Republican and Socialist Front ( pt, Frente Republicana e Socialista, or FRS) was an electoral alliance 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 ...

, consisting of 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), Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy (UEDS) and

Independent Social Democratic Action Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

(ASDI). FRS was officially established on 10 June 1980 and it contested the 1980 elections. It dissolved in 1982 when PS decided to form a coalition with PSD.

Background

After the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

and the 1976 Portuguese legislative election, the

formed two governments (the second in coalition with

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

) that failed to reach the end of their term. President

António Ramalho Eanes António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes, GColL GCL GColTE CavA GCB RVC (; born 25 January 1935) is a Portuguese general and politician who was the 16th president of Portugal from 1976 to 1986. Background Born at Alcains, Castelo Branco, he is ...

would then nominate various governments, the second of which was led by

Carlos Mota Pinto Carlos Alberto da Mota Pinto, GCC, GCIP, (; Pombal, 25 July 1936 – Coimbra, 7 May 1985) was a Portuguese professor and politician. Career He graduated as a licentiate in law and doctorate in judicial sciences from the Faculty of Law o ...

. Mota Pinto was supported by some members of 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), but their leader at the time,

Francisco de Sá Carneiro Francisco Manuel Lumbrales de Sá Carneiro, GCTE, GCC, GCL (; 19 July 19344 December 1980) was a Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal for most of 1980, and founder of the Social Democratic Party. He only held office of Prime Mi ...

, did not allow PSD to formally support Mota Pinto and would later cut ties with PS and go on to form the Democratic Alliance (AD). The PSD members that were not satisfied with Sá Carneiro's decision to go forward with this right-wing coalition would, in January 1978, leave and form the

(ASDI). Also in January 1978, the Socialist Culture Association "Worker's Fraternity" and some independent socialists organized the Leftwing Socialist Democracy Convention, thus creating the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy (UEDS). These two forces, together with PS, would form a coalition in August 1980 that was legally recognized on 10 June 1980.

Members of the Republican and Socialist Front

, (PS) * Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy, (UEDS) *

, (ASDI)

Election Results

References

Defunct left-wing political party alliances Defunct political party alliances in Portugal 1980 establishments in Portugal 1982 disestablishments in Portugal