Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 26 October 1969. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1542 The elections were announced on 12 August, and were the first under Prime Minister Marcello Caetano, appointed in the previous year to replace long-term Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, who had been left incapacitated after a stroke. The quasi-sovereign National Union won all seats with an official turnout of 62.5%.

Electoral system

The constitution of 1933 stated that elections were to be held in all of Portugal's 18 constituencies by majority party list system, with all seats in each constituency going to the party list with a plurality of votes. In order to select a specific candidate, voters were formally able to strike out names. The electoral law of 5 December 1958 (rearranged to allow for the National Assembly to appoint the president) guaranteed universal suffrage for all mature, literate citizens, but unofficially curtailed female participation. All natural-born nationals residing in Portugal for the previous five years were allowed to stand for election. The Chamber of Corporations, consisting of 200 members or more, was appointed by the government following the election to the National Assembly. The electoral commissions were officially banned on 8 November, with numerous candidates having retired prematurely due to reportedly extensive harassment and voter manipulation.Portugal
Inter-Parliamentary Union

Parties

The major parties involved and the respective leaders: * Democratic Electoral Commission (CDE),

Francisco Pereira de Moura Francisco Pereira de Moura (1925–1998) was a Portuguese scholar, economist and politician opposed to the Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo regime. He led the ''United Democratic Electoral Commission'' in the rigged Portuguese National Assembl ...

Monarchist Electoral Commission Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalis ...

(CEM), Rolão Preto * National Union (UN), Marcello Caetano *

United Democratic Electoral Commission United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two ...

(CEUD), Mário Soares

Electoral system

Parties

Results

References

See also