The 1987 Portuguese legislative election took place on 19 July. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic. In the previous election, in 1985, the Social Democratic Party had won a minority government managing to survive in coalition with the Democratic and Social Center and the Democratic Renewal Party, and after the approval of a no-confidence motion from the left-wing parties, with the aid of the Democratic Renewal Party, the government fell. The PS tried to form a new government with the support of the PRD and CDU, but

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th presid ...

, the President at the time, rejected the idea and called for a new election. The PSD was reelected in a landslide, winning a majority government with just over 50% of the votes and 148 of the 250 seats, a majority of 22. Not only was this the most seats that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election, but it was first time since the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

that a single party won an absolute majority. Although the PSD was very popular going into the election, the size of its victory far exceeded the party's most optimistic expectations. The PSD won every district with the exception of Setúbal, Évora and Beja, which voted for the CDU. The Socialist Party gained a few seats and got a slightly higher share of the vote, 22% compared with the almost 21% in 1985, but the scale of the PSD victory made the party lose most of its influence. Like in 1979, 1980 and 1985, the PS failed to win a single district. The

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

Democratic Unity Coalition lost some of its MPs to the Socialist Party and the Democratic Renovator Party, now led by former President António Ramalho Eanes, lost almost all of its influence, mainly due to its responsibility in the fall of the former PSD minority government. The

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

Democratic and Social Center lost almost half of its vote share, due to the effect of tactical voting for the also right-wing, Social Democratic Party.

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

were held on the same day.

Background

Fall of the government

In the first months of 1987, a trip of a Portuguese parliamentary delegation to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, which also passed by

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, a territory that wasn't recognized by Portugal as under Soviet control, created a diplomatic issue that was used by the Opposition to bring down the Cavaco Silva minority government. Parliament approved, by a 134 to 108 vote, a motion of no confidence and the government falls.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

refused an alternative PS-PRD-PCP government and decided to dissolve Parliament and call a snap election.

Leadership changes

CDS 1986 leadership election

The 1985 general election results were quite disappointing for CDS, and then party leader

Francisco Lucas Pires Francisco António Lucas Pires (19 October 1944 – 22 May 1998) was a Portuguese teacher, lawyer, and politician. Biography Pires was married to Maria Teresa Bahia de Almeida Garrett, and was the father of four children. He graduated from law ...

resigned from the leadership.

Adriano Moreira Adriano José Alves Moreira, Order of Christ (Portugal), ComC GCC Order of Prince Henry, GOIH Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCSE (6 September 1922 – 23 October 2022) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor and a leading political f ...

, supported by the more conservative wings, and

João Morais Leitão João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below. Kings * ...

, supported by the more "centrist" wings of the party, are the two candidates running for the leadership in the April 1986 congress. Adriano Moreira was elected new party leader by a 82 vote difference. The results are the following: , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

, align=right , 533 , align=right , 54.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

, align=right , 451 , align=right , 45.8 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 984 , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Results

PS 1986 leadership election

In the 1985 general election the PS nominated

António Almeida Santos Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, while an internal leadership, head by António Macedo, ruled the party, but the Socialists achieved their worst result ever, just 20.8%. The PS candidate for the Presidency of the Republic,

, was narrowly elected to that post by a 51% to 49% against

Diogo Freitas do Amaral Diogo Pinto de Freitas do Amaral (; 21 July 1941 – 3 October 2019), known as Freitas do Amaral, was a Portuguese politician and law professor. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 January 1980 to 12 January 1981 and from 12 March 2005 t ...

, the candidate supported by CDS and PSD. After that victory, the party called a party congress, for late June 1986, to elect a new leader and

Vítor Constâncio Vítor Manuel Ribeiro Constâncio, GCC, GCIH (born 12 October 1943) is a Portuguese economist and academic who served as Vice President of the European Central Bank from 2010 to 2018. He previously served as Governor of the Bank of Portugal fr ...

was elected as new party leader. , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

, align=center , , align=right , 100.0 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source:

PRD 1986 leadership election

The Democratic Renewal Party's surprised with their excellent results in the 1985 elections, winning almost 18% of the votes. António Ramalho Eanes, the main figure and inspiration for PRD, leaves the post of President of the Republic in March 1986, and unanimously elected as new leader of the PRD, succeeding

Hermínio Martinho Hermínio Paiva Fernandes Martinho ComMA (born 23 March 1946) is a Portuguese agricultural engineer and politician, who was the first president of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD). Early life Hermínio Martinho was born on 23 March 1946 i ...

. , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , António Ramalho Eanes , align=center , , align=right , 100.0 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source:

Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members elected to four-year terms. 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 126 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

to be approved. The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the

district magnitude An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

. The use of the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the

Hare quota The Hare quota (also known as the simple quota) is a formula used under some forms of proportional representation. In these voting systems the quota is the number of votes that guarantees a candidate, or a party in some cases, captures a seat. Th ...

or Sainte-Laguë method, which are more generous to small parties. For these elections, and compared with the 1985 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:

Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 4th legislature (1985–1987) and that also partook in the election:

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

No debates between the main parties were held as the PSD leader and Prime Minister,

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal fro ...

, refused to take part in any debate.

Opinion polling

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed were represented in parliament (1985-1987). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1985 and 1987 for reference.

National summary of votes and seats

, - , colspan=11, Portugal Parliament 1987

, - ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left, Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center", MPs ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , MPs %/
votes % , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center, 1987 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , , 2,850,784, , 50.22, , 20.3, , 88, , 148, , 60, , 59.20, , 24.0, , 1.18 , - , , 1,262,506, , 22.24, , 1.4, , 57, , 60, , 3, , 24.00, , 1.2, , 1.08 , - , , 689,137, , 12.14, , 3.4, , 38, , 31, , 7, , 12.40, , 2.8, , 1.02 , - , , 278,561, , 4.91, , 13.0, , 45, , 7, , 38, , 2.80, , 15.2, , 0.57 , - , , 251,987, , 4.44, , 5.6, , 22, , 4, , 18, , 1.60, , 7.2, , 0.36 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor= align="center" , , align=left, People's Democratic Union , 50,717, , 0.89, , 0.4, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 32,977, , 0.58, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 32,607, , 0.57, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 31,667, , 0.56, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 23,218, , 0.41, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 20,800, , 0.37, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 18,544, , 0.33, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 9,185, , 0.16, , 0.6, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,552,690 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 97.82 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.3 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 250 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 250 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", — , - , colspan=2, Blank ballots , 50,135, , 0.88, , 0.1, , colspan=6 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , 73,533, , 1.30, , 0.4 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,676,358 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 7,930,668, , 71.57, , 2.6 , - , colspan=11 align=left , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Distribution by constituency

, - class="unsortable" !rowspan=2, Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S !rowspan=2, Total
S , - class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=2 ,

PSD PSD may refer to: Educational bodies * Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a Pre-K to 12th grade school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Philippine School Doha, a Filipino scho ...

!colspan=2 , PS !colspan=2 , CDU !colspan=2 , PRD !colspan=2 ,

CDS The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

, - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 66.7 , 4 , 20.0 , 1 , 2.3 , - , 3.0 , - , 3.3 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Aveiro , style="background:; color:white;", 60.4 , 11 , 22.9 , 4 , 4.4 , - , 2.7 , - , 5.3 , - , 15 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Beja , 24.5 , 1 , 20.3 , 1 , style="background:red; color:white;", 38.7 , 3 , 5.7 , - , 2.0 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 53.4 , 10 , 25.9 , 5 , 6.1 , 1 , 3.3 , - , 5.9 , 1 , 17 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bragança , style="background:; color:white;", 60.8 , 3 , 19.2 , 1 , 3.2 , - , 1.3 , - , 7.6 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Castelo Branco , style="background:; color:white;", 52.1 , 4 , 22.4 , 2 , 7.1 , - , 6.0 , - , 4.7 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 50.0 , 6 , 28.7 , 4 , 7.2 , 1 , 3.5 , - , 4.5 , - , 11 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

, 32.1 , 2 , 15.4 , - , style="background:red; color:white;", 36.2 , 2 , 7.7 , - , 2.1 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faro , style="background:; color:white;", 46.7 , 5 , 24.9 , 3 , 10.9 , 1 , 6.3 , - , 3.1 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Guarda , style="background:; color:white;", 60.0 , 4 , 21.8 , 1 , 3.3 , - , 2.0 , - , 6.6 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 60.8 , 9 , 18.7 , 2 , 5.9 , - , 3.0 , - , 6.0 , - , 11 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 45.8 , 28 , 21.2 , 12 , 16.5 , 10 , 6.9 , 4 , 3.7 , 2 , 56 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 65.5 , 4 , 16.2 , 1 , 1.9 , - , 3.3 , - , 5.2 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Portalegre , style="background:; color:white;", 37.4 , 1 , 25.1 , 1 , 20.9 , 1 , 6.3 , - , 3.1 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 50.9 , 22 , 26.7 , 11 , 9.4 , 4 , 4.0 , 1 , 4.0 , 1 , 39 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santarém , style="background:; color:white;", 47.9 , 7 , 21.7 , 3 , 12.6 , 1 , 7.3 , 1 , 3.6 , - , 12 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

, 32.6 , 6 , 17.6 , 3 , style="background:red; color:white;", 32.7 , 7 , 8.7 , 1 , 1.9 , - , 17 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 54.5 , 5 , 20.3 , 1 , 6.3 , - , 4.8 , - , 7.7 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the North region. It is also the seat of the Douro intermunicipal community and of the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro historical province. The Vila Real municipality covers ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 62.5 , 5 , 20.3 , 1 , 4.1 , - , 1.4 , - , 5.0 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 100,000 inhabitants, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunipical community, with 267,633 inhabita ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 64.1 , 8 , 17.9 , 2 , 2.9 , - , 1.7 , - , 7.0 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 37.0 , 1 , 28.4 , 1 , 15.9 , - , 4.9 , - , 6.6 , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Outside Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 63.2 , 2 , 7.3 , - , 1.4 , - , 1.7 , - , 19.9 , - , 2 , - , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 50.2 , 148 , 22.2 , 60 , 12.1 , 31 , 4.9 , 7 , 4.4 , 4 , 250 , - , colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

1987 Partido Mais Votado.png, Most voted political force by

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(

and

not shown). Legislativas portuguesas de 1987 (Mapa).png, Most voted political force by

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Notes

References

External links

Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político