The 1983 Portuguese legislative election took place on 25 April. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.
The last election, in October 1980 had been won by a right-wing coalition, the Democratic Alliance (AD) and Francisco Sá Carneiro had retained office as Prime Minister with an increased majority.
However, Sá Carneiro, along with other important members of the coalition, died in an aircrash only two months after the election, on 4 December 1980. Such happenings caused considerable political instability and Francisco Pinto Balsemão, a senior official of the Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the Alliance, became Prime Minister. However, Balsemão's governments were very unstable and after the 1982 local elections results, he resigned as Prime Minister. The Social Democratic Party proposed possible names for Prime Minister to President of Portugal António Ramalho Eanes, but the President refused them and decided to call a snap election for April 1983.
The election was won by the Socialist Party with 36 percent, and Mário Soares was nominated Prime Minister. However, the Socialists lacked a majority in the Assembly of the Republic and were forced to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, which achieved 27 percent, in what was called the "Central Bloc". Although this coalition allowed Soares to govern, several members of both parties were against it, and internal attacks led to the collapse of the coalition after less than two years. In the election that followed, the Communist-dominated United People Alliance lost 3 MPs and the Democratic and Social Center, after the dissolution of the Democratic Alliance, was now alone in the Parliament with 30 MPs, a loss of 16.
This was the last legislative election to be won by the Socialist Party until 1995.
Background
In October 1980, the Democratic Alliance (AD), led by Francisco Sá Carneiro, was reelected with a reinforced majority, but it was cut short with his death, his partner Snu Abecassis, his Defense minister Adelino Amaro da Costa and wife, plus other crew members, in a tragic plane crash in Camarate, Loures, shortly after taking off from Lisbon Airport. This tragic air crash sparked a series of conspirancy theories, mainly because of Portugal's involvement in the Iran–Iraq War and the supply of weapons to both Iraq and Iran.
Following the death of Sá Carneiro, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, CDS leader, became interim Prime Minister until the election of a new PSD leader. Days later, Francisco Pinto Balsemão was elected PSD leader and sworn in as Prime Minister. not to mention the very tense and fraught relationship with President Ramalho Eanes. Moreover, the right-wing policies were criticized by the left-wing and by trade unions, culminating in the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers, with the support of the Communists, calling a general strike in February 1982 that shook the government. The wave of resignations among Balsemão's ministers continued and by the end of 1982, and also influenced by the AD's weak results in the 1982 local elections, Balsemão himself also resigned.
The Social Democratic Party proposed, to President Ramalho Eanes, a government led by Vítor Crespo, but President Eanes rejected the proposal citing that the political conditions were just too deteriorated, and instead decided to dissolve Parliament and call an election for April. Shortly after, the AD was dissolved as PSD, CDS and PPM decided to contest by their own the April snap election.
Leadership changes and challenges
Social Democratic Party
On 13 December 1980, just a few days after Sá Carneiro's death, the PSD national party council elected Francisco Pinto Balsemão as party leader and nominated him to became Prime Minister.
|- 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 Pinto Balsemão
| align=right | 59
| align=right | 96.7
|-
| colspan=2 align=left | Against
| align=right | 1
| align=right | 1.6
|-
| colspan=2 align=left | Blank/Invalid ballots
| align=right | 1
| align=right | 1.6
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout
| align=right | 61
| align=center |
|-
| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Público
|}
In early 1983, after the collapse of the AD coalition, the then PSD leader Francisco Pinto Balsemão announced he would not run again for the leadership of the party nor be the party's candidate for the early legislative election. Carlos Mota Pinto, former Prime Minister, supported Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos' candidacy for President of the party, in order for him to be the party's candidate for Prime Minister, while Pinto Balsemão's wing supported João Bosco Mota Amaral, President of the Regional Government of the Azores, who ended up dropping out. In a deeply divided Congress, Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos won the presidency, while Mota Pinto was selected by the PSD as the party's candidate for Prime Minister.
|- 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 | Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos
| align=right | 596
| align=right | 73.3
|-
|bgcolor=|
| align=left | João Bosco Mota Amaral
| colspan=2 align=center | withdrew
|-
| colspan=2 align=left | Against
| align=right | 118
| align=right | 14.5
|-
| colspan=2 align=left | Blank/Invalid ballots
| align=right | 99
| align=right | 12.2
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout
| align=right | 813
| align=center |
|-
| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Diário de Lisboa Two candidates were on the ballot, Francisco Lucas Pires and Luís Barbosa, with Lucas Pires being 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 | Francisco Lucas Pires
| align=right |
| align=right | 58.2
|-
|bgcolor=|
| align=left | Luís Barbosa
| align=right |
| align=right | 41.8
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout
| align=right |
| align=center |
|-
| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Diário de Lisboa
|}
Electoral system
The Assembly of the Republic has 250 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 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 1980 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! District !! Number of MPs !! Map
|-
| Lisbon || style="text-align:center;"|56
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="13"|
|-
| Porto || style="text-align:center;"| 38
|-
| Setúbal ||style="text-align:center;"| 17
|-
| Braga<sup></sup> ||style="text-align:center;"| 16
|-
| Aveiro ||style="text-align:center;"| 15
|-
| Santarém ||style="text-align:center;"| 12
|-
| Leiria and Coimbra<sup></sup> ||style="text-align:center;"| 11
|-
| Viseu ||style="text-align:center;"| 10
|-
| Faro ||style="text-align:center;"| 9
|-
| Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real ||style="text-align:center;"| 6
|-
| Azores, Beja, Évora, Guarda and Madeira ||style="text-align:center;"| 5
|-
| Bragança 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 2nd legislature (1980–1983) and that also contested the elections:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="3"| Name
! rowspan="2"| Ideology
! rowspan="2"| Political position
! rowspan="2"| Leader
! colspan="2"| 1980 result
|-
! %
! Seats
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PPD/PSD
| Social Democratic Party<br />
|
|Centre-right
| Carlos Mota Pinto
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|<br/>47.6%<br/>
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| CDS
| Democratic and Social Center<br />
| Christian democracy
|
| Francisco Lucas Pires
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PPM
| People's Monarchist Party<br />
| Monarchism<br />Green conservatism
| Right-wing
| Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PS
| Socialist Party<br />
| Social democracy
| Centre-left
| Mário Soares
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|<br/>27.8%<br/>
|
|-
| style="background:Red;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| UEDS
| Left-wing Union for the Socialist Democracy<br />
| Democratic Socialism<br />Workers' self-management
| Left-wing
| António Lopes Cardoso
|
|-
| style="background:#2E3191;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| ASDI
| Independent Social-Democratic Action<br />
| Democratic Socialism<br />Social democracy
| Centre-left
| António de Sousa Franco
|
|-
| style="background:#f00;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| PCP
| Portuguese Communist Party<br />
| Communism<br />Marxism–Leninism
| Far-left
| Álvaro Cunhal
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|<br/>16.8%<br/>
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| MDP/CDE
| Portuguese Democratic Movement<br />
| Left-wing nationalism<br />Democratic socialism
| Left-wing
| José Manuel Tengarrinha
|
|-
| style="background:;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| UDP
| Popular Democratic Union<br />
| Marxism<br>Socialism
| Left-wing
| Mário Tomé
| style="text-align:center;"| 1.4%
|
|}
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
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| PSD
| « Firmeza na decisão. Competência na acção. »
| "Firmness in the decision. Competence in action."
|
|-
| width="1" style="color:inherit;background:"|
| PS
| « Juntos vamos conseguir »
| "Together we will do it"
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| CDS
| « O nosso caminho é Portugal »
| "Our path is Portugal"
|
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:"|
| APU
| « Vota APU, A solução! »
| "Vote APU, The Solution!"
|
|}
Candidates' debates
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:98%; text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="20"| 1983 Portuguese legislative election debates
|-
! rowspan="3"| Date
! rowspan="3"| Organisers
! rowspan="3"| Moderator(s)
! colspan="18"|
|-
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| PSD<br/>
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| PS<br/>
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| CDS<br/>
! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| APU<br/>
! rowspan="2"| Refs
|-
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
|-
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| 23 Mar
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| Antena 1
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"|
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
|
|-
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| 31 Mar
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| RTP1
| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"|
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P
|
|}
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:38px;"| 29px|link=Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|PSD
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| 25px|link=CDS – People's Party|CDS
! class="unsortable" style="width:38px;"| PS
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;"| 34px|link=United People Alliance|APU
! class="unsortable" style="width:35px;" rowspan="2"|
! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" rowspan="2"| Lead
|-
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
! style="color:inherit;background:;"|
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"
| 1983 legislative election
| data-sort-value="2019-10-06"| 25 Apr 1983
| 27.2<br/>
| 12.6<br/>
| | 36.1<br/>
| 18.1<br/>
| 6.0<br/>
| style="background:; color:white;"|8.9
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|- style="background:#EAFFEA"|
| align="center" | RTP
| align="center" | 25 Apr 1983
| align="center" | 25.4–27.7<br/>
| align="center" | 11.5–12.0<br/>
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 36.0–39.1<br/>
| align="center" | 17.2–18.5<br/>
| align="center" | –
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 10.6<br/>11.4
|- style="background:#EAFFEA"|
| align="center" | RTP
| align="center" | 25 Apr 1983
| align="center" | 22.0–25.5<br/>
| align="center" | 12.0–14.5<br/>
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 36.0–38.5<br/>
| align="center" | 16.5–19.0<br/>
| align="center" | –
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 13.0<br/>14.0
|-
| align="center" | Tempo
| align="center" | Apr 1983
| align="center" | 24
| align="center" | 12.5
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 38
| align="center" | 17
| align="center" | 8.5
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 14
|-
| align="center" | Euroexpansão
| align="center" | 29 Jan 1983
| align="center" | 24
| align="center" | 12
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 33
| align="center" | 19
| align="center" | 12
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 9
|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"
| 1982 local elections
| 12 Dec 1982
| align="center" colspan="2" style="background-color:lightblue;"| 42.5
| align="center" | 31.8
| align="center" | 20.7
| align="center" | 5.0
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white" | 10.7
|-
| align="center" | Euroexpansão
| align="center" | Sep 1982
| align="center" | 22
| align="center" | 19
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 28
| align="center" | 18
| align="center" | 13
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 6
|-
| rowspan="2" align="center" | Antropos
| rowspan="2" align="center" | 27 Jul 1981
| align="center" colspan="2" style="background-color:lightblue;"| 42.0
| align="center" | 36.1
| align="center" | 13.9
| align="center" | 8.0
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white" | 5.9
|-
| align="center" | 25.1
| align="center" | 9.9
| align="center" style="background:#FFCBFF"| 42.4
| align="center" | 14.0
| align="center" | 8.6
| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 17.3
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"
| 1980 legislative election
| data-sort-value="2019-10-06"| 5 Oct 1980
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background-color:lightblue;"| 47.6<br/>
| align="center" | 27.8<br/>
| align="center" | 16.8<br/>
| align="center" | 7.8<br/>
| style="background:#2A52BE; color:white" | 19.8
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|}
Results
National summary
Distribution by constituency
|- class="unsortable"
!rowspan=2|Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S
!rowspan=2|Total<br />S
|- class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=2 | PS
!colspan=2 | PSD
!colspan=2 | APU
!colspan=2 | CDS
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Azores
| 31.1
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|54.4
| 3
| 3.1
| -
| 4.7
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Aveiro
| style="background:; color:white;"|36.6
| 6
| 34.8
| 6
| 7.0
| 1
| 16.4
| 2
| 15
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Beja
| 28.0
| 2
| 11.8
| -
| style="background:red; color:white;"|49.4
| 3
| 4.1
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Braga
| style="background:; color:white;"|39.7
| 7
| 27.0
| 5
| 8.8
| 1
| 18.3
| 3
| 16
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Bragança
| 30.4
| 1
| style="background:; color:white;"|35.8
| 2
| 4.8
| -
| 20.9
| 1
| 4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Castelo Branco
| style="background:; color:white;"|37.1
| 3
| 30.6
| 2
| 11.3
| -
| 13.2
| 1
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Coimbra
| style="background:; color:white;"|45.3
| 6
| 27.8
| 3
| 10.7
| 1
| 10.2
| 1
| 11
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Évora
| 23.9
| 1
| 18.6
| 1
| style="background:red; color:white;"|47.6
| 3
| 4.5
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Faro
| style="background:; color:white;"|43.2
| 5
| 23.1
| 2
| 18.6
| 2
| 7.4
| -
| 9
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Guarda
| style="background:; color:white;"|33.5
| 2
| 31.5
| 2
| 4.9
| -
| 23.8
| 1
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Leiria
| 32.7
| 4
| style="background:; color:white;"|35.6
| 4
| 9.5
| 1
| 16.2
| 2
| 11
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Lisbon
| style="background:; color:white;"|35.8
| 21
| 21.8
| 13
| 25.3
| 15
| 11.7
| 7
| 56
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Madeira
| 24.4
| 1
| style="background:; color:white;"|56.2
| 4
| 2.8
| -
| 8.2
| -
| 5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Portalegre
| style="background:; color:white;"|38.5
| 2
| 19.1
| 1
| 28.7
| 1
| 7.5
| -
| 4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Porto
| style="background:; color:white;"|43.0
| 18
| 26.2
| 10
| 13.6
| 5
| 12.5
| 5
| 38
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Santarém
| style="background:; color:white;"|38.4
| 5
| 24.7
| 3
| 20.0
| 3
| 10.0
| 1
| 12
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Setúbal
| 30.6
| 6
| 12.7
| 2
| style="background:red; color:white;"|45.8
| 8
| 5.1
| 1
| 17
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Viana do Castelo
| 32.5
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|32.6
| 3
| 9.9
| -
| 18.4
| 1
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Vila Real
| 32.3
| 2
| style="background:; color:white;"|42.0
| 3
| 5.4
| -
| 12.7
| 1
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Viseu
| 30.9
| 4
| style="background:; color:white;"|36.6
| 4
| 4.6
| -
| 20.7
| 2
| 10
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Europe
| style="background:; color:white;"|33.6
| 1
| 31.2
| 1
| 17.1
| -
| 11.1
| -
| 2
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | Outside Europe
| 7.0
| -
| style="background:; color:white;"|48.2
| 1
| 2.8
| -
| 34.1
| 1
| 2
|-
|- class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9"
| style="text-align:left;" | Total
| style="background:; color:white;"|36.1
| 101
| 27.2
| 75
| 18.1
| 44
| 12.6
| 30
| 250
|-
| colspan=10 style="text-align:left;" | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
Maps
<gallery mode="packed" heights="270">
File:1983 Portuguese legislative election district results.svg|Winner and seats by constituency.
File:Legislativas portuguesas de 1983 (Mapa).png|Most voted political force by municipality.
</gallery>
Aftermath
Fall of the government
The Central Bloc government had become deeply unpopular by 1984, with the consequences of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout to save public finances and the economy hitting hard on the population. The budget cuts and increasing poverty were creating deep disagreements between PS and PSD, but also within both parties rifts were being formed. In the Social Democrats, these rifts came to a breaking point in February 1985 with party leader Carlos Mota Pinto resigning and announcing he would contest the next leadership ballot. But, Mota Pinto died unexpectedly just days prior to the 1985 PSD congress and Aníbal Cavaco Silva, which was against the Central Bloc, was elected as leader. Shortly after his election as party leader, Cavaco Silva withdrew the PSD support to the Central Bloc, and the government fell. President Ramalho Eanes decided to dissolve Parliament and call a snap election for 6 October 1985.