The 1999 Portuguese legislative election took place on 10 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. 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 ...

was aiming a second term under the lead of António Guterres, incumbent Prime Minister, as a good economy and Portugal's growing prestige, following the Expo 1998 and the support for the

East-Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wester ...

cause, were strengthening the PS position. Polls leading up to the election predicted a comfortable PS majority government. Adding to this, the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), was exiting an internal crisis after former leader

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 ...

resigned in March 1999 amid disagreements with the CDS-People's Party leader,

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 ...

, regarding a future PSD/CDS alliance for these elections. The party elected, in a snap party congress in May 1999,

José Manuel Durão Barroso 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 vernacu ...

as new leader. Despite opinion polls predictions, the election results were labeled as a disappointment for the Socialists as the party failed to win a historical absolute majority by just one MP and barely improved their 1995 score, just 0.3%. The disappointing PS score would create instability in Guterres second government in the years to follow. 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 ...

was still away from the preferences of the majority of the Portuguese people, after the ten years cycle under the lead of Cavaco Silva that had terminated four years before, and lost 7 MPs, compared with 1995, and gathered 32% of the votes. The Democratic Unity Coalition achieved an important climb in the scorecard, against those who predicted its irreversible decline after the end of the Socialist Bloc in the early 1990s. The CDS-People's Party was able to hold on to its 15 MPs after tensions with the PSD earlier that year. For the first time, the Left Bloc, formed after the merger of several minor left-wing parties became represented in the parliament after electing two MPs. Turnout in this election was very low, only being surpassed by all elections after 2009 when turnout stands below 60%. Overall,

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

was only 61% of voters, one of the lowest ever recorded.

Background

Leadership changes

PSD 1996 leadership election

After leading his party to two successive defeats, in the 1995 election and in the 1996 Presidential election, then PSD leader

Fernando Nogueira Joaquim Fernando Nogueira (born 26 March 1950), commonly known just as Fernando Nogueira, is a Portuguese people, Portuguese lawyer and former politician. Life before politics Fernando Nogueira was born in Matosinhos in 26 March 1950. He grad ...

resigned. A party congress to elect a new leader was called for late March 1996. For that leadership ballot,

announced his candidacy, just a few days after saying a phrase that would become famous in Portuguese politics, "Not even if Christ descends to earth, will I run." Marcelo faced

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. ...

, which repeated his failed bid of 1995. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was easily elected as PSD leader. 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 , 603 , align=right , 66.4 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

, align=right , 305 , align=right , 33.6 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 908 , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Results

CDS–PP 1998 leadership election

Then CDS leader, Manuel Monteiro, resigned from the leadership after the party's poor results in the 1997 local elections.

, which had a tense relationship with Monteiro, announced his candidacy but faced the candidate of the "Monteiro wing", Maria José Nogueira Pinto. The congress was very tense, with strong accusations between both candidates, but in the end Paulo Portas was elected as new party leader: , - 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=center , WIN , align=right , , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Maria José Nogueira Pinto , align=right , , align=right , , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source:

PSD 1999 leadership election

Then PSD leader

plan to creat an electoral alliance with the CDS – People's Party was splitting his party, but nonetheless, the alliance was approved in a party congress in February 1999. However, at the same a time, a scandal involving CDS–PP leader

, the "Moderna affair", in which corrupt deals and bad management were done in

Moderna University Moderna University (''Universidade Moderna'') was a Portuguese private university headquartered in Lisbon, with departments in Setúbal, Porto and Beja. The institution was authorized by the Portuguese Ministry of Education to provide university ...

, was creating a bad mood between PSD and CDS–PP and, specially, between the two party's leaders. In late March, Paulo Portas gives an interview on

SIC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

that precipitated Marcelo's resignation. In that interview, Portas says that the PSD needs to come clean and say if they trust the CDS leader, and that Marcelo told him that a majority of the PSD leadership doesn't like him and feels he's a liability to the alliance. Feeling betrayed and seeing that Portas was untrustworthy, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa resigned from the PSD leadership. A snap party congress was called for early May, and, as the sole candidate,

was unanimously elected as the new PSD leader: , - 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 , , align=right , 100.0 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source
Results

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.Gallaher, Michael (1992).
Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities
For these elections, and compared with the 1995 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:

Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 7th legislature (1995–1999) and that also partook in the election:

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

Opinion polling

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed were represented in parliament (1995-1999). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1995 and 1999 for reference. Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.

National summary of votes and seats

, - , colspan=11, Portugal Parliament 1999

, - ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left, Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center", MPs ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , MPs %/
votes % , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center, 1999 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , , 2,385,922, , 44.06, , 0.3, , 112, , 115, , 3, , 50.00, , 1.3, , 1.13 , - , , 1,750,158, , 32.32, , 1.8, , 88, , 81, , 7, , 35.22, , 3.1, , 1.09 , - , , 487,058, , 8.99, , 0.4, , 15, , 17, , 2, , 7.39, , 0.9, , 0.82 , - , , 451,643, , 8.34, , 0.7, , 15, , 15, , 0, , 6.52, , 0.0, , 0.78 , - , , 132,333, , 2.44, , , , , , 2, , , , 0.87, , , , 0.36 , - , , 40,006, , 0.74, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 19,938, , 0.37, , 0.3, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 16,522, , 0.31, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" , , align=left, National Solidarity , 11,488, , 0.21, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 7,346, , 0.14, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 4,104, , 0.08, , 0.1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 438, , 0.01, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,306,956 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 98.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.1 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", — , - , colspan=2, Blank ballots , 56,964, , 1.05, , 0.3, , colspan=6 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , 51,230, , 0.95, , 0.1 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,415,102 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 8,864,604, , 61.09, , 5.2 , - , colspan=11 align=left , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Distribution by constituency

, - class="unsortable" !rowspan=2, Constituency!!%!!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 , CDU !colspan=2 , CDS–PP !colspan=2 , BE , - , 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;", 53.3 , 3 , 35.8 , 2 , 1.7 , - , 5.6 , - , 1.1 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Aveiro , style="background:; color:white;", 40.2 , 7 , 38.3 , 6 , 3.5 , - , 13.6 , 2 , 1.3 , - , 15 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Beja , style="background:; color:white;", 46.7 , 2 , 14.5 , - , 28.3 , 1 , 3.9 , - , 1.6 , - , 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;", 44.3 , 8 , 36.7 , 7 , 5.4 , 1 , 8.9 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 17 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bragança , 39.7 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 45.1 , 2 , 2.6 , - , 8.7 , - , 0.8 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Castelo Branco , style="background:; color:white;", 51.6 , 3 , 32.0 , 2 , 5.3 , - , 6.3 , - , 1.2 , - , 5 , - , 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;", 47.2 , 6 , 35.2 , 4 , 6.1 , - , 6.0 , - , 2.0 , - , 10 , - , 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;", 45.7 , 2 , 18.7 , 1 , 24.6 , 1 , 5.1 , - , 1.5 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faro , style="background:; color:white;", 48.4 , 5 , 29.5 , 3 , 8.3 , - , 7.3 , - , 2.3 , - , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Guarda , style="background:; color:white;", 43.4 , 2 , 39.2 , 2 , 3.2 , - , 9.8 , - , 1.1 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Leiria , 36.8 , 4 , style="background:; color:white;", 42.6 , 5 , 5.3 , - , 9.9 , 1 , 1.7 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Lisbon , style="background:; color:white;", 42.7 , 23 , 27.3 , 14 , 12.3 , 6 , 8.5 , 4 , 4.9 , 2 , 49 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Madeira , 35.1 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 46.2 , 3 , 2.8 , - , 10.9 , - , 1.2 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Portalegre , style="background:; color:white;", 51.2 , 2 , 22.5 , 1 , 15.0 , - , 5.9 , - , 1.2 , - , 3 , - , 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;", 48.0 , 19 , 32.7 , 13 , 6.2 , 2 , 7.5 , 3 , 2.3 , - , 37 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santarém , style="background:; color:white;", 45.5 , 5 , 30.2 , 3 , 10.1 , 1 , 8.1 , 1 , 2.0 , - , 10 , - , 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;", 43.7 , 8 , 18.0 , 3 , 24.8 , 5 , 5.6 , 1 , 3.5 , - , 17 , - , 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;", 40.2 , 3 , 35.8 , 2 , 5.0 , - , 14.0 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 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 ...

, 40.8 , 2 , style="background:; color:white;", 45.5 , 3 , 2.4 , - , 6.8 , - , 0.8 , - , 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 ...

, 38.1 , 4 , style="background:; color:white;", 44.3 , 4 , 2.2 , - , 10.5 , 1 , 1.2 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 55.4 , 2 , 24.7 , - , 5.3 , - , 3.2 , - , 0.6 , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Outside Europe , 39.8 , 1 , style="background:; color:white;", 49.5 , 1 , 1.7 , - , 3.5 , - , 0.4 , - , 2 , - , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 44.1 , 115 , 32.3 , 81 , 9.0 , 17 , 8.3 , 15 , 2.4 , 2 , 230 , - , colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

File:Pt euelection 1999.PNG, Most voted political force by

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

. (Madeira and Azores not shown) Legislativas portuguesas de 1999 (Mapa).png, Most voted political force 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 ...

Notes

References

External links

Preliminary results of the 1999 electionComissão Nacional de Eleições

Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político