The Democratic Party (, ), officially known as the Portuguese Republican Party ( ), was a

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 ...

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

during the

Portuguese First Republic The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...

. It was also the self-proclaimed successor to the original

Portuguese Republican Party The Portuguese Republican Party (, ) was a Portuguese political party formed during the late years of the constitutional monarchy that proposed and conducted the substitution of the monarchy with the Portuguese First Republic.revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

that established the Portuguese First Republic in 1910. The name "Democratic Party" was never the official name of the party, as the Portuguese Republican Party never ceased to exist. However, the party was ''de facto'' different and thus the other parties (that belonged to the PRP before 1910) used the new expression to assert their opposition to the claim of continuation of the PRP by

Afonso Costa Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL (; born in Seia, 6 March 1871; died in Paris, 11 May 1937) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor and republican politician. Political career Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party and he was on ...

, the first leader of the Democratic Party. Other names were given to the members of the Democratic Party, like the Afonsists, named after

History

When the

Evolutionists Evolutionism is a term used (often derogatorily) to denote the theory of evolution. Its exact meaning has changed over time as the study of evolution has progressed. In the 19th century, it was used to describe the belief that organisms deliberate ...

and Unionists seceded from the Portuguese Republican Party in February 1912, the Democratic Party declared itself the latter party's heir. It soon controlled its electoral and propagandistic structure, a fact that would influence the dominance of the Democratic Party during the First Republic. During the First Republic, the Democratic Party, led by

, managed to hold power despite suffering several revolutionary attempts, both

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

and

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. Although some of the coups partially succeeded (

Monarchy of the North The Monarchy of the North ( pt, Monarquia do Norte), officially the Kingdom of Portugal (), was a short-lived counter-revolution against the First Portuguese Republic and a monarchist government that occurred in Northern Portugal in early 1919. I ...

Pimenta de Castro Joaquim Pereira Pimenta de Castro, 10th Count of Pimenta de Castro (5 November 1846, in Pias, Monção – 14 May 1918, in Lisbon; ) was a Portuguese army officer and politician. He was a career military officer reaching the position of General, ...

Sidónio Pais Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais (; 1 May 1872 – 14 December 1918) was a Portuguese politician, military officer, and diplomat, who served as the fourth president of the First Portuguese Republic in 1918. One of the most divis ...

) the Democratic Party always managed to retain power. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in which Portugal participated, the party entered a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with the

Evolutionist Party The Republican Evolutionist Party ( pt, Partido Republicano Evolucionista, PRE), commonly known as the Evolutionist Party, was a political party in Portugal led by António José de Almeida. History The party was established on 24 February 1912 a ...

called "

Sacred Union The Sacred Union (french: Union Sacrée, ) was a political truce in France in which the left-wing agreed, during World War I, not to oppose the government or call any strikes. Made in the name of patriotism, it stood in opposition to the pledge mad ...

", to face the problems of the war. Following the war, discontent grew and the union was eventually dissolved. Sidónio took advantage of this and established a dictatorial government of his

National Republican Party The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...

. Sidónio Pais was assassinated 14 December 1918. By 1919 the Democratic Party was again in power. After 1919, with Afonso Costa in Paris, the party was led by

António Maria da Silva António Maria da Silva, GCTE (; 26 May 1872 in Lisbon – 14 October 1950 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese politician. An engineer, he was a prominent member of the Portuguese Republican Party. He was Prime Minister (President of the Council of M ...

. In the next phase of the party's existence, political, popular and

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

opposition created a climate of constant revolt. Groups also seceded from the party, with the creation of the

Democratic Leftwing Republican Party The Democratic Leftwing Republican Party ( pt, Partido Republicano Esquerdista Democrático, PRED) was a political party in Portugal, led by José Domingues dos Santos (a former Prime Minister). It was founded in 1925 by leftwing dissidents of the ...

and the Reformist Party, both on the Left.

Relations with the Republic

The identification of the First Republic with the Democratic Party was so close, as the party dominated all political life between 1911 and 1926, that

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic. He is the List of presidents of Portugal, 20th and current president of Portugal, since 9 March 2016. He is a member of the Social Democrati ...

described it as a "

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coal ...

with a dominant party" and historian

Fernando Rosas Fernando José Mendes Rosas (born 18 April 1946, in Lisbon) is a Portuguese historian, professor, and politician. Early life and education Rosas was born on 18 April 1946. He studied at Pedro Nunes secondary school, and in 1961, he joined ...

called it a "political monopoly" and a "democratic dictatorship".

Prime ministers

Augusto de Vasconcelos Augusto César de Almeida de Vasconcelos Correia, Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCSE (24 September 1867 – 27 September 1951), better known as Augusto de Vasconcelos () was a Portuguese people, Portuguese surgeon, politician and diplomat, ...

(1911–1912) *

Duarte Leite Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva, GCC (11 August 1864 in Porto – 29 September 1950 in Porto; ), was a Portuguese historian, mathematician, journalist, diplomat and politician. He graduated in Mathematics at the University of Coimbra, in 1885. He ...

(1912–1913) *

(1913–1914; 1915–1916; 1917 — in coalition with the Evolutionists acred Union *

Bernardino Machado Bernardino Luís Machado Guimarães, GCTE, GCL (; 28 March 1851, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 29 April 1944, Porto, Portugal), was a Portuguese political figure, the third and eighth president of Portugal (1915–17, 1925–26). In 1917, ...

(1914; 1921) * Victor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho (1914–1915) *

António José de Almeida António José de Almeida, GCTE, GCA, GCC, GCSE (; 27 July 1866 – 31 October 1929), was a Portuguese politician who served as the sixth president of Portugal from 1919 to 1923. Early career Born in Penacova to José António de Almeida ...

— Evolutionists in coalition ( acred Union — (1916–1917) *

José Relvas José Maria de Mascarenhas Relvas de Campos (Golegã, Golegã, 5 March 1858 – Alpiarça, Casa dos Patudos, 31 October 1929; , was a Portuguese politician and 70th Prime Minister of Portugal. = Personal life = Jose was in spouse with Eugénia ...

(1919) * Domingos Pereira (1919; 1920; 1925) *

Alfredo de Sá Cardoso Alfredo Ernesto de Sá Cardoso (6 June 1864 – 24 April 1950), commonly known as Alfredo de Sá Cardoso (), or just Sá Cardoso, was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Republicanism, republican politician of the Portuguese First Republic who served ...

(1919–1920; 1920) * António Maria Baptista (1920) *

José Ramos Preto José Ramos Preto (23 October 1870 – 7 January 1949) was a Portuguese jurist and politician during the Portuguese First Republic. Among other posts, he served as civil governor, senator, minister and president of the Ministry (Prime Minister). ...

(1920) *

(1920; 1922–1923; 1925; 1925–1926) *

Liberato Pinto Liberato Damião Ribeiro Pinto ComTE, ComC, ComA, ComSE, ( Lisbon, 29 September 1880 – Lisbon, 4 August 1949) was a Portuguese Lieutenant Colonel of the Republican National Guard (''Guarda Nacional Republicana'', GNR), politician and ...

(1920–1921) *

Alfredo Rodrigues Gaspar Alfredo Rodrigues Gaspar (8 December 1865 in Funchal – 1 December 1938 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese military officer and politician. Rodrigues Gaspar was President of the Ministry (Prime Minister) of one of the many governments of the Portugues ...

(1924) * Vitorino Guimarães (1925)

Presidents of the Republic

Manuel de Arriaga Manuel José de Arriaga Brum da Silveira e Peyrelongue (; 8 July 1840 – 5 March 1917) was a Portuguese lawyer, the first attorney-general and the first elected president of the First Portuguese Republic, following the deposition of King Ma ...

(1911–1915) *

Teófilo Braga Joaquim Teófilo Fernandes Braga (; 24 February 1843 – 28 January 1924) was a Portuguese writer, playwright, politician and the leader of the Republican Provisional Government after the overthrow of King Manuel II, as well as the second elect ...

(1915) *

(1915–1918; 1925–1926) *

Manuel Teixeira Gomes Manuel Teixeira Gomes, GCSE (; 27 May 1860 – 18 October 1941) was a Portuguese politician and writer. He served as the seventh president of Portugal between 5 October 1923 and 11 December 1925. Personal life Manuel Teixeira Gomes was born ...

(1923–1925)

History

Relations with the Republic

Prime ministers

Presidents of the Republic

See also