Parliamentary elections were held in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

on 26 October 1969. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1542 The elections were announced on 12 August, and were the first under Prime Minister

Marcello Caetano Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano (; 17 August 1906 – 26 October 1980) was a Portuguese politician and scholar. He was the second and last leader of the Estado Novo after succeeding António Salazar. He served as prime minister from 196 ...

, appointed in the previous year to replace long-term Prime Minister

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the r ...

, who had been left incapacitated after a stroke. The quasi-sovereign National Union won all seats with an official turnout of 62.5%.

Electoral system

The constitution of 1933 stated that elections were to be held in all of Portugal's 18 constituencies by majority party list system, with all seats in each constituency going to the party list with a plurality of votes. In order to select a specific candidate, voters were formally able to strike out names. The electoral law of 5 December 1958 (rearranged to allow for the National Assembly to appoint the president) guaranteed

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

for all mature, literate citizens, but unofficially curtailed female participation. All natural-born nationals residing in Portugal for the previous five years were allowed to stand for election. The Chamber of Corporations, consisting of 200 members or more, was appointed by the government following the election to the National Assembly. The electoral commissions were officially banned on 8 November, with numerous candidates having retired prematurely due to reportedly extensive harassment and voter manipulation.Portugal
Inter-Parliamentary Union

Parties

The major parties involved and the respective leaders: * Democratic Electoral Commission (CDE),

Francisco Pereira de Moura Francisco Pereira de Moura (1925–1998) was a Portuguese scholar, economist and politician opposed to the Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo regime. He led the ''United Democratic Electoral Commission'' in the rigged Portuguese National Assembl ...

* Monarchist Electoral Commission (CEM), Rolão Preto * National Union (UN),

* United Democratic Electoral Commission (CEUD),

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 pres ...

Electoral system

Parties

Results

References

See also