The 1999 Portuguese legislative election took place on 10 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

was aiming a second term under the lead of

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

, incumbent Prime Minister, as a good economy and Portugal's growing prestige, following the Expo 1998 and the support for the East-Timor cause, were strengthening the PS position. Polls leading up to the election predicted a comfortable PS majority government. Adding to this, the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), was exiting an internal crisis after former leader Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa resigned in March 1999 amid disagreements with the CDS-People's Party leader,

Paulo Portas Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas (born 12 September 1962, ) is a Portuguese media and political figure, who has, since the 1990s, been one of Portugal's leading conservative politicians. He was the leader of one of Portugal's right-wing parties, t ...

, regarding a future PSD/CDS alliance for these elections. The party elected, in a snap party congress in May 1999, José Manuel Durão Barroso as new leader. Despite opinion polls predictions, the election results were labeled as a disappointment for the Socialists as the party failed to win a historical absolute majority by just one MP and barely improved their 1995 score, just 0.3%. The disappointing PS score would create instability in Guterres second government in the years to follow. The

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

was still away from the preferences of the majority of the Portuguese people, after the ten years cycle under the lead of

Cavaco Silva The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the lute family of inst ...

that had terminated four years before, and lost 7 MPs, compared with 1995, and gathered 32% of the votes. The Democratic Unity Coalition achieved an important climb in the scorecard, against those who predicted its irreversible decline after the end of the Socialist Bloc in the early 1990s. The CDS-People's Party was able to hold on to its 15 MPs after tensions with the PSD earlier that year. For the first time, the Left Bloc, formed after the merger of several minor left-wing parties became represented in the parliament after electing two MPs. Turnout in this election was very low, only being surpassed by all elections after

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

when turnout stands below 60%. Overall,

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was only 61% of voters, one of the lowest ever recorded.

Background

Leadership changes

PSD 1996 leadership election

After leading his party to two successive defeats, in the 1995 election and in the 1996 Presidential election, then PSD leader Fernando Nogueira resigned. A party congress to elect a new leader was called for late March 1996. For that leadership ballot, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced his candidacy, just a few days after saying a phrase that would become famous in Portuguese politics, "Not even if Christ descends to earth, will I run." Marcelo faced Pedro Santana Lopes, which repeated his failed bid of 1995. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was easily elected as PSD leader. The results were 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=orange, , align=left , Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa , align=right , 603 , align=right , 66.4 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left , Pedro Santana Lopes , align=right , 305 , align=right , 33.6 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 908 , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Results

CDS–PP 1998 leadership election

Then CDS leader,

Manuel Monteiro Manuel Fernando da Silva Monteiro (Anissó, Vieira do Minho, 1 April 1962) is a Portuguese jurist, professor and former politician. Early years Manuel Monteiro started his political life during his youth. He was elected president of the People ...

, resigned from the leadership after the party's poor results in the 1997 local elections.

, which had a tense relationship with Monteiro, announced his candidacy but faced the candidate of the "Monteiro wing",

Maria José Nogueira Pinto Maria José Nogueira Pinto was a Portuguese lawyer and politician. She was a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, representing the CDS – People's Party and, later, the Social Democratic Party. Early life Maria José Pinto da Cu ...

. The congress was very tense, with strong accusations between both candidates, but in the end Paulo Portas 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 , WIN , align=right , , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

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

PSD 1999 leadership election

Then PSD leader Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa plan to creat an electoral alliance with the

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party ( pt, CDS – Partido Popular, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

was splitting his party, but nonetheless, the alliance was approved in a party congress in February 1999. However, at the same a time, a scandal involving CDS–PP leader

, the "Moderna affair", in which corrupt deals and bad management were done in Moderna University, was creating a bad mood between PSD and CDS–PP and, specially, between the two party's leaders. In late March, Paulo Portas gives an interview on

SIC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

that precipitated Marcelo's resignation. In that interview, Portas says that the PSD needs to come clean and say if they trust the CDS leader, and that Marcelo told him that a majority of the PSD leadership doesn't like him and feels he's a liability to the alliance. Feeling betrayed and seeing that Portas was untrustworthy, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa resigned from the PSD leadership. A snap party congress was called for early May, and, as the sole candidate, José Manuel Durão Barroso was unanimously elected as the new PSD 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=orange, , align=left , José Manuel Durão Barroso , align=right , , align=right , 100.0 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Results

Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 230 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 116 (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 polity ...

. 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.Gallaher, Michael (1992).
Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities
For these elections, and compared with the 1995 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 7th legislature (1995–1999) and that also partook in the election:

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

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 (1995-1999). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1995 and 1999 for reference. Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.

National summary of votes and seats

, - , colspan=11, Portugal Parliament 1999

, - ! 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,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center, 1999 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , , 2,385,922, , 44.06, , 0.3, , 112, , 115, , 3, , 50.00, , 1.3, , 1.13 , - , , 1,750,158, , 32.32, , 1.8, , 88, , 81, , 7, , 35.22, , 3.1, , 1.09 , - , , 487,058, , 8.99, , 0.4, , 15, , 17, , 2, , 7.39, , 0.9, , 0.82 , - , , 451,643, , 8.34, , 0.7, , 15, , 15, , 0, , 6.52, , 0.0, , 0.78 , - , , 132,333, , 2.44, , , , , , 2, , , , 0.87, , , , 0.36 , - , , 40,006, , 0.74, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 19,938, , 0.37, , 0.3, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 16,522, , 0.31, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" , , align=left, National Solidarity , 11,488, , 0.21, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 7,346, , 0.14, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 4,104, , 0.08, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 438, , 0.01, , 0.0, , 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", 5,306,956 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 98.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.1 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , 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 , 56,964, , 1.05, , 0.3, , colspan=6 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , 51,230, , 0.95, , 0.1 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,415,102 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 8,864,604, , 61.09, , 5.2 , - , 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 , PS !colspan=2 , PSD !colspan=2 , CDU !colspan=2 , CDS–PP !colspan=2 , BE , - , 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;", 53.3 , 3 , 35.8 , 2 , 1.7 , - , 5.6 , - , 1.1 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Aveiro , style="background:; color:white;", 40.2 , 7 , 38.3 , 6 , 3.5 , - , 13.6 , 2 , 1.3 , - , 15 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Beja , style="background:; color:white;", 46.7 , 2 , 14.5 , - , 28.3 , 1 , 3.9 , - , 1.6 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Braga , style="background:; color:white;", 44.3 , 8 , 36.7 , 7 , 5.4 , 1 , 8.9 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 17 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bragança , 39.7 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 45.1 , 2 , 2.6 , - , 8.7 , - , 0.8 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Castelo Branco , style="background:; color:white;", 51.6 , 3 , 32.0 , 2 , 5.3 , - , 6.3 , - , 1.2 , - , 5 , - , 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;", 47.2 , 6 , 35.2 , 4 , 6.1 , - , 6.0 , - , 2.0 , - , 10 , - , 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 ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 45.7 , 2 , 18.7 , 1 , 24.6 , 1 , 5.1 , - , 1.5 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faro , style="background:; color:white;", 48.4 , 5 , 29.5 , 3 , 8.3 , - , 7.3 , - , 2.3 , - , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Guarda , style="background:; color:white;", 43.4 , 2 , 39.2 , 2 , 3.2 , - , 9.8 , - , 1.1 , - , 4 , - , 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 ...

, 36.8 , 4 , style="background:; color:white;", 42.6 , 5 , 5.3 , - , 9.9 , 1 , 1.7 , - , 10 , - , 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;", 42.7 , 23 , 27.3 , 14 , 12.3 , 6 , 8.5 , 4 , 4.9 , 2 , 49 , - , 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 ...

, 35.1 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 46.2 , 3 , 2.8 , - , 10.9 , - , 1.2 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Portalegre , style="background:; color:white;", 51.2 , 2 , 22.5 , 1 , 15.0 , - , 5.9 , - , 1.2 , - , 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;", 48.0 , 19 , 32.7 , 13 , 6.2 , 2 , 7.5 , 3 , 2.3 , - , 37 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santarém , style="background:; color:white;", 45.5 , 5 , 30.2 , 3 , 10.1 , 1 , 8.1 , 1 , 2.0 , - , 10 , - , 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 ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 43.7 , 8 , 18.0 , 3 , 24.8 , 5 , 5.6 , 1 , 3.5 , - , 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;", 40.2 , 3 , 35.8 , 2 , 5.0 , - , 14.0 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Vila Real , 40.8 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 45.5 , 3 , 2.4 , - , 6.8 , - , 0.8 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Viseu , 38.1 , 4 , style="background:; color:white;", 44.3 , 4 , 2.2 , - , 10.5 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 55.4 , 2 , 24.7 , - , 5.3 , - , 3.2 , - , 0.6 , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Outside Europe , 39.8 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 49.5 , 1 , 1.7 , - , 3.5 , - , 0.4 , - , 2 , - , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 44.1 , 115 , 32.3 , 81 , 9.0 , 17 , 8.3 , 15 , 2.4 , 2 , 230 , - , colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

File:Pt euelection 1999.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 ...

. (Madeira and Azores not shown) Legislativas portuguesas de 1999 (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

Preliminary results of the 1999 electionComissão Nacional de Eleições

Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político