The 2011 Portuguese legislative election was held on 5 June, to elect all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 118th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) b ...

led the centre-right

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 Fo ...

to victory over 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 ...

, led by incumbent

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

.Portugal PM quits after losing austerity vote
, ''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

'', 23 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011. Despite a historically low turnout of less than 60% of registered voters, the right-wing won a clear mandate, winning nearly 130 MPs, more than 56% of the seats, and just over 50% of the vote. While the People's Party, continuing the trend they began in 2009, earned their best score since 1983, the Social Democrats exceeded the expected result in the opinion polls and won the same number of seats as they did in 2002, when the PSD was led by

José Manuel Durão Barroso José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

. Of the twenty districts of the country, Pedro Passos Coelho's party won seventeen, including

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 ...

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 ...

, Faro, Portalegre, Castelo Branco,

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 ...

, Santarém and the

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 ...

, that tend to favor the

. The defeat of the PS was severe, as they lost in eleven districts and fell below 30% of the votes cast, a first since the election of 1991. This heavy defeat led José Sócrates to resign as General Secretary of the party on election night. However, it was not the Socialists' worst result, which dated back to 1987 when they polled 30 points behind the Social Democrats. The Socialists were also beaten in José Sócrates district, Castelo Branco, that he dominated since 1995. For the left-wing parties, the result was mixed. On one hand, the Left Bloc faced a huge setback, losing half of its MPs and regaining its 2005 numbers, where they obtained however, one more percentage point in a context of greater participation. As a whole, the Portuguese left-wing parties trails by ten points in support to the right-wing parties, the biggest lead since the absolute majority of the Social Democrat Aníbal Cavaco Silva in the 1990s.

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 one of the lowest in Portuguese election history, with just 58% of the electorate casting their ballot on election day.

Background

The previous parliamentary elections were held in September 2009, and, as such, technically no elections were due until September or October 2013. However, the 2009 elections resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...

, as the

(PS) continued to be the most voted force but lost the majority it previously had in the chamber. A minority government supported by the PS and headed by

was formed, relying on negotiations with the opposition parties (namely the major opposition party

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 ...

) to approve the most important and/or controversial bills, such as the State Budgets for 2010 and 2011.

Fall of the government

In March 2011, when the government had tried to introduce a

Stability and Growth Pact The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all of the 27 member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Based primarily on Articles 121 and 126 of the Trea ...

without consultation with the

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 ...

and the parliament, the opposition parties called for a

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

vote. The vote came over proposed spending cuts and tax hikes that had been demanded by the EU to offer a

bailout A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy. A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global sys ...

over Portugal's

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

levels amidst the

European sovereign debt crisis The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, is a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone membe ...

. PM Jose Socrates had previously said that if the measure failed he would not be able to govern anymore. All five opposition parties combined to vote down the measure. With all other parties voting against the government, the Socialist Party was unable to avoid defeat as it only had 97 MPs in the 230-seat parliament. Following the vote in parliament on the evening of 23 March, Socrates stepped down, reiterating that he could no longer govern the country: "Today every opposition party rejected the measures proposed by the government to prevent that Portugal resort to external aid. The opposition removed from the government the conditions to govern. As a result, I have tendered my resignation to the president." The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), tipped the scales against the government by voting against the package, despite having abstained when voting previous austerity measures, thus allowing them to pass. Following the vote, European markets read the move as making a possible 50–70 billion

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

"inevitable" the day before a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

summit concerning the debt crisis. German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

praised Socrates for his "far-reaching" austerity bill in parliament. Portuguese two-year bond yields also increased to the most since 1999 on speculation of possible further credit downgrades. President

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 ...

then met with the various political parties to either resolve the crisis, or dissolve the parliament and call an early election, which, according to the

Portuguese Constitution The present Constitution of Portugal was adopted in 1976 after the Carnation Revolution. It was preceded by a number of constitutions including the first one created in 1822 (following the Liberal Revolution of 1820), 1826 (drawn up by King ...

, can be held no sooner than 55 days after the announcement.Tremlett, Giles;
Portugal in crisis after prime minister resigns over austerity measures
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 23 March 2011. Accessed 24 March 2011.Lewis, Jeffrey T.; MacDonald, Alex; Kowsmann, Patricia;
Portuguese Leaders Scramble to Avoid Bailout
, ''

WSJ ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', 25 March 2011. Accessed 1 April 2011. On 1 April, the president set 5 June as the date for an early election, deeming it the only way to create conditions for a new government.Kowsmann, Patricia; MacDonald, Alex;
Portugal Sets Vote as Crisis Deepens
, ''

'', 1 April 2011. Accessed 1 April 2011. Following the call for an election, Socrates finally did make a request to the EU for a bailout on 6 April as the country's sovereign bond yield hit a record high; Portugal became the third EU state after Greece and Ireland, respectively, to request an EU bailout. Socrates said that "I tried everything but we came to a moment that not taking this decision would bring risks we can't afford. The Social Democrats' Pedro Passos Coelho said that his party would support the aid request; the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

also added that it was ready to support assistance that Portugal requested. Socrates said in a nationwide television address that his caretaker government had formally requested a bailout as it was "inevitable" and that "I tried everything, but in conscience we have reached a moment when not taking this decision would imply risks that the country should not take." His Finance Minister

Fernando Teixeira dos Santos Fernando Teixeira dos Santos (born in Maia, September 13, 1951), GOIH is a Portuguese economist and professor. He was Minister of Finance in the Portuguese Government led by José Sócrates (''XVII Governo Constitucional''). Career Teixeira dos ...

also said that Portugal would need the European Union support to avoid defaulting on its debt. In response, the

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs The Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People is the member of the European Commission responsible for economic and financial affairs. The position was previously titled ''Commissioner for Economic an ...

Olli Rehn Olli Ilmari Rehn (; born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish economist and public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargem ...

said the action was "a responsible move" and that the specific amount of aid money would soon be determined. European Union officials suggested that they hoped a deal would be finalised by the middle of May with an expected bailout of around 80 billion euros.

Leadership changes

PSD 2010 leadership election

The then PSD leader

Manuela Ferreira Leite Maria Manuela Dias Ferreira Leite GCC GCIH (born Lisbon, 3 December 1940), commonly known as Manuela Ferreira Leite (), is a Portuguese economist, pundit and retired politician. Background She was born in Lisbon, Portugal. Manuela Ferreira Le ...

declined to run for another term, and a new election to elect a new party leader was called for 26 March 2010.

, second place holder in 2008, won the elections by a landslide. 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 ,

, align=right , 31,671 , align=right , 61.2 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

Paulo Rangel Paulo Artur dos Santos Castro de Campos Rangel (born 18 February 1968 in Vila Nova de Gaia) is a Portuguese jurist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2009. He al ...

, align=right , 17,821 , align=right , 34.4 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

José Pedro Aguiar Branco José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, align=right , 1,769 , align=right , 3.4 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

Castanheira Barros Castanheira (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''chestnut tree'') may refer to the following places: in Brazil * Castanheira, Mato Grosso, a municipality in the State of Mato Grosso * Castanheira, Belém, a neighbourhood of the city of Belém, in th ...

, align=right , 138 , align=right , 0.3 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 349 , align=right , 0.7 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 51,748 , align=right , 66.26 , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Official 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 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 2009 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 11th legislature (2009–2011) and that also partook in the election:

Concurrent issues

Popular anger arose during the electoral process leading to mass

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

in multiple cities around the country. File:"Geração à Rasca" Banner.jpg, Geração à Rasca banner in the 12 March 2011 demonstration in

. File:Geração à Rasca demonstration in Lisbon 12-03-2011- IMG 5140.jpg, Crowd in the Geração à Rasca demonstration in Lisbon, 12 March 2011. File:"Geração à Rasca" Crowd.jpg, Crowd in the Geração à Rasca demonstration in Lisbon, 12 March 2011. File:Geração à Rasca demonstration in Lisbon 12-03-2011- IMG 5284.jpg, Crowd with banner in the Geração à Rasca demonstration in Lisbon, 12 March 2011.

External influence

EU bailout

In what was read as external interference during the campaign the EU's Olli Rehn said Portugal must make even stronger budget cuts than the measures that failed in parliament leading to the fall of the government. EU Finance Ministers said that about 80 billion euros could be available by mid-May should the austerity measures it demanded pass. Rehn said that the measures would be "a starting point. It is indeed essential in Portugal to reach a cross-party agreement ensuring that such a programme can be adopted yMay." On 16 May, the EU endorsed a 78-billion euro joint package with the IMF. ;Finnish influence Facing an

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

of his own, Finnish Finance Minister

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland fr ...

said that Portugal's deficit-reduction steps must be even stronger than what was proposed in parliament prior to the election call. "The package must be really strict because otherwise it doesn't make any sense. The package must be harder and more comprehensive than the one the parliament voted against." The surge in popularity of the

True Finns The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

prior to the election could threaten a bailout for Portugal. Finland's support for the bailout was important because it would need unanimous support to pass. Following a dramatic showing, stronger than opinion polls predicted, by the True Finns, and amid government formation talks, a bailout for Portugal was thrown into doubt. This was despite Katainen's pro-bailout

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...

winning more seats than any other party (44 out of 200).

Economic outlook

On 5 April, Moody's cut Portugal's debt grade for the second in weeks citing its reason for doing so as "driven primarily by increased political, budgetary and economic uncertainty, which increase the risk that the government will be unable to achieve tsambitious deficit reduction targets." Its debt rating was decreased from A3 to Baa1, which was three grades above

junk bond In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, ...

status.

IMF bailout

On 20 May, the IMF approved a €26 billion bailout for Portugal as part of joint support mechanisms with the EU. Of the total €6.1 billion would be made available immediately.

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

With parties represented in Parliament

With parties not represented in Parliament

A debate between parties not represented in Parliament was also broadcast on

RTP1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainst ...

. The debate was marked by protests from the

Portuguese Labour Party The Portuguese Labour Party ( pt, Partido Trabalhista Português, PTP) is a Portuguese centre-left political party currently led by Amândio Madaleno. It was recognized by the Portuguese Constitutional Court on 1 July 2009.José Manuel Coelho José Manuel da Mata Vieira Coelho (born 22 July 1952, in Gaula, Santa Cruz) is a Portuguese politician. He was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party until 1999, and still calls himself a communist "who evolved". He was a substitute dep ...

, who sported banners and made numerous interruptions that disrupted the debate several times.

Opinion polling

Results

Anti-incumbency Anti-incumbency is sentiment in favor of voting out incumbent politicians. It is sometimes referred to as a "throw the bums out" sentiment. Periods of anti-incumbent sentiment are typically characterized by wave elections. This sentiment can also le ...

led to the defeat of the ruling party, even more than polls predicted. Pedro Passos Coelho of the Social Democratic Party is the Prime Minister-designate.

National summary

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Parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± pp swing ! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-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;" ,

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 ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , 2011 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± , - , , 2,159,181, , 38.66, , 9.6, , 81, , 108, , 27, , 46.96, , 11.7, , 1.21 , - , , 1,566,347, , 28.05, , 8.5, , 97, , 74, , 23, , 32.17, , 10.0, , 1.15 , - , , 653,888, , 11.71, , 1.3, , 21, , 24, , 3, , 10.43, , 1.3, , 0.89 , - , , 441,147, , 7.90, , 0.0, , 15, , 16, , 1, , 6.96, , 0.4, , 0.88 , - , , 288,923, , 5.17, , 4.6, , 16, , 8, , 8, , 3.48, , 3.5, , 0.67 , - , , 62,610, , 1.12, , 0.2, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 57,995, , 1.04, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 22,705, , 0.41, , 0.3, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 21,942, , 0.39, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 17,548, , 0.31, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#CC0033 align="center" , , align=left,

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, 16,895, , 0.30, , 0.2, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 14,687, , 0.26, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 11,806, , 0.21, , 0.2, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , style="width:10px;background-color:#000080;text-align:center;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Portugal Pro-Life , 8,209, , 0.15, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 4,572, , 0.08, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 4,569, , 0.08, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 3,588, , 0.06, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,357,037 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 95.92 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1.0 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 0 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.0 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", — , - , colspan=2, Blank ballots , 148,618, , 2.66, , 0.9, , colspan=6 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , 79,399, , 1.42, , 0.1 , - , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,585,054 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 9,624,354, , 58.03, , 1.7 , - , colspan=11 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Distribution by constituency

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

!colspan=2 , PS !colspan=2 , CDS–PP !colspan=2 , CDU !colspan=2 , BE , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="background:; color:white;", 47.2 , 3 , 25.7 , 2 , 12.1 , - , 2.5 , - , 4.4 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Aveiro , style="background:; color:white;", 44.5 , 8 , 25.9 , 5 , 12.9 , 2 , 4.1 , - , 5.0 , 1 , 16 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Beja , 23.7 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 29.8 , 1 , 7.3 , - , 25.4 , 1 , 5.2 , - , 3 , - , 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;", 40.1 , 9 , 32.9 , 7 , 10.4 , 2 , 4.9 , 1 , 4.2 , - , 19 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bragança , style="background:; color:white;", 52.1 , 2 , 26.1 , 1 , 11.1 , - , 2.6 , - , 2.3 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Castelo Branco , style="background:; color:white;", 37.9 , 2 , 34.8 , 2 , 9.6 , - , 4.9 , - , 4.2 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="background:; color:white;", 40.1 , 5 , 29.2 , 3 , 9.9 , 1 , 6.2 , - , 5.8 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Évora , 27.6 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 29.0 , 1 , 8.7 , - , 22.0 , 1 , 4.9 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faro , style="background:; color:white;", 37.0 , 4 , 23.0 , 2 , 12.7 , 1 , 8.6 , 1 , 8.2 , 1 , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Guarda , style="background:; color:white;", 46.3 , 3 , 28.3 , 1 , 11.2 , - , 3.6 , - , 3.4 , - , 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 ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 47.0 , 6 , 20.7 , 3 , 12.8 , 1 , 5.0 , - , 5.4 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="background:; color:white;", 34.1 , 18 , 27.5 , 14 , 13.8 , 7 , 9.6 , 5 , 5.7 , 3 , 47 , - , 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;", 49.4 , 4 , 14.7 , 1 , 13.7 , 1 , 3.7 , - , 4.0 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Portalegre , style="background:; color:white;", 32.5 , 1 , 32.4 , 1 , 10.2 , - , 12.8 , - , 4.5 , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="background:; color:white;", 39.2 , 17 , 32.0 , 14 , 10.0 , 4 , 6.2 , 2 , 5.1 , 2 , 39 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santarém , style="background:; color:white;", 37.6 , 5 , 25.9 , 3 , 12.3 , 1 , 9.0 , 1 , 5.8 , - , 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 ...

, 25.2 , 5 , style="background:; color:white;", 26.9 , 5 , 12.1 , 2 , 19.6 , 4 , 7.1 , 1 , 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;", 43.6 , 3 , 26.2 , 2 , 13.4 , 1 , 4.9 , - , 4.4 , - , 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 cover ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 51.4 , 3 , 29.1 , 2 , 8.7 , - , 3.1 , - , 2.3 , - , 5 , - , 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 inhabi ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 48.4 , 5 , 26.7 , 3 , 12.4 , 1 , 2.9 , - , 2.9 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Europe , 29.2 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 39.6 , 1 , 5.5 , - , 4.4 , - , 3.3 , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Outside Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 55.1 , 2 , 18.0 , - , 4.1 , - , 0.8 , - , 1.1 , - , 2 , - , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 38.7 , 108 , 28.1 , 74 , 11.7 , 24 , 7.9 , 16 , 5.2 , 8 , 230 , - , colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

File:Legislativas portuguesas de 2011 (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 ...

Aftermath

Government formation

The XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal was formed with the legislative majority of the PSD and CDS-PP. On 6 June, President

called on Pedro Passos Coelho to form a government with "majority support in parliament" and asked for urgency in its formation to "develop immediate measures to propose a governance solution which has a parliamentary majority of support available and consistent." Given the election result and the impossibility of forming a majority government with parliamentary support from a single party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) led by Pedro Passos Coelho established an agreement for a majority government, signed on 16 June 2011, with the People's Party, led by

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 ...

, after a few days of negotiations. The XIX Constitutional Government took office on 21 June 2011.

2013 political crisis

On 3 July 2013, Secretary of State for Treasury Maria Luis Albuquerque replaced Vitor Gaspar as the Minister of Finance. As a result, CDS leader

quit citing that the move would offer "mere continuity" as part of the austerity measures for the deficit-cutting plans. In saying that he would not resign, Coelho added: "I will try to clarify and guarantee with the CDS party all the conditions for the stability of the government and to proceed with the strategy of overcoming the nation's crisis." He added that "you know that this government has a tight-knit majority in the house to support it" and that the text of the resolution indicated that it was "fundamental to change the troika memorandum by renegotiation to finds a way to pay that does not contradict the country's economic growth." In the fifth

vote of 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 ...

the government faced, as called by Os Verdes, the government was scheduled to win a vote despite being opposed by the Communists, Left Bloc and Socialists (if it failed the government would not be able to have another vote). Despite attempts to form a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

, Socialist party whip

Carlos Zorrinho Carlos Zorrinho (born 28 May 1959) is a Portuguese politician and university professor. He has undertaken the positions of Secretary of State, leader of the Socialist Party (Portugal), Socialist Party Parliamentary Group at the Assembly of the Rep ...

said that the move was not with the government but that all parties were available for a possible new government. The motion by Os Verdes was initiated on 14 July 2013 during a state of the nation debate. Coelho said that the vote was "very welcome" and would serve as a vote of confidence.

Notes

References

External links

Preliminary results of the 2011 election

Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry

RTP Notícias – Election 2011

Jornal de Notícias – Legislativas 2011

Público - Election 2011

Portuguese Electoral Commission

NSD: European Election Database - Portugal
publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1991–2011 {{Portuguese elections 2011 elections in Portugal 2011 parliamentary June 2011 events in Europe