1976 Portuguese legislative election
25 April 1976
263 seats to the Portuguese Assembly
132 seats needed for a majority
Registered6,564,667 Increase5.4%
Turnout5,483,461 (83.5%)
Decrease8.2 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Francisco Sá Carneiro.jpg
Freitas do Amaral, XV Cimeira Ibero-Americana - Salamanca, Espanha (cropped).jpg
Leader Mário Soares Francisco Sá Carneiro Diogo Freitas do Amaral
Party PS PPD CDS
Leader since 19 April 1973 6 May 1974 19 July 1974
Leader's seat Lisbon[1] Porto[2] Lisbon
Last election 116 seats, 37.9% 81 seats, 26.4% 16 seats, 7.6%
Seats won 107 73 42
Seat change Decrease 9 Decrease 8 Increase 26
Popular vote 1,912,921 1,335,381 876,007
Percentage 34.9% 24.4% 15.9%
Swing Decrease 3.0 pp Decrease 2.0 pp Increase 8.4 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
UDP
Leader Álvaro Cunhal Acácio Barreiros
Party PCP UDP
Leader since 31 March 1961 1976
Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon
Last election 30 seats, 12.5% 1 seat, 0.8%
Seats won 40 1
Seat change Increase 10 Steady 0
Popular vote 788,830 91,690
Percentage 14.4% 1.7%
Swing Increase 1.9 pp Increase 0.9 pp
Prime Minister before election

Vasco de Almeida e Costa (interim)
Independent

 Prime Minister after election

Mário Soares
PS

The 1976 Portuguese legislative election was held on Sunday 25 April, exactly one year after the previous election, and two years after the Carnation Revolution. With a new Constitution approved, the country's main aim was economic recovery and strengthening its democratic institutions. The election renewed all 263 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

The Socialist Party won a plurality of votes, almost 35%, and legislative seats, and its leader Mário Soares became the Prime Minister of the 1st Constitutional Government on 23 July 1976. The lack of a socialist majority forced his party to form an unexpected coalition with the Democratic and Social Center, a right-wing party. The nature of this coalition, between a socialist party and a conservative party that voted against the new constitution because of its socialist influences, surprised most Portuguese voters and marked the start of the Socialist Party's right-wing turn that would soon be attacked by all the left due to the new government's measures against left-wing reforms following the Carnation Revolution, mainly concerning agrarian reform, in what was called the PS putting "Socialism in the drawer".[3]

The Social Democratic Party (then known as the Democratic People's Party, PPD) won the second most votes and seats, 24% of the votes, but polled 10 points below the PS. The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) achieved considerable gains that reflected its growing influence, mainly in the south of the country, gaining 14% of the votes. The big surprise in the elections was the strong showing of the Democratic and Social Center (CDS), which polled ahead of PCP and gathered 16% of the votes. Only 19 years later, in 1995, would the CDS again surpass the PCP in number of votes.

Voter turnout fell to 83.5%, compared with the 91.7% just a year before.

Background

Vasco Gonçalves.
Mural in support for Vasco Gonçalves.

Ongoing Revolutionary Process

The previous elections, held on April 25, 1975, elected a new assembly to write a new Constitution. The election results gave the two main moderate parties (PS and PPD) a clear majority in Parliament, with almost 38% for the PS and more than 26% for the PPD. The PCP achieved a weak result, just 12.5%, while the CDS polled ahead of the MDP. The election results started a conflict of legitimacy between parties, the Armed Forces Movement and the Revolutionary Council. It was the start of the Ongoing Revolutionary Process, which culminated in the Hot Summer of 1975.

On May 1, 1975, the PS and the PCP held separate rallies and some violent clashes occurred between PS and PCP supporters.[4] A few days later, in what was called "The República case", far-left supporters invaded the headquarters of República newspaper. The reason was a strike by the typographers and other workers, many close to the far-left UDP, accusing the editorial board of being too aligned with the PS.[5] The case drew widespread international attention, and the PS started a full blown attack against the PCP and Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves government.

Positions become extreme as Vasco Gonçalves led the Ongoing Revolutionary Process. He started facing big opposition from the so-called "reactionaries" (the Catholic Church, groups close to the former Estado Novo regime and, unofficially, from the PS, PPD and CDS.), therefore, Vasco Gonçalves continued and forced his Democratic socialism policies with the nationalization of huge parts of the Portuguese economy.[6]

Hot Summer of 1975

By the beginning of the summer of 1975, the country was deeply divided. The "Hot summer of 1975" was starting. During this period, huge clashes between left and right supporters spread all across the country, some with big violence. The possibility of the country entering in a full blown Civil war was feared by many.[7] On 19 July 1975, the PS held a massive rally in Lisbon, with the help of the Catholic Church and others, to fight against the PCP and Vasco Gonçalves government. Mário Soares, PS leader, accused the Gonçalves government, and those who support it, of being "Paranoids", "Demented" and "Irresponsibles who do not represent the Portuguese people".[8]

During the summer of 1975, headquarters of the PCP, and other left-wing parties, in many cities in the North and Center of the country were vandalized and destroyed. Many leftwing supporters were also violently beaten by anti-left protesters.[9] The violence and increased tensions across the country were damaging Vasco Gonçalves leadership in the government and divisions between the Armed Forces Movement and the Revolutionary Council were starting to show. When COPCON commander, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, withdrew his support from Gonçalves, the government was on its last days. On 20 September, Gonçalves leaves the government and Pinheiro de Azevedo is nominated as Prime Minister.[10] Shortly after, on 26 September, the assault of the Spanish embassy in Lisbon by far-left supporters, in retaliation to the attacks on left-wing parties headquarters in the North and Center, drew widespread attention as it was broadcast by US network CBS.[11]

25 November Coup and normalization

The new government was unable to control the tensions in the country and by mid November the government made the extraordinary announcement that they were on strike because there were no conditions to govern the country.[12] Just before this announcement, construction workers unions surrounded Parliament and blocked MPs from leaving the building for two days.[13]

All of this culminated in the events of the Coup of 25 November 1975. The coup was an attempted by left-wing activists who hoped to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy in favor of Communists. The coup failed and shortly after a counter-coup led by Ramalho Eanes, a pro-democracy moderate, and supported by PS leader Mário Soares, re-established the democratic process.[14]

By March 1976, the Constitutional Assembly finally drafted the Constitution text and was sent to approval in April 1976. The Constitution draft was heavily ideological, with many references to Socialism and with many phrases that echoed Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. On 2 April 1976, the new Constitution was approved with the votes of all parties with the exception of CDS, which voted against citing the ideological content of the document. However, the party agreed to abide by it in the interim.[15]

Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 263 members elected to four-year terms. The total number of MPs increased to 263 from the 1975 total of 250 MPs. 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 132 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.[16]

The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[17] 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.[18]

For these elections, and compared with the 1975 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[19]

DistrictNumber of MPsMap
Lisbon(+3)58
Porto(+2)38
Setúbal(+1)17
Aveiro(+1) and Braga15
Santarém13
Coimbra12
Leiria and Viseu(+1)11
Faro9
Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo(+1) and Vila Real(+1)7
Beja, Évora(+1), Guarda and Funchal6
Bragança(+1)5
Portalegre4
Ponta Delgada3
Angra do Heroísmo, Europe and Outside Europe2
Horta1

Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the Constitutional Assembly (1975–1976) and that also, some, contested the elections:

Name Ideology Political position Leader 1975 result
 % Seats
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 Social
democracy		 Centre-left Mário Soares 37.9%
116 / 250
PPD Democratic People's Party
Partido Popular Democrático		 Liberalism Centre Francisco
Sá Carneiro		 26.4%
81 / 250
PCP Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português		 Communism Far-left Álvaro Cunhal 12.5%
30 / 250
CDS Democratic and Social Center
Centro Democrático e Social		 Christian
democracy		 Centre-right Diogo Freitas
do Amaral		 7.6%
16 / 250
MDP/CDE[lower-alpha 1] Portuguese Democratic Movement
Movimento Democrático Português		 Left-wing nationalism
Democratic socialism		 Left-wing José Manuel
Tengarrinha		 4.1%
5 / 250
UDP Popular Democratic Union
União Democrática Popular		 Marxism
Socialism		 Left-wing Mário Tomé 0.8%
1 / 250
ADIM[lower-alpha 1] Association for the Defense of Macau Interests
Associação para a Defesa dos Interesses de Macau		 Conservatism
Macau interests		 Right-wing Diamantino
Ferreira		 0.0%
1 / 250

Campaign period

Party slogans

Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs
PS « Queremos e podemos reconstruir o país » "We want and we can rebuild the country" [20]
PPD « Portugal com Sá Carneiro » "Portugal with Sá Carneiro" [21]
PCP « Para uma maioria de esquerda » "For a left-wing majority" [22]
CDS « A resposta é muito simples » "The answer is very simple" [23]

Candidates' debates

The day after the elections, a round table was held on RTP1, moderated by Carlos Veiga Pereira, on the electoral results, with the participation of Mário Soares (Socialist Party), Francisco Sá Carneiro, (Social Democratic Party), Diogo Freitas do Amaral (Social Democratic Center), and Filipe Faria (UDP). Álvaro Cunhal (Portuguese Communist Party) declined to participate in the roundtable.

1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present    S  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee 
PS PPD CDS PCP UDP Refs
26 Apr RTP1 Carlos Veiga Pereira Soares Sá Carneiro Freitas A Faria [24]

Results

Summary of the 25 April 1976 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Party Votes % +/– Seats +/–
Socialist Party1,912,92134.89–2.98107–9
Democratic People's Party1,335,38124.35–2.0473–8
Democratic and Social Centre876,00715.98+8.3742+26
Portuguese Communist Party788,83014.39+1.9340+10
People's Democratic Union91,6901.67+0.881±0
People's Socialist Front42,1620.77–0.390±0
Reorganizing Movement of the Party of the Proletariat36,2000.66New0New
Movement of Socialist Left31,3320.57–0.450±0
Christian Democratic Party29,8740.54New0New
People's Monarchist Party28,3200.52–0.050±0
Internationalist Communist League16,2690.30+0.110±0
Communist Party of Portugal15,8300.29New0New
Worker-Peasant Alliance15,7780.29New0New
Workers' Revolutionary Party5,1710.09New0New
Portuguese Democratic Movement[lower-alpha 1]00.00–4.140–5
Association for the Defense of Macau Interests[lower-alpha 1]00.00–0.030–1
Total5,225,76595.30 263+13
Valid votes5,225,76595.30 +2.25
Invalid/blank votes257,6964.70–2.25
Total votes cast5,483,461100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,564,66783.53–8.13
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share
PS
 
 34.89%
PPD
 
 24.35%
CDS
 
 15.98%
PCP
 
 14.39%
UDP
 
 1.67%
FSP
 
 0.77%
MRPP
 
 0.66%
MES
 
 0.57%
PDC
 
 0.54%
PPM
 
 0.52%
Others
 
 0.97%
Blank/Invalid
 
 4.70%
Parliamentary seats
PS
 
 40.68%
PPD
 
 27.76%
CDS
 
 15.97%
PCP
 
 15.51%
UDP
 
 0.38%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 1976 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency
Constituency%S%S%S%S%S Total
S
PS PPD CDS PCP UDP
Angra do Heroísmo 30.4 1 51.8 1 12.1 - 1.5 - 2
Aveiro 30.8 5 35.2 6 22.5 4 3.7 - 0.9 - 15
Beja 32.0 2 8.2 - 4.2 - 44.0 4 2.2 - 6
Braga 32.3 6 28.6 5 21.2 4 4.2 - 1.0 - 15
Bragança 22.6 1 33.3 2 28.3 2 2.7 - 0.8 - 5
Castelo Branco 36.4 3 22.6 2 19.9 2 6.7 - 1.1 - 7
Coimbra 40.9 6 26.7 4 12.5 1 7.3 1 1.2 - 12
Évora 30.3 2 9.2 - 8.0 - 43.2 4 2.6 - 6
Faro 44.6 6 19.3 2 6.8 - 14.5 1 2.6 - 9
Funchal 24.9 1 53.0 4 13.3 1 1.5 - 1.3 - 6
Guarda 25.2 2 25.7 2 32.1 2 2.9 - 1.1 - 6
Horta 34.2 - 57.0 1 4.3 - 1.5 - 1
Leiria 31.1 4 31.2 4 19.4 2 7.3 1 1.0 - 11
Lisbon 38.3 25 16.4 10 13.2 8 21.8 14 2.6 1 58
Ponta Delgada 35.4 1 45.6 2 11.8 - 1.5 - 3
Portalegre 41.9 3 10.1 - 13.9 - 22.0 1 1.0 - 4
Porto 40.7 18 27.0 11 15.7 6 8.4 3 1.5 - 38
Santarém 38.5 6 19.5 3 13.9 2 16.1 2 1.7 - 13
Setúbal 32.2 7 8.4 1 4.4 - 44.4 9 2.8 - 17
Viana do Castelo 25.5 2 32.8 3 23.5 2 6.6 - 0.9 - 7
Vila Real 26.3 2 39.0 4 18.3 1 3.1 - 0.9 - 7
Viseu 23.0 3 32.2 4 31.2 4 2.3 - 0.9 - 11
Europe 46.1 1 32.2 1 6.9 - 10.1 - 0.8 - 2
Rest of the World 6.3 - 53.2 1 33.7 1 1.4 - 0.4 - 2
Total 34.9 107 24.4 73 16.0 42 14.4 40 1.7 1 263
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

Aftermath

Fall of the government

By the fall of 1977, the situation of the Portuguese economy was deteriorating. During that year's summer, Prime Minister Mário Soares asked for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and several austerity measures were implemented like the rise of interest rates, devalue of the Escudo and budget cuts.[25][26] However, the policies were quite unpopular and by late 1977 Soares was facing large opposition in the Parliament. In November 1977, he proposed a sizeable memorandum between parties and associations to seek common economic and social policies, which was rejected.[27] Because of this rejection, Soares presented a motion of confidence in Parliament, which he lost by a 59 vote margin.[28]

Motion of confidence
Mário Soares (PS)
Ballot → 8 December 1977
Required majority → 132 out of 263 ☒
Yes
  • • PS (100)
100 / 263
No
159 / 263
Abstentions
0 / 263
Absentees
4 / 263
Sources[29][30]

Following this vote, Soares was still able to form a second cabinet, in coalition with the Democratic Social Center (CDS), but it only lasted 8 months[31] and after August 1978, a series of Presidential appointed cabinets were nominated which culminated in the 2 December 1979 snap election.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Portuguese Democratic Movement won 5 seats and the Independent Democratic Association of Macau won 1 seat in the 1975 election. Neither party contested this election.

References

  1. ↑ Fundação Mário Soares
  2. ↑ Diário da Républica, 25 de Maio de 1976 - Lista de candidatos eleitos
  3. ↑ "Mário Soares e o "socialismo na gaveta"". TSF Rádio Notícias (in Portuguese). 10 January 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  4. ↑ Quando o PS desceu à rua, Público, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  5. ↑ Caso "República", RTP, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Nacionalizações de 1975, RTP, archived from the original on 24 June 2021, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  7. ↑ Portugal, o Verão Quente de 1975 visto pela CIA, Sábado, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  8. ↑ O comício da Alameda feito em aliança com a Igreja para combater o PCP, Jornal i, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  9. ↑ O Norte a ferro e fogo, Correio da Manhã, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  10. ↑ Mas quem é este Vasco Gonçalves?, Expresso, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  11. ↑ 25 de Abril: O assalto à embaixada espanhola e o impacto da revolução no ambiente em Espanha, Expresso, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  12. ↑ Governo em greve, RTP, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  13. ↑ O cerco ao Palácio de São Bento (12/13 de novembro), Assembly of the Republic, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  14. ↑ Toda a história do 25 de Novembro, a "dramática aventura" que ditou o fim da Revolução, Expresso, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  15. ↑ Constituição da República Portuguesa (PDF), Assembly of the Republic, retrieved 21 September 2020.
  16. ↑ "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  17. ↑ "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  18. ↑ Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
  19. ↑ "Eleição da Assembleia da República de 25 de Abril de 1976". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição da Assembleia da República de 25 de Abril de 1976. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)" (PDF). Francisco Teixeira (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  21. ↑ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1983 – PSD". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  22. ↑ "Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)" (PDF). Francisco Teixeira (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  23. ↑ "Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)" (PDF). Francisco Teixeira (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  24. ↑ "Legislativas 76: Mesa Redonda". RTP Arquivos (in Portuguese). 26 April 1976. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  25. ↑ "1º Programa de Assistência Económico-Financeira do FMI a Portugal" (in Portuguese). Observatório Nacional de Luta contra a Pobreza. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  26. ↑ "Comunicação ao país do Primeiro-ministro Mário Soares" (in Portuguese). RTP. 25 August 1977. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  27. ↑ "Mário Soares" (in Portuguese). Museu da Presidência da Republica. 25 August 1977.
  28. ↑ "Queda do I Governo Constitucional" (in Portuguese). RTP. 8 December 1977.
  29. ↑ "MOÇÕES / CENSURA - CONFIANÇA - REJEIÇÃO DO PROGRAMA" (PDF). Assembly of the Republic (in Portuguese). Lisbon. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  30. ↑ "Debates Parlamentares". Assembly of the Republic (in Portuguese). Lisbon. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  31. ↑ "Mário Soares exonerado por Ramalho Eanes da liderança do II Governo Constitucional" (in Portuguese). RTP. 25 August 1977. Retrieved 8 September 2015.

See also

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