 2015 election in a coalition called Portugal Ahead (PàF) and won a combined 38.6% of the vote and elected 107 MP's to parliament.
  2. The Socialist Alternative Movement (MAS) and the Portuguese Labour Party (PTP) contested the 2015 election in a coalition called AGIR! (Act!) and won a combined 0.4% of the vote.

References
  1. "Portugal". Freedom House. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  2. DGAI - Reorganização Administrativa do Território das Freguesias - (RATF)
  3. "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" (PDF). Assembly of the Republic. 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  4. "Constitution of Portugal" (PDF). Party Law in Modern Europe. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
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