1987 Portuguese legislative election

The 1987 Portuguese legislative election took place on 19 July. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

In the previous election, in 1985, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) received the most votes and managed to form a minority government, remaining in power thanks to the confidence and supply of the Democratic and Social Center (CDS) and the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), but after a motion of no confidence presented by left-wing parties was approved, the government fell and a new election was called.

The PSD was reelected in a landslide, winning a majority government with just over 50 percent of the votes and 148 of the 250 seats, a majority of 46. Not only was this the most seats that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election, but it was the first time since the Carnation Revolution that a single party won an absolute majority. Although the PSD was leading in voting intentions going into the election, the size of its victory far exceeded the party's most optimistic expectations. The PSD won every district with the exception of Setúbal, Évora and Beja, which voted for the CDU.

The Socialist Party (PS) gained a few seats and got a slightly higher share of the vote, 22 percent compared with the almost 21 percent in 1985, but the scale of the PSD victory made the party lose most of its influence. Like in 1979, 1980 and 1985, the PS failed to win a single district. The left-wing Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) lost some ground, minus seven MPs and a drop to 12 percent, while the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), now led by former President António Ramalho Eanes, lost all of its influence, mainly due to its responsibility in the fall of the PSD minority government. The right-wing Democratic and Social Center (CDS) lost almost half of its vote share, due to the effect of tactical voting for the also right-wing Social Democratic Party.

European elections were held on the same day.