1991 Portuguese legislative election
Election
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The 1991 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. There was a reduction of 20 seats compared with previous elections, due to the 1989 Constitutional revision.[1] For the first time in Portuguese democracy, an election was held after the four years of the legislature had been fully completed.[2]
6.7%
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6 October 1991
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All 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic 116 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 8,462,357 6.7% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 5,735,431 (67.8%) 3.8 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Social Democratic Party, under the leadership of Cavaco Silva, won a historic third term and obtained an absolute majority for a second consecutive time. Although losing 13 seats due to the reduction in the total number from 250 to 230, the loss was only 3 seats if the results of the 1987 election are counted with the new seat distribution, while at the same time obtaining a higher percentage of votes than four years prior. Cavaco Silva became the first Prime Minister since Hintze Ribeiro, in 1904, to lead a party into three successive democratic election victories.
The Socialist Party, at the time led by Jorge Sampaio, the future President of Portugal, increased its share by 7 percentage points and gained 12 MPs, a gain of 16 if compared with the new seat distribution, but did not manage to avoid the renewal of the Social Democrats' absolute majority. Like four and six years earlier, and like 1979 and 1980, the PS failed to win a single district. In the first legislative election after the fall of the Eastern Bloc, the communist dominated Democratic Unity Coalition lost much of its electoral influence, losing almost 10 MPs and 3 percentage points, but were able to hold on to the district of Beja by a slight margin over the PSD.
On the right, the CDS could not recover its past influence, mainly to the effect of tactical voting for the Social Democratic Party by right-wing voters, increasing its parliamentary group by only 1 MP. The National Solidarity Party, using a populist campaign, achieved for the first time an MP, in what would be the only presence of such party in the Parliament.
Voter turnout fell to 67.8 percent, and for the first time below 70 percent of the electorate.
Background
Cavaco Silva's second government was marked by strong economic and political reforms, such as the beginning of the reprivatization of many companies nationalized after the April 25th revolution,[3] as well as the 1989 constitutional revision, approved by the two largest parties (PSD and PS), which further removed the left-wing ideological tone from the text, liberalizing the economic system.[4][5] The arrival of European funds also initiated a period of strong economic transformation and modernization of the country's infrastructure.[6] Despite the stability and strong economy, the PSD government faced protests, strikes and criticisms for its reforms,[7][8] as well as some controversies, such as the "case of the contaminated hemophiliacs", in which hemophiliac patients were infected with plasma contaminated with HIV/AIDS virus, leading to the resignation of the then health minister, Leonor Beleza.[9][10] The PSD suffered setbacks in the European and local elections during 1989.[2] On the international front, the government mediated the Bicesse Accords with the aim of ending the Angolan Civil War.[11]
Leadership changes and challenges
Democratic and Social Center
After CDS' poor results, just 4 percent in the 1987 general elections, then CDS leader Adriano Moreira announced he would leave the leadership and called a party congress to elect a new leader.[12] Diogo Freitas do Amaral, former party leader and defeated candidate in the 1986 presidential election, decided to ran for the party's leadership, being the sole candidate on the ballot.[13]
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diogo Freitas do Amaral | Voice vote | ||
| Turnout | 100.0 | ||
| Source: | |||
Socialist Party
Following the 1987 election defeat, party leader Vítor Constâncio faced strong pressures because of his strategy, with interferences also from President Mário Soares, and difficulties in finding a strong candidate to contest the 1989 Lisbon local election.[14] Because of these pressures, Constâncio resign in late 1988 and a party congress to elect a new leader was called for mid January 1989. Two candidates were on the ballot, Jorge Sampaio and Jaime Gama.[15] Sampaio was easily elected as PS leader.[16]
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jorge Sampaio | 1,013 | 62.7 | |
| Jaime Gama | 561 | 34.7 | |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 42 | 2.6 | |
| Turnout | 1,616 | ||
| Source: Acção Socialista[17] | |||
Democratic Renewal Party
The Democratic Renewal Party's results in the 1987 election were disappointing and António Ramalho Eanes resigned from the leadership.[18] Hermínio Martinho returned to the leadership, but the party was plagued by deep divisions on its ideology and strategy, with key members, including Ramalho Eanes, announcing their departure from the party.[19] In June 1991, the party held a leadership ballot between Hermínio Martinho and Pedro Canavarro. Martinho defended the dissolution of the party, while Canavarro proposed the continuation of the party. The ballot results gave Canavarro a landslide victory.[20] The results were the following:
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pedro Canavarro | 145 | 79.2 | |
| Hermínio Martinho | 38 | 20.8 | |
| Turnout | 183 | ||
| Source: [20] | |||
Electoral system
The Assembly of the Republic has 230 members elected to four-year terms. The total number of MPs was reduced in 1989, during the Constitutional amendments, to 230 from the previous 250. Governments do not require absolute majority support of the Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 116 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.[21]
The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[22] The use of the d'Hondt method makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the Hare quota or Sainte-Laguë method, which are more generous to small parties.[23]
For these elections, and compared with the 1987 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[24]
| District | Number of MPs | Map |
|---|---|---|
| Lisbon(–6) | 50 | 
16
6
37
6
4
14
9
4
10
5
10
10
50
3
4
16
4
8
5
5
2
2
|
| Porto(–2) | 37 | |
| Braga(–1) and Setúbal(–1) | 16 | |
| Aveiro(–1) | 14 | |
| Leiria(–1), Santarém(–2) and Coimbra(–1) | 10 | |
| Viseu(–1) | 9 | |
| Faro(–1) | 8 | |
| Vila Real and Viana do Castelo | 6 | |
| Azores, Castelo Branco, Madeira | 5 | |
| Beja(–1), Bragança, Évora and Guarda(–1) | 4 | |
| Portalegre | 3 | |
| Europe and Outside Europe | 2 |
Parties
The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 5th legislature (1987–1991) and that also partook in the election:
With the 1987 seat distribution
| Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | 1987 result | Seats at dissolution[25] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | Seats | |||||||
| PPD/PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata |
Liberal conservatism Classical liberalism |
Centre-right | Aníbal Cavaco Silva |
50.2% | 148 / 250 |
148 / 250 | |
| PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista |
Social democracy | Centre-left | Jorge Sampaio | 22.2% | 60 / 250 |
67 / 250 | |
| PCP | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português |
Communism Marxism–Leninism |
Far-left | Álvaro Cunhal | 12.1% [a] |
29 / 250 |
29 / 250 | |
| PEV | Ecologist Party "The Greens" Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" |
Eco-socialism Green politics |
Left-wing | Isabel Castro | 2 / 250 |
0 / 250 | ||
| PRD | Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovador Democrático |
Centrism Third Way |
Centre | Pedro Canavarro |
4.9% | 7 / 250 |
0 / 250 | |
| CDS | Democratic and Social Centre Centro Democrático e Social |
Christian democracy Conservatism |
Centre-right to right-wing |
Diogo Freitas do Amaral |
4.4% | 4 / 250 |
4 / 250 | |
| Ind. | Independent Independente |
Ecologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990; | 2 / 250 | |||||
Seat changes
- On December 1990, the 7 MPs of the Democratic Renewal Party left the party and decided to join the Socialist Party caucus, after a split with the party's leader, Pedro Canavarro.[26][20]
- Also on December 1990, the two MPs from the Ecologist Party "The Greens" decided to dissolve their caucus and sit as Independents, following disagreements with the Portuguese Communist Party and defending an ecological party not aligned with the Communists.[27]
1987 results with the new seat distribution
| Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | 1987 notional result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | Seats | ||||||
| PPD/PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata |
Liberal conservatism Classical liberalism |
Centre-right | Aníbal Cavaco Silva |
50.2% | 138 / 230 | |
| PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista |
Social democracy | Centre-left | Jorge Sampaio | 22.2% | 56 / 230 | |
| PCP | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português |
Communism Marxism–Leninism |
Far-left | Álvaro Cunhal | 12.1% | 24 / 230 | |
| PEV | Ecologist Party "The Greens" Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" |
Eco-socialism Green politics |
Left-wing | Isabel Castro | 2 / 230 | ||
| PRD | Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovador Democrático |
Centrism Third Way |
Centre | Pedro Canavarro |
4.9% | 6 / 230 | |
| CDS | Democratic and Social Centre Centro Democrático e Social |
Christian democracy Conservatism |
Centre-right to right-wing |
Diogo Freitas do Amaral |
4.4% | 4 / 230 | |
Campaign period
Issues
In the context of a strong economy,[28] the election campaign became a "plebiscite" on Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's government.[29] The Prime Minister even campaigned on a promise not to remain in office if the Social Democrats (PSD) failed to secure a majority of seats, warning of the dangers of instability.[29] Opposition parties responded by accusing Cavaco Silva of trying to "blackmail" the electorate, with Socialist (PS) leader Jorge Sampaio stressing that voters had a "clear choice" between a PS or PSD government.[30]
Party slogans
| Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSD | « No bom caminho » | "On the right track" | [31] | |
| PS | « Agora nós » | "Now us." | [32] | |
| CDU | « Para um Portugal melhor » | "For a better Portugal" | [33] | |
| CDS | « A verdade, sempre! » | "The truth, always!" | [34] | |
| PSN | « O sol está a nascer para todos. » | "The sun is rising for everyone." | [35] | |
Candidates' debates
No debates between the main parties were held as the PSD leader and Prime Minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, refused to take part in any debate.[36]
Opinion polling
The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1987 and 1991 for reference.
Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.[37]
Exit poll
| Polling firm/Link | Date Released |  |
PS |  |
 |
 |
O | Lead | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 legislative election | 6 Oct 1991 | 50.6 135 |
29.1 72 |
8.8 17 |
4.4 5 |
1.7 1 |
5.4 0 |
21.5 | |||||||
| UCP | 6 Oct 1991 | 48.0– 51.9 128/138 |
28.5– 31.5 73/83 |
7.5– 10.0 11/14 |
4.5– 5.5 4/7 |
? 1/2 |
19.5 20.4 | ||||||||
| Euroexpansão | 6 Oct 1991 | 45.8– 50.2 |
29.8– 33.9 |
6.8– 9.1 |
3.7– 5.5 |
1.0– 2.0 |
PSR 1.4–2.6 |
16.0 16.3 | |||||||
| Euroteste | 6 Oct 1991 | 47–50 | 31–34 | 7.5–10 | 4–5 | – |
PSR 1.0–1.5 |
16 | |||||||
| GEOIDEIA | 6 Oct 1991 | 49–52 | 29–31 | 7–9 | 3–4 | 2–3 |
PSR 1.0–2.0 |
20 21 | |||||||
| Rádio Press | 6 Oct 1991 | 45.5 | 35.0 | 9.6 | 4.5 | – | — | 10.5 | |||||||
| Rádio Correio da Manhã | 6 Oct 1991 | 45.8– 50.2 |
29.8– 33.9 |
6.8– 9.1 |
3.7– 5.5 |
1.0– 2.0 |
PSR 1.4–2.6 |
16.0 16.3 | |||||||
| Pluriteste | 30 Sep 1991 | 41.2 | 34.7 | 8.4 | 8.1 | N/a | 7.7[b] | 6.5 | |||||||
| UCP[c] | 29 Sep 1991 | 51.3 134 |
29.3 73 |
7.5 12 |
5.0 5 |
N/a | 7.0 2 |
22.0 | |||||||
| Euroteste | 28 Sep 1991 | 47.3 | 35.5 | 8.5 | 4.1 | N/a | 4.6 | 11.8 | |||||||
| Euroteste | 28 Sep 1991 | 46.0 | 37.0 | 9.7 | 3.9 | N/a | 3.4 | 9.0 | |||||||
| Euroexpansão | 28 Sep 1991 | 44 | 33 | 9 | 6 | N/a | 8 | 11 | |||||||
| Marktest | 27 Sep 1991 | 43.1 | 32.8 | 7.7 | 4.6 | N/a | 11.8 | 10.3 | |||||||
| Euroteste | 20 Sep 1991 | 45.6 | 35.5 | 10.0 | 4.4 | N/a | 4.5 | 10.1 | |||||||
| Marktest | 20 Sep 1991 | 41.9 | 31.9 | 7.3 | 4.4 | N/a | 14.5 | 10.0 | |||||||
| Pluriteste | 16 Sep 1991 | 39.2 | 26.6 | 6.2 | 6.0 | N/a | 22.0 | 12.6 | |||||||
| Euroteste | 16 Sep 1991 | 45.1 | 34.5 | 10.2 | 5.2 | N/a | 5.0 | 10.6 | |||||||
| Norma | 14 Sep 1991 | 45.0 | 37.5 | 11.2 | 3.5 | N/a | 2.8 | 7.5 | |||||||
| Euroexpansão | 14 Sep 1991 | 44.7 | 40.0 | N/a | N/a | N/a | 15.3 | 4.7 | |||||||
| DN | 9 Sep 1991 | 38.8 | 36.1 | N/a | N/a | N/a | 25.1 | 2.7 | |||||||
| Euroexpansão/Marktest | 28 Aug 1991 | 35.3 | 36.8 | 8.7 | 4.9 | N/a | 14.3 | 1.5 | |||||||
| DN/Renascença | 13 Aug 1991 | 46.5 | 38.3 | N/a | N/a | N/a | 15.2 | 8.2 | |||||||
| DN/Renascença | 6 Aug 1991 | 44.8 | 41.6 | N/a | N/a | N/a | 13.6 | 3.2 | |||||||
| Euroteste/JN | 4 Aug 1991 | 47.5 | 37.8 | 12.3 | 8.2 | N/a | N/a | 7.7 | |||||||
| PSD | 19 Jul 1991 | 54 | ? | ? | ? | N/a | ? | ? | |||||||
| PCP | 19 Jul 1991 | 52 | ? | ? | ? | N/a | ? | ? | |||||||
| Norma | 19 Jul 1991 | 43.7 | 32.9 | 12.4 | 6.5 | N/a | 4.5 | 10.8 | |||||||
| Euroteste | 19 Jul 1991 | 45.4 | 36.6 | 10.8 | 4.0 | N/a | 3.2 | 8.8 | |||||||
| Euroteste[d] | 13 Jan 1991 | 47.5 | 36.9 | 9.3 | 3.5 | N/a | 2.7 | 10.6 | |||||||
| 1989 local elections | 17 Dec 1989 | 35.3 | 36.7 | 13.3 | 9.1 | N/a | 5.6 | 1.4 | |||||||
| Norma[38] | 29 Oct 1989 | 41.3 | 31.4 | 14.4 | 3.4 | N/a | 9.5[e] | 9.9 | |||||||
| 1989 EP elections | 18 Jun 1989 | 32.8 | 28.5 | 14.4 | 14.2 | N/a | 10.1 | 4.3 | |||||||
| Euroexpansão | 18 Jun 1988 | 38.5 | ? | ? | ? | N/a | ? | ? | |||||||
| 1987 legislative election | 19 Jul 1987 | 50.2 148 |
22.2 60 |
12.1 31 |
4.4 4 |
N/a | 11.1 7 |
28.0 | |||||||
Results
National summary
 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
| Social Democratic Party | 2,902,351 | 50.60 | +0.38 | 135 | –13 | |
| Socialist Party | 1,670,758 | 29.13 | +6.89 | 72 | +12 | |
| Unitary Democratic Coalition[f] | 504,583 | 8.80 | –3.34 | 17 | –14 | |
| Democratic and Social Centre | 254,317 | 4.43 | –0.01 | 5 | +1 | |
| National Solidarity Party | 96,096 | 1.68 | New | 1 | New | |
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | 64,159 | 1.12 | +0.54 | 0 | 0 | |
| Portuguese Workers' Communist Party | 48,542 | 0.85 | +0.47 | 0 | 0 | |
| Democratic Renewal Party | 35,077 | 0.61 | –4.30 | 0 | –7 | |
| People's Monarchist Party | 25,216 | 0.44 | +0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Democratic Party of the Atlantic | 10,842 | 0.19 | New | 0 | New | |
| Left Revolutionary Front | 6,661 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New | |
| Popular Democratic Union[g] | 6,157 | 0.11 | –0.78 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 5,624,759 | 100.00 | – | 230 | –20 | |
| Valid votes | 5,624,759 | 98.07 | +0.25 | |||
| Invalid votes | 63,020 | 1.10 | –0.20 | |||
| Blank votes | 47,652 | 0.83 | –0.05 | |||
| Total votes | 5,735,431 | 100.00 | – | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 8,462,357 | 67.78 | –3.79 | |||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições | ||||||
Distribution by constituency
| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSD | PS | CDU | CDS | PSN | |||||||
| Azores | 64.1 | 4 | 25.8 | 1 | 1.3 | - | 3.4 | - | 5 | ||
| Aveiro | 58.6 | 9 | 27.8 | 4 | 2.8 | - | 6.1 | 1 | 1.3 | - | 14 |
| Beja | 29.3 | 1 | 28.4 | 1 | 30.4 | 2 | 2.3 | - | 1.0 | - | 4 |
| Braga | 53.6 | 10 | 31.5 | 5 | 4.6 | - | 5.6 | 1 | 0.8 | - | 16 |
| Bragança | 57.9 | 3 | 25.7 | 1 | 2.1 | - | 8.2 | - | 1.5 | - | 4 |
| Castelo Branco | 51.8 | 3 | 32.4 | 2 | 4.6 | - | 3.9 | - | 2.3 | - | 5 |
| Coimbra | 49.9 | 6 | 34.4 | 4 | 5.0 | - | 3.5 | - | 1.7 | - | 10 |
| Évora | 35.0 | 2 | 25.9 | 1 | 27.1 | 1 | 2.8 | - | 1.4 | - | 4 |
| Faro | 50.8 | 5 | 31.2 | 3 | 7.2 | - | 2.8 | - | 2.2 | - | 8 |
| Guarda | 58.6 | 3 | 26.8 | 1 | 2.3 | - | 5.9 | - | 1.3 | - | 4 |
| Leiria | 61.2 | 7 | 23.0 | 3 | 4.5 | - | 4.8 | - | 1.4 | - | 10 |
| Lisbon | 45.3 | 25 | 29.7 | 16 | 12.2 | 6 | 4.0 | 2 | 2.6 | 1 | 50 |
| Madeira | 62.4 | 4 | 20.2 | 1 | 1.0 | - | 6.1 | - | 1.9 | - | 5 |
| Portalegre | 38.9 | 2 | 33.5 | 1 | 15.2 | - | 3.3 | - | 1.8 | - | 3 |
| Porto | 51.3 | 21 | 32.9 | 13 | 6.4 | 2 | 4.1 | 1 | 1.1 | - | 37 |
| Santarém | 49.1 | 6 | 29.4 | 3 | 9.8 | 1 | 3.3 | - | 2.2 | - | 10 |
| Setúbal | 34.7 | 6 | 28.4 | 5 | 24.9 | 5 | 2.7 | - | 2.4 | - | 16 |
| Viana do Castelo | 56.9 | 4 | 25.2 | 2 | 5.0 | - | 7.2 | - | 1.2 | - | 6 |
| Vila Real | 60.6 | 4 | 26.0 | 2 | 2.6 | - | 5.1 | - | 1.2 | - | 6 |
| Viseu | 64.3 | 7 | 19.4 | 2 | 2.1 | - | 6.3 | - | 1.3 | - | 9 |
| Europe | 53.7 | 1 | 31.9 | 1 | 7.8 | - | 3.0 | - | 2 | ||
| Outside Europe | 77.3 | 2 | 4.9 | - | 1.0 | - | 14.6 | - | 2 | ||
| Total | 50.6 | 135 | 29.1 | 72 | 8.8 | 17 | 4.4 | 5 | 1.7 | 1 | 230 |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições | |||||||||||
Maps
Winner and seats by constituency.
Most voted political force by municipality.
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See also
Notes
- The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (PEV) contested the 1987 election in a coalition called Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) and won a combined 12.1% of the vote and elected 31 MPs to parliament.
- Results presented here exclude undecideds (7.2%). With their inclusion results are: PSD: 47.6%; PS: 27.2%; CDU: 6.9%; CDS: 4.6%; Others/Invalid: 6.5%.
- Results presented here exclude undecideds (15.0%). With their inclusion results are: PSD: 40.4%; PS: 31.4%; CDU: 7.9%; CDS: 3.0%; Others/Invalid: 2.3%.
- Portuguese Communist Party (15 MPs) and "The Greens" (2 MPs) ran in coalition.
- People's Democratic Union electoral list only in Madeira and Azores.