The 1979 Portuguese legislative election took place on 2 December. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic, 13 seats less than those elected in 1976.
The 3 years prior to the election were very unstable, with Prime Minister Mário Soares' government collapsing in August 1978 and being succeeded by three Presidential appointed governments, in which the first two also collapsed due to lack of Parliamentary support. In the summer of 1979, President of Portugal António Ramalho Eanes dissolved Parliament and called an extraordinary election for 2 December 1979, and until then, the President nominated Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, the first and still only woman to lead a government in Portugal, as prime minister.
In the election, the right-wing parties, the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party, united in the Democratic Alliance (Portuguese: Aliança Democrática or AD) under the leadership of Sá Carneiro, scored a historic victory, receiving 45 percent of the votes and an absolute majority in seats, the first right-wing and absolute majority win after the 1974 Carnation Revolution. The Socialists lost more than 30 MPs and the Communists, now allied with the Portuguese Democratic Movement in the United People Alliance achieved their highest total ever, with almost 20% of the voting. Another election would be held a year later, in October 1980, as determined by the decree that approved the Constitution, which stipulated that the first legislature had a fixed date of completion on 14 October 1980.
Turnout dropped slightly to 82.6 percent, but the number of ballots cast surpassed 6 million.
Background
Fall of the government
In the last election, three and a half years before, in April 1976, the Socialist Party won and Mário Soares became the Prime Minister of the 1st Constitutional Government after the revolution.
However, the Government faced deep financial problems and in December 1977, Soares lost a voting of confidence in Parliament, 159 to 100, as all Opposition parties, the Democratic and Social Center, the Social Democrats and the Communists united in order to vote against it, and so, the Soares' government fell. Soares would become Prime Minister again in January 1978, in coalition with the Democratic Social Center, but by July, CDS would force the end of the government due to disagreements about agrarian reforms. In August, Nobre da Costa became prime minister by personal decision of President Ramalho Eanes, after a failed attempt to unite the parties in Parliament. However, the program of Nobre da Costa's government was never approved and two months later, Nobre da Costa was replaced by Mota Pinto who would govern with extreme difficulties for less than one year.
In July 1979, the President finally decided to dissolve Parliament and call for a new election for December of the same year. Mota Pinto was replaced in the period between the dissolution and the election by Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, the first and still only woman to lead a government in Portuguese history.
Leadership changes and challenges
Social Democratic Party
The PSD suffered a lot of internal divisions after the 1976 election. The party was essential divided between those who wanted the party to pursue a more social democratic path, and those who want a more center-right approach, these aligned with Francisco Sá Carneiro. Because of these disputes, Sá Carneiro leaves the leadership in November 1977, and is succeeded by António Sousa Franco, who moves the party more to the left. But, internal divisions continue, and in June 1978, a group of 42 PSD MPs release the "Unpostponable Options" manifesto where they attack Sá Carneiro and reaffirm the social democratic path with a candidacy to the Socialist International. Sá Carneiro returns to the leadership in the July 1978 party congress, and 37 PSD MPs break with him and leave definitely the party, forming the Independent Social Democratic Action (ASDI), which will merge with the PS a few years later.
|- 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 | Francisco Sá Carneiro
| align=right | 603
| align=right | 91.9
|-
| colspan=2 align=left | Blank/Invalid ballots
| align=right | 53
| align=right | 8.1
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout
| align=right | 656
| align=center |
|-
| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Diário de Lisboa
|}
A few months after the congress that reinstated Sá Carneiro in the party's leadership, the PSD, CDS and PPM reach an agreement to form the Democratic Alliance, in order to contest the following election.
Electoral system
The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members elected to four-year terms. The total number of MPs was reduced to 250 from the previous 263, elected in 1976. 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 126 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.
The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude. The use of the d'Hondt method 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.
For these elections, and compared with the 1976 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! District !! Number of MPs !! Map
|-
| Lisbon<sup></sup> || style="text-align:center;"|56
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="12"|
|-
| Porto || style="text-align:center;"| 38
|-
| Setúbal ||style="text-align:center;"| 17
|-
| Aveiro and Braga ||style="text-align:center;"| 15
|-
| Santarém<sup></sup> and Coimbra||style="text-align:center;"| 12
|-
| Leiria ||style="text-align:center;"| 11
|-
| Viseu<sup></sup> ||style="text-align:center;"| 10
|-
| Faro ||style="text-align:center;"| 9
|-
| Castelo Branco<sup></sup>, Viana do Castelo<sup></sup> and Vila Real<sup></sup> ||style="text-align:center;"| 6
|-
| Azores<sup></sup>, Beja<sup></sup>, Évora<sup></sup>, Guarda<sup></sup> and Madeira<sup></sup> ||style="text-align:center;"| 5
|-
| Bragança<sup></sup> and Portalegre ||style="text-align:center;"| 4
|-
| Europe and Outside Europe ||style="text-align:center;"| 2
|}
Parties
The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the first half of the 1st legislature (1976–1980), as this election was a national by-election, and that also contested the elections:
With the 1976 seat distribution
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="3"| Name
! rowspan="2"| Ideology
! rowspan="2"| Political position
! rowspan="2"| Leader
! colspan="2"| 1976 result
! rowspan="2"| Seats at<br/>dissolution
|-
! %
! Seats
|-
| style="background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PS
| Socialist Party<br />
| Social democracy
| Centre-left
| Mário Soares
| style="text-align:center;"| 34.9%
|
|
|-
| style="background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PPD/PSD
| Social Democratic Party<br />
|
|
| Francisco Sá Carneiro
| style="text-align:center;"| 24.4%<br/>
|
|
|-
| style="background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| CDS
| Democratic and Social Center<br />
| Christian democracy
|
| Diogo Freitas do Amaral
| style="text-align:center;"| 16.0%<br/>
|
|
|-
| style="background:#f00;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PCP
| Portuguese Communist Party<br />
| Communism
| Far-left
| Álvaro Cunhal
| style="text-align:center;"| 14.4%<br/>
|
|
|-
| style="background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| UDP
| Popular Democratic Union<br />
| Marxism<br>Socialism
| Left-wing
| Mário Tomé
| style="text-align:center;"| 1.7%
|
|
|-
| style="background:#2E3191;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| ASDI
| Independent Social Democratic Action<br />
| Democratic Socialism<br />Social democracy
| Centre-left
| António de Sousa Franco
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|N/A
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| Ind.
| Independent<br />
| colspan="5"|Carmelinda Pereira <br/>Aires Rodrigues <br/>Carlos Galvão de Melo <br/>António Lopes Cardoso <br/>José Justiniano Pinto <br/>Reinaldo Rodrigues
|
|}
Seat changes
- In January 1977, MPs Carmelinda Pereira and Aires Rodrigues were expelled from the Socialist Party caucus.
- In March 1977, MP Carlos Galvão de Melo left the Democratic and Social Center caucus.
- In November 1977, MPs António Lopes Cardoso, José Justiniano Pinto and Reinaldo Rodrigues left the Socialist Party caucus due to disagreements with the government led by Mário Soares.
- On July 1979, 37 MPs from the Social Democratic Party, led by António de Sousa Franco and Joaquim Magalhães Mota, left the party and formed a new party, the Independent Social Democratic Action, following a feud with PSD leader Francisco Sá Carneiro, in which was called the "Unpostponable Options" split, regarding the ideological path of the party.
|-
| width="1" bgcolor=""|
| PS
| « O direito à liberdade »
| "The right to freedom"
|
|-
| bgcolor=""|
| APU
| « Para a vitória democrática »
| "For the democratic victory"
|
|-
| bgcolor=""|
| UDP
| « O voto certo da mudança »
| "The right vote for change"
|
|}
Results
National summary
Distribution by constituency
|- class="unsortable"
!rowspan=2|Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S
!rowspan=2|Total<br />S
|- class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=2 | AD
!colspan=2 | PS
!colspan=2 | APU
!colspan=2 | PSD
!colspan=2 | UDP
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Azores
|colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 30.0
| 2
| 3.1
| -
| style="background:; color:white;"|52.0
| 3
| 1.7
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Aveiro
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|56.7
| 9
| 28.4
| 5
| 7.9
| 1
|colspan="2" rowspan="11" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 1.2
| -
| 15
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Beja
| 19.0
| 1
| 22.0
| 1
| style="background:red; color:white;"|50.7
| 3
| 1.8
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Braga
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|51.9
| 9
| 30.2
| 5
| 10.0
| 1
| 1.4
| -
| 15
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Bragança
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|60.7
| 3
| 22.2
| 1
| 5.8
| -
| 1.9
| -
| 4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Castelo Branco
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|49.9
| 4
| 27.8
| 2
| 12.4
| -
| 1.9
| -
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Coimbra
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|44.8
| 6
| 35.1
| 5
| 11.2
| 1
| 1.3
| -
| 12
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Évora
| 26.9
| 1
| 16.9
| 1
| style="background:red; color:white;"|48.9
| 3
| 1.7
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Faro
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|34.6
| 4
| 34.0
| 3
| 20.3
| 2
| 3.2
| -
| 9
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Guarda
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|60.6
| 4
| 26.3
| 1
| 5.4
| -
| 0.9
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Leiria
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|56.2
| 7
| 23.2
| 3
| 10.9
| 1
| 1.5
| -
| 11
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Lisbon
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|40.0
| 24
| 25.8
| 15
| 26.0
| 16
| 2.8
| 1
| 56
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Madeira
| colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 17.2
| 1
| 3.1
| -
| style="background:; color:white;"|57.8
| 4
| 6.6
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Portalegre
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|32.1
| 2
| 29.8
| 1
| 29.4
| 1
| colspan="2" rowspan="9" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| 1.7
| -
| 4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Porto
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|44.5
| 18
| 34.8
| 14
| 14.5
| 6
| 1.9
| -
| 38
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Santarém
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|41.3
| 6
| 27.3
| 3
| 21.7
| 3
| 2.2
| -
| 12
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Setúbal
| 22.3
| 4
| 21.4
| 4
| style="background:red; color:white;"|47.0
| 9
| 4.0
| -
| 17
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Viana do Castelo
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|54.8
| 4
| 24.9
| 2
| 9.8
| -
| 0.9
| -
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Vila Real
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|57.7
| 4
| 21.4
| 2
| 6.1
| -
| 1.5
| -
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Viseu
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|64.1
| 8
| 21.4
| 2
| 5.5
| -
| 1.4
| -
| 10
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Europe
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|38.3
| 1
| 33.2
| 1
| 13.4
| -
| 5.7
| -
| 2
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Rest of the World
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|77.3
| 2
| 5.7
| -
| 3.1
| -
| 0.7
| -
| 2
|-
|- class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9"
| style="text-align:left;" | Total
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"|42.5
| 121
| 27.3
| 74
| 18.8
| 47
| 2.4
| 7
| 2.2
| 1
| 250
|-
| colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
Maps
<gallery mode="packed" heights="250">
File:1979 Portuguese legislative election district results.svg|Winner and seats by constituency.
File:Pt plelection 1979.PNG|First and second most voted political force by constituency.
File:Legislativas portuguesas de 1979 (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