The CDS – People's Party (, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)
Tribunal Constitucional. is a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
and
Christian democratic
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
political party in Portugal. It is characterized as being between the
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
and
right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
of the political spectrum. In voting ballots, the party's name appears only as the People's Party, with the
abbreviation
An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...
CDS–PP unchanged.
The party was founded on 19 July 1974 during the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
. In
its first democratic elections in 1975, the CDS-PP won 16 seats out of 230 – increasing to 42 in the
1976 legislative election. The party entered a short-lived coalition with 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) before joining the
Democratic Alliance (AD). The party has been involved in
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
coalitions with 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
Form ...
(PSD) from 1980 to 1983 and again from 2002 to 2005. In the
2009 legislative election, the party won 21 seats, its most since the
1985 election, and increased it to 24
in 2011, leading to it forming a
coalition government
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
with the PSD.
The party is a member of the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP) and the
International Democracy Union
The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023) is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 fu ...
(IDU). The party also has autonomous organisations which share its political beliefs, the
People's Youth and the
Federation of Christian Democratic Workers.
After a disastrous result in the
2022 general elections, which left the party with no seats in the Assembly of the Republic for the first time ever since its founding,
Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos resigned as president;
he was replaced by
MEP Nuno Melo in the 29th National Congress of the Party.
History
Foundation
The CDS, Democratic Social Center, was founded on 19 July 1974 by
Diogo Freitas do Amaral,
Paulo Lowndes Marques,
Adelino Amaro da Costa,
Basílio Horta,
Vítor Sá Machado,
Valentim Xavier Pintado,
João Morais Leitão and
João Porto. By that time, Portugal was living an unstable political moment: instability, violence and great social tensions were evident after the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
held on 25 April of the same year. The then CDS declared itself as a party rigorously at the
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
of the
political spectrum
A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...
, but by then it already counted with a major slice of Portuguese right-winger in its affiliations. On 13 January 1975, the leaders of CDS delivered at the Supreme Court of Justice the necessary documentation to legalise the party. The first congress was held on 25 January 1975, at the Rosa Mota Pavilion,
Porto
Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
city, which was interrupted by a siege from
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
protesters.
First years of opposition
After 25 March 1975, a regime centred in social matters, state control of the economy and military leadership began its efforts to dominate the nation, which summed up with the
COPCON (a post-revolutionary military organisation founded in 1974) and the constant attacks perpetrated on the western social democrat model, led the CDS to declare itself officially as an opposition party. Its 16 deputies cast the only votes against the Socialist-influenced Constitution of 1976, on 2 April. In the legislative election of 1976, the CDS achieved its objectives by having 42 deputies elected and so surpassing the
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...
(PCP).
The Democratic Alliance
In 1979, the CDS proposed a coalition with 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
Form ...
(PSD) and the
People's Monarchist Party (PPM). The proposal brought about the creation of the
Democratic Alliance (AD), headed by
Francisco Sá Carneiro, which won the general elections of 1979 and 1980.
In the AD governments, the CDS was represented by five ministers and ten state secretaries, with the president of the party, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, being nominated to the offices of Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
(later nominated Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister).
On the night of 4 December 1980, Sá Carneiro and his
Minister of National Defence,
Adelino Amaro da Costa, were among those who died in a plane crash. Diogo Freitas do Amaral became caretaker prime minister until the formation of a new government, which
Francisco Pinto Balsemão headed. This latter administration collapsed on 4 September 1981, after the resignation of Freitas do Amaral (both from the cabinet and from the party presidency). As a result, the Democratic Alliance ended.
An opposition of 20 years
After the collapse of the AD, the party looked for a new leader and new direction. Freitas do Amaral's successors were
Francisco Lucas Pires (1983-1986) and
Adriano Moreira
Adriano José Alves Moreira, ComC GCC GOIH GCSE (6 September 1922 – 23 October 2022) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor and a leading political figure in Portugal throughout the second half of the 20th century.
Education
Adriano Moreira ...
(1986-1988), who, when having been unable to stop the party's negative performance, did not stand for re-election. Freitas do Amaral returned as party president, during a period characterised by the electoral success of the PSD, with the leadership of
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...
, to lead a rump of four deputies (later five) in parliament.
In 1992, a new generation took over the party and in March of that year. At the party's 10th Congress, the former president of the Centrist Youth (the then-youth organisation of the CDS),
Manuel Monteiro, was elected to the presidency. A year later, at an extraordinary congress, the title People's Party ("Partido Popular") was added to the party's official name in an effort to emulate the
Spanish party of the same name. Freitas do Amaral left the party in the same year.
In 1993, the CDS-PP was expelled from the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP), both for rejecting the
Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...
and therefore being not pro-integrationist enough and for not paying due membership fees.
The CDS-PP underwent an electoral recovery in the general election of 1995, electing 15 deputies. However, following poor electoral results in local elections in 1997, Manuel Monteiro resigned and was replaced at the party's Braga congress by Paulo Portas who defeated
Maria José Nogueira Pinto. Portas proposed a return to the party's
Christian democratic
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
roots and set himself the challenge of keeping all 15 seats in parliament in the general election of 1999. This was accomplished.
The "Democratic Coalition"
After a massive electoral defeat in the 2001 local elections, 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) Prime Minister
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
resigned with a general election being held in early 2002. The PSD won a plurality, forcing them to enter into a coalition, 20 years after their previous coalition government with the CDS-PP. The CDS-PP gained three ministries: Paulo Portas as Minister of National Defence,
Bagão Félix as
Minister of Social Security and
Celeste Cardona as
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
.
The CDS-PP contested the
2004 European election in a joint electoral list with the PSD called
Forward Portugal (FP), retaining its 2 MEPs.
In the summer of 2004, PSD Prime Minister
José Manuel Durão Barroso
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...
, resigned to become president of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
and in order to avoid an early general election, President
Jorge Sampaio
Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he ...
invited
Pedro Santana Lopes to form a new PSD/CDS-PP coalition government. Due to low popularity and what was seen as the inept handling of the country by the new prime minister, parliament was dissolved after just four months on 30 November 2004 and a new general election was scheduled for February 2005.
2005 general election

In the
2005 legislative election, the CDS-PP obtained 7.2% of the vote and returning 12 deputies, losing two of its 14 deputies. The CDS-PP returned to opposition, with its coalition partner the PSD losing to the centre-left PS, whose leader
José Sócrates became prime minister. This electoral failure for the CDS-PP, along with the defeat of the PSD led to
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, ...
's resignation as party leader and a congress to elect a new leader.
"Portugal 2009"
After the resignation of Paulo Portas, who had led the CDS-PP for seven years, two candidates then emerged:
Telmo Correia and
José Ribeiro e Castro, with the former being looked on as a favourite, following the line and style of Paulo Portas. However, José Ribeiro e Castro with his 'Portugal 2009' platform was elected president of the CDS-PP. In May 2007, however, Paulo Portas
was again elected as the leader of the party, amidst controversy.
The CDS-PP contested the
2009 European election in a standalone list, retaining its two MEPs with 8.4% of the vote.
In the
2009 legislative election, the party increased their share of the votes to 10.4% and won 21 seats, while remaining in opposition to Prime Minister José Sócrates.
Return to government in 2011
In the
2011 legislative election, the CDS-PP increased its share of the vote yet again to 11.7%, returning 24 deputies. This, along with the victory of the PSD over the incumbent PS government, resulted in the CDS-PP joining a coalition government led by PSD leader and Prime Minister
Pedro Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the
List of prime ministers of Portugal, 117th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 201 ...
, obtaining 5 ministries in the cabinet.
2014 European elections
Th
2014 European election had the CDS-PP once again form a joint list with the PSD, this time called the
Portugal Alliance. The list received 27.7% of the vote, second place behind the PS, and returned a single MEP for the CDS-PP.
2015 general election and ''Portugal à Frente''
The CDS-PP formed an alliance with the PSD ahead of the
2015 legislative election, called
Portugal Ahead (''Portugal à Frente,'' PàF) with PSD leader and Prime Minister
Pedro Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the
List of prime ministers of Portugal, 117th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 201 ...
leading the coalition. The PàF coalition, however, lost 25 seats and the parliamentary majority, though they were still comfortably ahead of the Socialist Party by more than 20 seats. President
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...
swore in Passos Coelho and his minority government, but ten days later the PàF government collapsed when the Communists, Greens and Left Bloc voted in favor of the Socialists' motion of no confidence. Socialist lead
António Costa
António Luís Santos da Costa (; born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as President of the European Council since 2024. He previously served as the 118th prime minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024 and th ...
was sworn in as prime minister on 26 November in a minority government, thrusting PàF into opposition. Passos Coelho declared the end of the Portugal Ahead coalition 16 December.
2019 European elections
The
2019 European election had the CDS-PP return to an individual list, rather than allying with the PSD. The CDS-PP again returned just a single MEP on 6.2% of the vote.
2019 general election
Longtime leader Paulo Portas left the party's leadership after 20 years in December 2015. In March 2016,
Assunção Cristas, Portas's chosen successor, was overwhelmingly elected leader of the party over Miguel Mattos Chaves. Cristas became the party's first female leader. However, the subsequent legislative elections were disastrous for the party. The CDS-PP lost 13 of their previous 18 seats, leaving them with only five, and took less than 5% of the vote as António Costa's Socialist government strengthened their position, but fell short of an absolute majority. Cristas resigned as CDS-PP as the election results became clear.
2022 general election
A
snap election
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
was called for January 2022 after Costa's budget was rejected when the Left Bloc and Communists joined the right-wing parties in voting against it. The party was led by
Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, the leader of People's Youth, who narrowly won the 2020 leadership election. The election resulted in a surprise majority for Costa's Socialists after tightening polls, and the CDS-PP lost their five remaining seats on just 1.6% and for the first time since the restoration of democracy returned no members of the Assembly. The party received just 86,578 votes, less than half of their 2019 total. The CDS-PP's disastrous results were blamed partially on the rise of other right-wing parties,
Liberal Initiative and
Chega!, which both saw huge increases in support. Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, then the president of the party, resigned on the very same night.
In the following congress, he was replaced by CDS's single
MEP,
Nuno Melo.
2024 general election and the new ''Democratic Alliance''
In November 2023, Prime Minister António Costa tendered his resignation after a series of police raids regarding an investigation around alleged corruption involving the award of contracts for lithium and hydrogen businesses, and, shortly after, a
snap election
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
was called for 10 March 2024. CDS–PP decided to contest the election in a joint alliance called
''Democratic Alliance'' (AD) alongside PSD and PPM. The AD coalition won by a slight margin over the Socialists, 29 to 28 percent, and formed a minority government. CDS–PP leader, Nuno Melo, became
Defense minister
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
. Three months later, in the
2024 European Parliament elections, the AD coalition was narrowly defeated by the Socialists, 31 to 32 percent. A new election was called for
May 2025, after a vote of confidence in the AD minority government was rejected, following the revelations of the
''Spinumviva'' case.
Ideology
A large ideological overlap exists between the CDS-PP 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
Form ...
(PSD). The CDS-PP's original philosophy was based on
Christian democracy
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
,
[Magone (2003), p. 143] and it was originally positioned in the
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
. A factional disagreement within the party between those that believed that the CDS-PP should be to the right of the PSD or in the political centre erupted. The party shifted in the early 1990s under the leadership of
Manuel Monteiro. It still considers itself to be a centrist party. It has been also described as a
national conservative
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conserva ...
party.
The party formerly had a
pro-EU line, but switched under Monteiro, becoming mildly
Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...
, including opposing the
Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...
, with this change of policy credited for ending the party's decline.
As a result of the change, the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP) expelled the CDS-PP from the
EPP Group in the European parliament, with the CDS-PP joining the
Union for Europe
The Union for Europe (UFE) was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament from 1995 to 1999. At its height in May 1999, it had 34 MEPs and it only existed during the European Parliament's 4th term.
UFE was formed ...
(UfE) group instead. Monteiro's successor,
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, ...
, continued the CDS-PP's Eurosceptic line, but rejoined the EPP.
The CDS-PP has always strongly opposed the legalisation of
abortion in Portugal and is officially an
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
party. It had campaigned vigorously against the legalisation of abortion up to ten weeks in the
1998 referendum on abortion and in the
2007 referendum, where under the current law abortions are allowed up to 12 weeks if the mother's life or mental or physical health is at risk, up to 16 weeks in cases of rape and up to 24 weeks if the child may be born with an incurable disease or deformity; whereas the new law proposal will allow abortions on request up to the tenth week. The CDS-PP has proposed what it considers to be responsible alternatives based on the "right to life" to solve the problem of illegal abortion and of abortion itself.
Political positions
Some of the party's proposals include:
*Stronger
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
laws.
*Opposition to
European federalism.
*Stronger relations with
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
.
*Introducing a
school voucher-based education system.
*A stronger stance on
law and order issues.
*A substantial decrease in
taxation
A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal person, legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to Pigouvian tax, regulate and reduce nega ...
.
Until 1991
*Opposition to the MPLA regime of
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and support for
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberat ...
and
RENAMO
RENAMO (from the Portuguese , ) is a Mozambican political party and militant group. The party was founded with the active sponsorship of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in May 1977 from anti-communist dissidents oppos ...
.
*Opposition to hard sanctions on
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
.
Organization
Symbols
Logos
File:Símbolo do CDS (1975-1993).jpg, Party logo, 1974–1982
File:CDS-PP (1982-1994).png, Party logo, 1982–1993
File:Símbolo do CDS-PP (1993-2009).jpg, Party logo, 1993–2009
File:CDS – People's Party logo.svg, Current logo, since 2009
Leadership
List of leaders
List of parliamentary leaders
*
Victor Sá Machado (1975–1976)
*
Adelino Amaro da Costa (1976–1978)
*
Narana Coissoró (1978–1991)
*
António Lobo Xavier
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ...
(1991–1995)
*
Maria José Nogueira Pinto (1995–1996)
*
Jorge Ferreira (1996–1998)
*
Luís Queiró (1998–1999)
*
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, ...
(1999–2001)
*
Basílio Horta (2001–2002)
*
Telmo Correia (1st time) (2002–2004)
*
Nuno Melo (2004–2007)
*
Diogo Feio (2007–2009)
*
Pedro Mota Soares (2009–2011)
*
Nuno Magalhães (2011–2019)
*
Cecília Meireles (2019–2020)
*
Telmo Correia (2nd time) (2020–2022)
* ''Vacant'' (2022–2024)
*
Paulo Núncio (2024–present)
Political support
In line with the two largest parties in Portuguese politics, but unlike the two
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
parties, the CDS-PP is a
big tent
A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a political party having members covering a broad spectrum of beliefs. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined ideology, seek voters who adhere to that ideology, and att ...
party, with appeal across social and ideological groups. The party's voters have a similar profile to the PSD. It has low voter loyalty, with voter retention historically being half the level of the three other largest parties.
The major issue on which the voter profile differs most significantly from the other parties is
abortion
Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
, where those that identify as
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
are significantly more likely to vote for the CDS-PP.
The CDS-PP receives a considerable amount of support amongst
farmers
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...
in the north, as well as among
entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
and
managers
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...
.
International affiliations
The CDS-PP is a member party of the
International Democracy Union
The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023) is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 fu ...
(IDU) and
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP). One
MEP currently sits in the
EPP Group in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
.
It was formerly a member of the
European Union of Christian Democrats
European, or Europeans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...
(EUCD), as well as the EUCD-affiliated EPP's
political group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...
in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
, from 1986 to 1995. In 1995, the party –under the more Eurosceptic leadership of
Manuel Monteiro– was kicked out of the EPP; it left the EUCD and joined the
Union for Europe
The Union for Europe (UFE) was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament from 1995 to 1999. At its height in May 1999, it had 34 MEPs and it only existed during the European Parliament's 4th term.
UFE was formed ...
group in the European Parliament.
In 2003, the party joined the
European Democrats component of the
European People's Party–European Democrats
The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of Member of the European Parliament, deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometime ...
(EPP–ED) group. In 2006, it left the European Democrats –now collapsing due to the formation of the
Movement for European Reform
The Movement for European Reform (MER) was a centre-right European political alliance with conservative, pro-free market and Eurosceptic inclinations. It consisted of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom and the Civic Democratic Par ...
– to join the EPP group proper.
Electoral performance
Assembly of the Republic
Seat share in the Portuguese legislative elections
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id:PP value:rgb(0.153,0.651,0.886) legend:CDS-People's_Party_(CDS-PP)
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Period = from:0 till:20
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ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:15 start:0
PlotData =
bar:Seats color:claret width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S
bar:1975 color:PP from:start till:6.4 text:6.4
bar:1976 color:PP from:start till:16.0 text:16.0
bar:1979 color:PP from:start till:17.2 text:17.2
bar:1980 color:PP from:start till:18.4 text:18.4
bar:1983 color:PP from:start till:12.0 text:12.0
bar:1985 color:PP from:start till:8.8 text:8.8
bar:1987 color:PP from:start till:1.6 text:1.6
bar:1991 color:PP from:start till:2.2 text:2.2
bar:1995 color:PP from:start till:6.5 text:6.5
bar:1999 color:PP from:start till:6.5 text:6.5
bar:2002 color:PP from:start till:6.1 text:6.1
bar:2005 color:PP from:start till:5.2 text:5.2
bar:2009 color:PP from:start till:9.1 text:9.1
bar:2011 color:PP from:start till:10.4 text:10.4
bar:2015 color:PP from:start till:7.8 text:7.8
bar:2019 color:PP from:start till:2.2 text:2.2
bar:2022 color:PP from:start till:0.0 text:0.0
bar:2024 color:PP from:start till:0.9 text:0.9
bar:2025 color:PP from:start till:0.9 text:0.9
Presidential
European Parliament
Regional Assemblies
Footnotes
Notes
References
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External links
Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular, CDS-PPofficial site
Juventude Popular, JPofficial site
Federeção dos Trabalhores Democrata Cristãos, FTDCofficial site
Partido Popular Europeu, PPEofficial site
International Democracy Unionofficial site
{{DEFAULTSORT:CDS - People's Party
1974 establishments in Portugal
Catholic political parties
Christian democratic parties in Europe
Conservative parties in Portugal
Eurosceptic parties in Portugal
International Democracy Union member parties
Political parties established in 1974
Member parties of the European People's Party
National conservative parties
Organisations based in Lisbon
Political parties in Portugal
Populist parties
Social conservative parties
Right-wing parties in Europe