The Democratic Renewal Party ( pt, Partido Renovador Democrático, , PRD; also ''Democratic Renovator Party'') was a
political party in Portugal, founded in 1985 with the political support of the then independent
President of the Republic,
Ramalho Eanes Ramalho is a Portuguese surname. Ramalho may refer to:
People
*João Ramalho (1493–1580), Portuguese explorer
*Ramalho Ortigão (1836–1915), Portuguese writer
* Rosa Ramalho (1888–1977), Portuguese ceramist
* José Ramalho (rower) (1901–?un ...
, and lasting until 2000. At the time of its foundation, it was meant to "moralize Portuguese political life" and the party positioned itself in the
political centre
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...
. Its first leader was
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 in ...
.
History
A short time after its foundation, the PRD profited from the dissolution of the Portuguese parliament, occupied at the time by
a grand coalition between 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 ...
(PS) and 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 ...
(PSD), from both of which the PRD included dissidents (for example, on the PS side,
José Medeiros Ferreira
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 ...
, former foreign Minister in a
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 ...
government and also a supporter of the centre-right
Democratic Alliance as a dissident of the PS, and on the Social Democratic side,
Joaquim Magalhães Mota
Joaquim Jorge de Magalhães Saraiva da Mota (November 17, 1935 in Santarém, São Salvador – September 26, 2007 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician.
Background
He was a son of Elói do Nascimento Saraiva da Mota (July 2, 1907 ...
, a co-founder of the PSD). Due to a disastrous economic policy, Ramalho Eanes dissolved the parliament and called for a
new election where the newly founded PRD surprisingly won 18% of the vote and got 45 MPs, becoming the third major party. The election did not give the majority of the seats to any party, so the party with the most votes, the Social Democratic Party, formed a minority government with PRD tactical support, sending the PSD's Socialist former coalition partners into opposition.
In the
local elections of 1985, however, the party began to have difficulties, achieving only 5% of the vote and few seats. In the following
presidential election in 1986, the party supported
Salgado Zenha
Francisco Salgado Zenha GCL (2 May 1923, Braga – 1 November 1993, Lisbon) was a Portuguese left-wing politician and lawyer.
As a student at the University of Coimbra, he was elected president of the Academic Association of Coimbra, bein ...
along with the
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...
, but its candidate did not manage to reach the second round.
In 1987, the party made a decision that would lead to its dissolution, supporting a
censure motion
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spi ...
, along with the Communists and the Socialists, that led to the fall of the first government of
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 ...
, which took office after the legislative elections of 1985.
In the
subsequent legislative election, the party lost most of its support, almost disappearing from parliament, losing 38 of its 45 MPs. Meanwhile, Ramalho Eanes had replaced Hermínio Martinho as leader of the party, a post he too left after the electoral disaster.
In the
1989 European elections, the party made a pact with the Socialist Party and elected one MEP on the Socialist electoral lists,
Pedro Canavarro. In the
legislative election of 1991, the party, at the time led by Canavarro, lost all of its parliamentary representation and never regained it, nor reached its previous position. Canavarro left the leadership of the party and was replaced by
Manuel Vargas Loureiro, who led it until its ''de facto'' extinction. In the late 1990s, the weakened and disjointed party
was taken over by
extreme right-wing
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
elements and the party became the
National Renovator Party
Rise Up ( pt, Ergue-te, E), originally the National Renewal Party (, PNR) until July 2020, is a Portuguese far-right nationalist political party.
History
The PNR was established in February 2000. In July 2020, the party was renamed.
Controv ...
.
Election results
Assembly of the Republic
Local elections
European Parliament
References
External links
Short biography of the PRD by the Documentation Centre of the Carnation Revolution (in Portuguese)
{{Authority control
Defunct political parties in Portugal
Political parties established in 1985
2000s disestablishments in Portugal
1985 establishments in Portugal