A Constituent Assembly election was carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution. The election elected all 250 members of the Portuguese Constituent Assembly.
It was the first free election held in Portugal since 1925, and only the seventh free election in all of Portuguese history, and also the first under universal suffrage. Turnout was a record 91.66 percent, which remains (as of 2025) the highest ever in any Portuguese democratic elections (general, regional, local or European).
The main aim of the vote was the election of a Constituent Assembly, in order to write a new constitution to replace the Estado Novo regime's authoritarian Constitution of 1933, and so, this freely-elected parliament had a single-year mandate, with no government being based on parliamentary support; the country continued to be governed by a military-civilian provisional administration during the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly.
With very few opinion polls during the campaign, the real trend of the electorate was unknown, but incumbent Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves was confident in a victory of the most leftwing forces in Portugal, forecasting that the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) would win the election, followed by the Communists (PCP) and then the Socialist Party (PS). In the end, this forecast was totally wrong.
The election was won by the Socialist Party with almost 38 percent of the votes and 116 seats. The Social Democratic Party (then known as the Democratic People's Party, PPD) was the second-most voted party, 26.4 percent and 81 seats, defending a project that it would soon abandon, social democratic centrism, the Portuguese "Social-Democracy", and becoming the major right-wing party in the country a few years after. The size of the results of the PPD were a big surprise, taking into account that they won double the votes of the Communists.
Background
The previous parliamentary election was held on October 28, 1973, still under the authoritarian rule of the Estado Novo (New State), founded by António de Oliveira Salazar, who died in 1970. The People's National Action (ANP), the single party of the then President of the Council of Ministers, Marcelo Caetano, had won the all 150 deputies of the National Assembly in the 1973 election, with a participation rate of 66.5% of registered. The election was boycotted by Opposition forces due to complaints about democratic legitimacy and oppression.
1974 revolution
right|thumb|200px|Crowd celebrating the revolution in an armoured car.
On April 25, 1974, the Carnation Revolution, led by the captains of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), ended the authoritarian regime established in 1932 by António de Oliveira Salazar. After the revolutionary forces proclaimed victory, the National Salvation Junta, presided by General António de Spínola, took over the position of Head of State and Government.
With political parties once again legal, the Socialist Party (PS) leader, Mário Soares, and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Secretary General, Álvaro Cunhal, returned to Portugal less than a week later. In addition, the members of the "liberal wing" of the ANP, favorable to a democratization of the "Estado Novo" before its fall, founded the Democratic People's Party (PPD) which claimed to be social democratic.
At the end of three weeks, Spínola took the oath as President of the Republic, and nominated Adelino da Palma Carlos as Prime Minister to the head of the 1st provisional government in which civil and military members plus independent, socialists, social democrats and communists also took part. However, this government was severely limited by the powers of the MFA, and Palma Carlos attempted to expand his powers as prime minister, but clashed with the MFA and his government fell.
On July 18, Vasco Gonçalves, a military man seen as very close to the Communist Party, replaced Palma Carlos as head of the government. After this, the first party that didn't claim to be from the left or the center-left appeared, the Democratic and Social Center (CDS), which claimed to be an advocate of Christian democracy and liberalism.
Barely two and a half months later, Spínola resigned as President of the Republic, after his "silent majority" proposed protest was boycotted by the MFA, and was replaced by General Francisco da Costa Gomes, his deputy in the National Salvation Junta. On March 19, 1975, President Costa Gomes officially called an election to elect members to write a new Constitution., just 8 days after Spínola's failed counter-coup on 11 March.
Electoral system
The electoral system adopted, set by the electoral law approved on November 15, 1974, establishes the election of members of parliament by proportional representation according to the D'Hondt method, known to benefit the parties that come first.
The law fixes the number of one deputy per 25,000 inhabitants and one more per fraction of 12,500. Deputies were elected in twenty-three constituencies, namely the eighteen metropolitan districts, Horta, Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo, Funchal, Mozambique, Macau, and the rest of the world.
In application of these provisions, 250 seats were to be filled.
For these elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! District !! Number of MPs !! Map
|-
| Lisbon || style="text-align:center;"|55
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="17"|
|-
| Porto || style="text-align:center;"| 36
|-
| Setúbal ||style="text-align:center;"| 16
|-
| Braga ||style="text-align:center;"| 15
|-
| Aveiro ||style="text-align:center;"| 14
|-
| Santarém ||style="text-align:center;"| 13
|-
| Coimbra||style="text-align:center;"| 12
|-
| Leiria ||style="text-align:center;"| 11
|-
| Viseu ||style="text-align:center;"| 10
|-
| Faro ||style="text-align:center;"| 9
|-
| Castelo Branco ||style="text-align:center;"| 7
|-
| Beja, Funchal, Guarda, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real ||style="text-align:center;"| 6
|-
| Évora ||style="text-align:center;"| 5
|-
| Bragança and Portalegre||style="text-align:center;"| 4
|-
| Ponta Delgada ||style="text-align:center;"| 3
|-
| Angra do Heroísmo ||style="text-align:center;"| 2
|-
| Emigration, Horta, Macau and Mozambique ||style="text-align:center;"| 1
|}
Parties
The table below lists the major parties that contested the elections:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="3" | Name
! Ideology
! Political position
! Leader
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PS
| Socialist Party<br />
| Social democracy
| Centre-left
| Mário Soares
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PPD
| Democratic People's Party<br />
|
| Centre
| Francisco Sá Carneiro
|-
| style="background:#f00;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PCP
| Portuguese Communist Party<br />
| Communism
| Far-left
| Álvaro Cunhal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| CDS
| Democratic and Social Center<br />
| Christian democracy
|
| Diogo Freitas do Amaral
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| MDP/CDE
| Portuguese Democratic Movement<br />
| Left-wing nationalism<br />Democratic socialism
| Left-wing
| Francisco Pereira de Moura
|-
| style="background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| UDP
| Popular Democratic Union<br />
| Marxism<br>Socialism
| Left-wing
| João Pulido Valente
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| ADIM
| Association for the Defense of Macau Interests<br />
| Conservatism<br />Macau interests
|
| Diamantino Ferreira
|}
Campaign period
Party slogans
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:left;"
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2"| Party or alliance
! Original slogan
! English translation
! Refs
|-
| width="1" style="color:inherit;background:"|
| PS
| « A verdadeira escolha »
| "The real choice"
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| PPD
| « Tu decides votando »
| "You decide by voting"
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| PCP
| « Dá mais força à Liberdade »
| "Empower Freedom"
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| CDS
| « O voto certo »
| "The right vote"
|
|-
| bgcolor="darkRed"|
| MDP
| « O voto do povo »
| "The people's vote"
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| UDP
| « Em frente com a UDP »
| "Moving forward with UDP"
|
|}
Candidates' debates
On the election night broadcast on RTP1, a debate took place, moderated by Joaquim Letria, on the electoral results revealed so far, with the participation of the leaders of the four main parties at the time: Mário Soares (Socialist Party), Joaquim Magalhães Mota replacing Francisco Sá Carneiro (Social Democratic Party), Álvaro Cunhal (Portuguese Communist Party), and Francisco Pereira de Moura (MDP/CDE). The questions to the guests were asked by a panel of commentators made up of journalists Manuel Beça Múrias, Dinis Abreu, José Júdice, Castro Mendes and José Carlos Vasconcelos.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:98%; text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="20"| 1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election
|-
! rowspan="3"| Date
! rowspan="3"| Organisers
! rowspan="3"| Moderator(s)
! colspan="18"|
|-
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| PS
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| PPD
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| PCP
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| MDP/CDE
! rowspan="2"| Refs
|-
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:darkRed;"|
|-
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| 26 Apr
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| RTP1
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| Joaquim Letria
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|
| style="background:#D0F0C0;"|
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|
|
|}
Opinion polling
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-datatable" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%;line-height:16px;"
|- style="height:42px;"
! style="width:150px;" rowspan="2"| Polling firm/Link
! style="width:145px;" rowspan="2"| Date Released
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| PS
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| 29px|link=Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|PPD
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| 25px|link=Portuguese Communist Party|PCP
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| 25px|link=CDS – People's Party|CDS
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| 23px|link=Portuguese Democratic Movement|MDP
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;" rowspan="2"|
! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" rowspan="2"| Lead
|-
! style="color:inherit;background:#FF66FF;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:#FF9900;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:red;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:#0093DD;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:darkRed;"|
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"
| 1975 Constituent election
| data-sort-value="2019-10-06"| 25 Apr 1975
| | 37.9<br/>
| 26.4<br/>
| 12.5<br/>
| 7.6<br/>
| 4.1<br/>
| 11.5<br/>
| style="background:; color:white;"|11.5
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|-
| align="center" | IPOPE
| align="center" | Mar 1975
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 47
| align="center" | 21
| align="center" | 17
| align="center" | 2
| align="center" | 4
| align="center" | 9
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 26
|-
| align="center" | Vida Mundial
| align="center" | 27 Feb 1975
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 49
| align="center" | 27
| align="center" | 14
|
| align="center" | 6
| align="center" | 4
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 22
|-
| align="center" | CUF
| align="center" | Dec 1974
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 35.1
| align="center" | 27.0
| align="center" | 10.8
|
| align="center" | 2.7
| align="center" | 24.4
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 8.1
|}
Results
National summary
Distribution by constituency
|- class="unsortable"
!rowspan=2|Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S
!rowspan=2|Total<br />S
|- class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=2 | PS
!colspan=2 | PPD
!colspan=2 | PCP
!colspan=2 | CDS
!colspan=2 | MDP/CDE
!colspan=2 | UDP
!colspan=2 | ADIM
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Angra do Heroísmo
| 23.0
| -
| style="background:; color:white;"|62.8
| 2
| 2.4
| -
| 6.1
| -
| 1.1
| -
|colspan="2" rowspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
|colspan="2" rowspan="14" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 2
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Aveiro
| 31.8
| 5
| style="background:; color:white;"|42.9
| 7
| 3.2
| -
| 11.1
| 2
| 3.9
| -
| 14
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Beja
| 35.6
| 3
| 5.3
| -
| style="background:red; color:white;"|39.0
| 3
| 2.2
| -
| 5.5
| -
| 1.4
| -
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Braga
| 27.4
| 5
| style="background:; color:white;"|37.7
| 7
| 3.7
| -
| 18.0
| 3
| 2.9
| -
| -
| -
| 15
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Bragança
| 24.7
| 1
| style="background:; color:white;"|43.0
| 3
| 2.7
| -
| 13.5
| -
| 3.7
| -
| -
| -
| 4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Castelo Branco
| style="background:; color:white;"|41.5
| 5
| 24.3
| 2
| 5.6
| -
| 6.4
| -
| 3.9
| -
| 0.8
| -
| 7
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Coimbra
| style="background:; color:white;"|43.2
| 7
| 27.2
| 4
| 5.7
| 1
| 4.6
| -
| 4.4
| -
| colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 12
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Évora
| style="background:; color:white;"|37.9
| 3
| 6.9
| -
| 37.1
| 2
| 2.8
| -
| 7.8
| -
| 0.9
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Faro
| style="background:; color:white;"|45.4
| 6
| 13.9
| 1
| 12.3
| 1
| 3.4
| -
| 9.5
| 1
| 1.1
| -
| 9
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Funchal
| 19.6
| 1
| style="background:; color:white;"|61.9
| 5
| 1.7
| -
| 10.0
| -
| 1.3
| -
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Guarda
| 28.2
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|33.3
| 3
| 2.9
| -
| 19.5
| 1
| 3.6
| -
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Horta
| 23.0
| -
| style="background:; color:white;"|67.6
| 1
| 2.4
| -
|colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 3.1
| -
| 1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Leiria
| 33.2
| 5
| style="background:; color:white;"|35.6
| 5
| 6.4
| -
| 6.8
| 1
| 3.4
| -
| 1.1
| -
| 11
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Lisbon
| style="background:; color:white;"|46.0
| 29
| 15.0
| 9
| 18.9
| 11
| 4.8
| 3
| 4.1
| 2
| 1.7
| 1
| 55
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Macau
| colspan="12" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| style="background:; color:white;"|56.4
| 1
| 1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Mozambique
| style="background:; color:white;"|41.1
| 1
| colspan="12" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Ponta Delgada
| 30.4
| 1
| style="background:; color:white;"|54.8
| 2
| 1.5
| -
| 3.1
| -
| 2.7
| -
| colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 3
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Portalegre
| style="background:; color:white;"|52.4
| 3
| 9.9
| -
| 17.5
| 1
| 4.0
| -
| 4.5
| -
| 1.2
| -
| colspan="2" rowspan="8" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Porto
| style="background:; color:white;"|42.6
| 18
| 29.4
| 12
| 6.7
| 2
| 8.9
| 3
| 2.6
| 1
| 0.6
| -
| 36
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Santarém
| style="background:; color:white;"|42.9
| 8
| 18.8
| 3
| 15.1
| 2
| 4.3
| -
| 4.1
| -
| 1.0
| -
| 13
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Setúbal
| style="background:; color:white;"|38.2
| 7
| 5.7
| 1
| 37.8
| 7
| 1.6
| -
| 6.0
| 1
| 1.3
| -
| 16
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Viana do Castelo
| 24.5
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|36.0
| 3
| 3.8
| -
| 14.5
| 1
| 7.1
| -
| colspan="2" rowspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Vila Real
| 27.1
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|45.8
| 4
| 2.9
| -
| 7.2
| -
| 2.3
| -
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Viseu
| 21.5
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|43.9
| 6
| 2.3
| -
| 17.2
| 2
| 4.0
| -
| 10
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Emigration
| 34.4
| -
| style="background:; color:white;"|45.6
| 1
| colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 4.6
| -
| 11.0
| -
| 1
|-
|- class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9"
| style="text-align:left;" | Total
| style="background:; color:white;"|37.9
| 116
| 26.4
| 81
| 12.5
| 30
| 7.6
| 16
| 4.1
| 5
| 0.8
| 1
| 0.0
| 1
| 250
|-
| colspan=16 style="text-align:left;" | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
Maps
<gallery mode="packed" heights="270">
Legislativas portuguesas de 1975 (Mapa).png|Most voted political force by municipality.
</gallery>
See also
- Politics of Portugal
- List of political parties in Portugal
- Elections in Portugal
Notes
References
External links
- Comissão Nacional de Eleições
- Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político