The 2019 Portuguese legislative election was held on 6 October 2019. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were contested. In a campaign dominated by the Tancos airbase robbery (in which former Defense Minister Azeredo Lopes (2015–2018) was accused of trying to cover-up the finding of the stolen weapons in the robbery), but also with the good economic situation in Portugal, 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 t ...

(PS) won the elections with 36% of the votes and 108 seats, a gain of 22 compared with 2015. The PS won the big districts of Porto and Lisbon, although Porto was closer than expected, and was able to gain districts from the PSD, like Aveiro and Viana do Castelo, by razor thin margins. The PS won the city of Lisbon, however with a smaller share of the vote compared with 2015, 33% vs 35%, and, surprisingly, lost the city of Porto to the PSD. 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 Fo ...

(PSD) obtained 28% of the votes and won 79 seats. The party lost 10 seats compared with 2015, and, in terms of share of vote, it was the worst result since 1983, however in terms of seats, it was only the worst result since 2005, when the party won 75 seats. The PSD was able to hold on to their bastions of Viseu, Vila Real, Bragança, Leiria and Madeira. On election night, PSD leader

Rui Rio Rui Fernando da Silva Rio (born 6 August 1957) is a Portuguese economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He was the Mayor of Porto from 2002 to 2013. Between 2018 and 2022, he was President of the PSD and Leader of the Opp ...

classified the results as "not a disaster" and left the door open to continue as party leader. However, in the aftermath of the election, several members of the party announced their intention to challenge Rio's leadership. The Left Bloc (BE) achieved a similar result to 2015. The party won almost 10% of the votes and held the 19 seats elected in 2015. On election night,

Catarina Martins Catarina Soares Martins (born 7 September 1973) is a Portuguese politician and actress. She is the national coordinator of the Left Bloc since 2012 and has been a member of the Assembly of the Republic for the Left Bloc since 2009. She traine ...

said she was open to new negotiations with PS. The

Unitary Democratic Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition ( pt, CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP–PEV) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The G ...

, (CDU), PCP-PEV coalition, suffered heavy losses, with 6.3% of the votes and 12 seats, and Jerónimo de Sousa, PCP secretary-general, said on election night that written agreements with PS were off the table. CDS – People's Party got just 4.2% of the votes, and got a parliamentary caucus reduced to just 5 seats, the lowest since 1991 and when the party was called the "taxi party", down from 18 in the 2015 election.

Assunção Cristas Maria de Assunção de Oliveira Cristas Machado da Graça (born 28 September 1974) is a Portuguese lawyer, professor and politician. She was the President of the CDS – People's Party from 2016 to 2020. Since 2017 she's also opposition leader c ...

, CDS leader, resigned on election night, called for a snap party congress and announced she would not run for reelection.

People-Animals-Nature People–Animals–Nature ( pt, Pessoas-Animais-Natureza, PAN) is an environmentalist, animal rights and animal welfare focused political party in Portugal, founded in 2009. In 2015, they won one seat in the Assembly of the Republic.

(PAN) saw a big increase in its share of the vote, winning 3.3% and 4 seats from Lisbon, Porto and Setúbal. This election was marked by the entry of three new parties in Parliament. The right-wing/far-right party CHEGA (CH) was one of the big surprises on election night by electing an MP from Lisbon. It is the first time since the return to democracy that a right-wing/far-right party is represented in Parliament. LIVRE and

Liberal Initiative The Liberal Initiative ( pt, Iniciativa Liberal, , IL) is a liberal political party in Portugal currently led by João Cotrim de Figueiredo. In 2019, its debut year at the Portuguese legislative elections, the party won one seat in the Portugu ...

also elected one MP for Lisbon. Former Prime Minister and PSD leader

Pedro Santana Lopes Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes GCC (; born 29 June 1956) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician, who is the current president of the Municipal Chamber of Figueira da Foz. He most notably served as prime minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005. ...

' new party,

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, failed to win a single seat and polled below 1% of the votes. The turnout in this election was the lowest ever in a general election in Portugal, with just 48.6% of registered voters casting a ballot. In Portugal alone, 54.5% of voters cast a ballot, a drop compared with the 57% in the 2015 election.

Background

2015 Government formation

After the

2015 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in the year 2015. Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burun ...

, President Aníbal Cavaco Silva asked incumbent Prime Minister

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 ...

to form a minority government, as the

Portugal Ahead The Portugal Ahead ( pt, Portugal à Frente, PàF) was a conservative political and electoral alliance in Portugal formed by the Social Democratic Party (PPD/PSD) and CDS – People's Party (CDS-PP). History The alliance was formed as the Po ...

coalition won the most votes and seats in the election. Passos Coelho second government was sworn in on 30 October 2015. However, during this period, the

, the Left Bloc and the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

reached a historic agreement in order to bring down the Passos Coelho minority government and support a Socialist minority government led by António Costa.

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 ...

, CDS–PP leader, labeled the agreement as the ''Geringonça'' ( en, Contraption), which became the name the left-wing agreement would be known for. On 10 November 2015, the left-wing parties proposed a vote of rejection to the Portugal Ahead's government program, which was approved by a 123 to 107 vote, thus bringing down the government. On 26 November 2015, António Costa was sworn in as

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 i ...

Leadership changes

CDS–PP leadership election 2016

Following the collapse of the PàF minority government and the subsequent nomination of António Costa as

, with the support of the leftwing parties, CDS–PP leader

announced, on December 2015, he was leaving the party's leadership. A new party congress was called to elect a new leader. There were two candidates in the ballot:

, supported by Portas, and Miguel Mattos Chaves, critical of Portas leadership. Cristas was elected by a landslide and 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=, , align=left ,

, align=right , 877 , align=right , 98.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Miguel Mattos Chaves , align=right , 11 , align=right , 1.2 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 888 , align=right , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Results

PSD leadership election 2018

After a disappointing result in the 2017 local elections, in which the PSD won just 30% of the votes and 98 mayoral races against the 38% of the PS and its 160 elected mayors,

announced he would not run for a 5th term as PSD leader. After that,

, former mayor of Porto (2002-2013), announced he was running for the leadership. Shortly after,

, former mayor of Lisbon (2002-2004; 2005) and Prime Minister (2004-2005), announced he was also running for the leadership of the party. Election day was scheduled to January 13, 2018. After a long campaign,

was elected with 54.15% of the votes, against the 45.85% of Santana Lopes. Turnout was 60.3%. 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 , 22,728 , align=right , 54.2 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

, align=right , 19,244 , align=right , 45.8 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 683 , align=right , – , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 42,655 , align=right , 60.34 , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Official results
Rui Rio was officially confirmed as party leader in the PSD congress, in Lisbon, between 16 and 18 February 2018. Just seven months after this leadership election, in early July 2018,

announced he was leaving the Social Democratic Party and would form his own party. A few weeks later he announced the creation of a new party, the

Date

According to the Portuguese Constitution, an election must be called between 14 September and 14 October of the year that the legislature ends. The election is called by the

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic ( pt, Presidente da República Portuguesa, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, an ...

but is not called at the request of the

; however, the President must listen to all of the parties represented in Parliament and the election day must be announced at least 60 days before the election. If an election is called during an ongoing legislature (dissolution of parliament) it must be held at least in 55 days. Election day is the same in all multi-seats constituencies, and should fall on a Sunday or national holiday. The next legislative election must, therefore, take place no later than 13 October 2019. After meeting with all parties, in December 2018,

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic. He is the 20th and current president of Portugal, since 9 March 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended hi ...

announced that he would call a general election for 6 October 2019.

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 m ...

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 or Sainte-Laguë method, which are more generous to small parties. For these elections, and compared with the 2015 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:

Early voting

Voters were also able to vote early, which would happen one week before election day, on 29 September 2019. Voters had to register in order to be eligible to cast an early ballot. Between 22 and 26 September, 56,287 voters requested to vote early. On 29 September, 50,638 voters (90.0% of voters that requested) cast an early ballot.

Parties

Parliamentary factions

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 13th legislature (2015–2019) and that also contested the elections:

Non represented parties

The table below lists smaller parties not represented in the Assembly of the Republic that ran in the elections:

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 ...

and

RTP3 RTP3 (''RTP três'') 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 all-news television channel, and is known for its 24-hour rollin ...

Opinion polling

Results

The centre-left Socialist Party (PS) of incumbent Prime Minister Costa obtained the largest share of the vote, and the most seats. Costa said he would look to continue the confidence-and-supply agreement with the Left Bloc and the Unitary Democratic Coalition. The centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) got 27.8 percent of the vote, its worst result since 1983. Portugal's much-vaunted immunity to Europe's far-right wave was interrupted by the election of a debut representative from the nationalist CHEGA party, which scored 1.3 percent overall, with the party's leader stating “this is an historic occasion, it will be the first time in 45 years that a party with these characteristics enters the assembly.”

National summary

Distribution by constituency

, - class="unsortable" !rowspan=2, Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S !rowspan=2, Total
S , - class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=2 , PS !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 , BE !colspan=2 , CDU !colspan=2 , CDS–PP !colspan=2 , PAN !colspan=2 , CH !colspan=2 , IL !colspan=2 , L , - , 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;", 40.1 , 3 , 30.2 , 2 , 8.0 , - , 2.5 , - , 4.8 , - , 2.7 , - , 0.9 , - , 0.7 , - , 0.9 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Aveiro , style="background:; color:white;", 34.3 , 7 , 33.6 , 6 , 10.0 , 2 , 3.1 , - , 5.7 , 1 , 3.0 , - , 0.7 , - , 1.0 , - , 0.7 , - , 16 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Beja , style="background:; color:white;", 40.7 , 2 , 13.3 , - , 9.1 , - , 22.8 , 1 , 2.3 , - , 2.0 , - , 2.0 , - , 0.4 , - , 0.6 , - , 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;", 36.4 , 8 , 34.1 , 8 , 8.9 , 2 , 4.0 , - , 4.1 , 1 , 2.6 , - , 0.7 , - , 0.8 , - , 0.7 , - , 19 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bragança , 36.5 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 40.8 , 2 , 6.0 , - , 2.1 , - , 4.5 , - , 1.3 , - , 0.8 , - , 0.4 , - , 0.3 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Castelo Branco , style="background:; color:white;", 40.9 , 3 , 26.3 , 1 , 11.1 , - , 4.8 , - , 3.7 , - , 2.4 , - , 1.3 , - , 0.6 , - , 0.9 , - , 4 , - , 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, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 39.0 , 5 , 26.6 , 3 , 11.2 , 1 , 5.6 , - , 3.5 , - , 2.6 , - , 0.9 , - , 0.8 , - , 0.9 , - , 9 , - , 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 ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 38.3 , 2 , 17.5 , - , 9.0 , - , 18.9 , 1 , 3.4 , - , 2.0 , - , 2.2 , - , 0.7 , - , 0.7 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faro , style="background:; color:white;", 36.8 , 5 , 22.3 , 3 , 12.3 , 1 , 7.1 , - , 3.8 , - , 4.8 , - , 2.1 , - , 0.8 , - , 1.0 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Guarda , style="background:; color:white;", 37.6 , 2 , 34.3 , 1 , 7.8 , - , 3.0 , - , 5.0 , - , 1.6 , - , 1.5 , - , 0.6 , - , 0.5 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Leiria , 31.1 , 4 , style="background:; color:white;", 33.5 , 5 , 9.4 , 1 , 4.3 , - , 5.3 , - , 2.9 , - , 1.5 , - , 0.9 , - , 0.9 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Lisbon , style="background:; color:white;", 36.7 , 20 , 22.6 , 12 , 9.7 , 5 , 7.8 , 4 , 4.4 , 2 , 4.4 , 2 , 2.0 , 1 , 2.5 , 1 , 2.1 , 1 , 48 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Madeira , 33.4 , 3 , style="background:; color:white;", 37.1 , 3 , 5.2 , - , 2.1 , - , 6.1 , - , 1.8 , - , 0.7 , - , 0.7 , - , 0.4 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Portalegre , style="background:; color:white;", 44.7 , 2 , 20.1 , - , 8.1 , - , 10.6 , - , 3.8 , - , 1.7 , - , 2.7 , - , 0.5 , - , 0.6 , - , 2 , - , 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;", 36.7 , 17 , 31.2 , 15 , 10.1 , 4 , 4.8 , 2 , 3.3 , 1 , 3.5 , 1 , 0.6 , - , 1.5 , - , 1.0 , - , 40 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santarém , style="background:; color:white;", 37.1 , 4 , 25.2 , 3 , 10.2 , 1 , 7.6 , 1 , 4.7 , - , 2.6 , - , 2.0 , - , 0.8 , - , 0.9 , - , 9 , - , 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;", 38.6 , 9 , 14.4 , 3 , 12.1 , 2 , 15.8 , 3 , 3.0 , - , 4.4 , 1 , 1.9 , - , 1.1 , - , 1.2 , - , 18 , - , 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;", 34.8 , 3 , 33.8 , 3 , 8.5 , - , 4.0 , - , 6.2 , - , 2.4 , - , 0.7 , - , 0.6 , - , 0.6 , - , 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 ...

, 37.2 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 39.0 , 3 , 6.1 , - , 2.5 , - , 4.5 , - , 1.7 , - , 0.8 , - , 0.4 , - , 0.6 , - , 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 ...

, 35.4 , 4 , style="background:; color:white;", 36.2 , 4 , 7.9 , - , 2.3 , - , 5.9 , - , 2.1 , - , 1.0 , - , 0.6 , - , 0.5 , - , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 29.1 , 1 , 18.8 , 1 , 5.7 , - , 2.5 , - , 3.0 , - , 4.9 , - , 0.9 , - , 0.8 , - , 1.1 , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Outside Europe , 20.2 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 33.4 , 1 , 3.5 , - , 1.0 , - , 4.7 , - , 4.3 , - , 0.9 , - , 2.5 , - , 0.7 , - , 2 , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 36.3 , 108 , 27.8 , 79 , 9.5 , 19 , 6.3 , 12 , 4.2 , 5 , 3.3 , 4 , 1.3 , 1 , 1.3 , 1 , 1.1 , 1 , 230 , - , colspan=20 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

File:2019 Portuguese legislative election - Detailed Results.svg, Full results by electoral district. File:2019 Portuguese legislative election - Results.svg, Strongest party by electoral district. File:2019 Portuguese legislative election - Results by Municipality.svg, Strongest party 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 ...

. File:2019 Portuguese legislative election - Left Results.svg, Vote strength for left-wing parties ( BE, CDU,

LIVRE LIVRE (, L), previously known as LIVRE/Tempo de Avançar (, L/TDA), is a green political party in Portugal founded in 2014. Its founding principles are ecology, universalism, freedom, equity, solidarity, socialism and Europeanism. Its symbol i ...

) by electoral district. File:2019 Portuguese legislative election - Faction Results.svg, Strongest political faction by electoral district. Left: PS, BE, CDU; Right:

, CDS-PP.

Electorate

Aftermath

Budget rejection and fall of the government

After the October 2019 elections, the PS decided to not renew the "Geringonça" (''Contraption'') deal with the Left Bloc and the

and opted to govern by making deals with both left and/or right parties in the opposition. After this, budgets and other policies were discussed with all opposition parties, but political instability grew, even during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. On October 2021, BE and PCP announced that they would vote against the government's proposed 2022 budget and

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 ...

warned that if there was no budget, he would dissolve Parliament and call a snap election. On 27 October 2021, Parliament rejected the budget by a 117 to 108 vote, and a snap general election was called for 30 January 2022.

Notes

References

External links

Popstar Poll Tracker

Marktest Opinion Poll Tracker

Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry

Portuguese Electoral Commission

ERC - Official publication of polls

{{Portuguese elections

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Legislative elections in Portugal October 2019 events in Portugal