1985 Portuguese legislative election
6 October 1985
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly
126 seats needed for a majority
Registered7,818,981 Increase6.6%
Turnout5,798,929 (74.2%)
Decrease3.6 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Cavaco Silva 1988.png
Almeida Santos (cropped).png
PRD
Leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva Almeida Santos Hermínio Martinho
Party PSD PS PRD
Leader since 2 June 1985 13 June 1985 (interim) 10 July 1985
Leader's seat Lisbon[1] Porto[2] Santarém
Last election 75 seats, 27.2% 101 seats, 36.1% New party
Seats won 88 57 45
Seat change Increase 13 Decrease 44 N/A
Popular vote 1,732,288 1,204,321 1,038,893
Percentage 29.9% 20.8% 17.9%
Swing Increase 2.7 pp Decrease 15.3 pp N/A
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
CDS
Leader Álvaro Cunhal Lucas Pires
Party PCP CDS
Alliance APU
Leader since 14 April 1978 20 February 1983
Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon
Last election 44 seats, 18.1% 30 seats, 12.6%
Seats won 38 22
Seat change Decrease 6 Decrease 8
Popular vote 898,281 577,580
Percentage 15.5% 10.0%
Swing Decrease 2.6 pp Decrease 2.6 pp
Prime Minister before election

Mário Soares
PS

 Prime Minister after election

Aníbal Cavaco Silva
PSD

The 1985 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

In June of the same year, the then incumbent Prime Minister, Mário Soares, resigned from the job due to the lack of parliamentary support, the government was composed by a coalition of the two major parties, the center-right Social Democratic and the center-left Socialist, in what was called the Central Bloc, however this was an unstable balance of forces and several members of each party opposed such alliance.

The new leader of the Social Democratic Party, Cavaco Silva, elected in May, was among those that never supported such alliance, and short after being elected leader of the party made the coalition fall in July. Mário Soares didn't run again and resigned as party leader, as he decided to run for the 1986 Presidential elections. The PS nominated Almeida Santos, minister of state in Soares government, as intern leader and as the party candidate for Prime Minister.

A new election was called by the President and the Social Democrats won with a short majority and Cavaco became the Prime-Minister. The election was the first of three consecutive election victories for the Social Democratic Party. Meanwhile, a new party had been founded by supporters of the President Ramalho Eanes, the Democratic Renewal Party, led by Hermínio Martinho and which the main figure of the party's campaign was First lady Manuela Ramalho Eanes,[3] that surprisingly gained 45 MPs and more than one million votes in the election, becoming the parliamentary support of the Cavaco's government until 1987, when it removed its support, making Cavaco fall.

The Communists and the Socialists lost votes and MPs, and the left would only return to the government ten years later, in 1995.

Background

Fall of the government

The unpopularity of the Central Bloc government was creating deep rifts between PS and PSD and also within both parties, as growing poverty, budget cuts and unemployment, due to the International Monetary Fund bailout policies, were leading to massive protests. In February 1985, Carlos Mota Pinto resigned from the PSD leadership and planned to contest the next party congress.[4] However, he died before the congress and Cavaco Silva was elected as leader. Shortly after his election, Cavaco Silva withdraw his party from the government and Soares Central Bloc government fell.[5]

Leadership changes and challenges

PSD 1985 leadership election

By 1985, deep divisions were consuming the PSD regarding their role in the Central Bloc government with the PS.[6] Then deputy Prime Minister and PSD leader Carlos Mota Pinto, resigned from the government and the party's leadership and a snap party congress was called.[7] But, Mota Pinto, who was expected to run for the leadership in the snap congress, died suddenly just 10 days before the start of the congress in Figueira da Foz.[8] João Salgueiro, the candidate from "Mota Pinto's wing" was expected to win easily, but former finance minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva surprised the party by announcing a late candidacy, in what is now known as the "Running-in of Cavaco's new Citroën".[9] Cavaco Silva had the support of the wings against the Central Bloc, and against all odds he defeated Salgueiro by just 57 votes.[10] The results were the following:

Ballot: 19 May 1985
Candidate Votes %
Aníbal Cavaco Silva 422 53.6
João Salgueiro 365 46.4
Turnout 787
Source: Results[11]

PS 1985 nomination selection

After the fall of the Central Bloc government, Mário Soares was acclaimed as the PS candidate for the 1986 Presidential election, and shortly after, António Almeida Santos was unanimously selected as the party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 1985 general elections.[12]

Ballot: 3 September 1985
Candidate Votes %
António Almeida Santos Voice vote
Turnout 100.0
Source:

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.[13]

The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.[14] 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.[15]

For these elections, and compared with the 1983 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:[16]

DistrictNumber of MPsMap
Lisbon56
Porto(+1)39
Setúbal17
Braga16
Aveiro15
Santarém12
Leiria and Coimbra11
Viseu10
Faro9
Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real6
Azores, Beja, Évora, Guarda and Madeira5
Bragança4
Portalegre(–1)3
Europe and Outside Europe2

Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 3rd legislature (1983–1985) and that also partook in the election:

Name Ideology Political position Leader 1983 result[17]
 % Seats
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 Social democracy Centre-left Almeida Santos 36.1%
94 / 250
UEDS Left-wing Union for the Socialist Democracy
União da Esquerda para a Democracia Socialista		 Democratic Socialism
Workers' self-management		 Left-wing António Lopes Cardoso
4 / 250
ASDI Independent Social-Democratic Action
Acção Social Democrata Independente		 Democratic Socialism
Social democracy		 Centre-left António de Sousa Franco
3 / 250
PPD/PSD Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrata		 Liberal conservatism Centre-right Aníbal Cavaco Silva 27.2%
75 / 250
PCP Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português		 Communism
Marxism–Leninism		 Far-left Álvaro Cunhal 18.1%
[lower-alpha 1]
41 / 250
MDP/CDE Portuguese Democratic Movement
Movimento Democrático Português		 Left-wing nationalism
Democratic socialism		 Left-wing José Manuel Tengarrinha
3 / 250
CDS Democratic and Social Centre
Centro Democrático e Social		 Right-wing liberalism
Neoliberalism		 Centre-right
to right-wing		 Lucas Pires 12.6%
30 / 250

Campaign period

Party slogans

Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs
PS « O que prometo, faço. Vamos a isto. » "What I promise, I do. Let's do this." [18]
PSD « Retomar a esperança » "Resuming hope" [19]
APU « Vitória da APU para salvar o país » "Victory for APU to save the country" [20]
CDS « Confiança, razão, força para Portugal » "Trust, reason, strength for Portugal" [21]
PRD « Mais Portugal » "More Portugal" [22]

Candidates' debates

1985 Portuguese legislative election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee 
PS
Santos		 PSD
Cavaco		 APU
Cunhal		 CDS
Pires		 Refs
3 Sep RTP1 P A[lower-alpha 2] P P [23]
5 Sep RTP1 N A[lower-alpha 3] P P [24]
10 Sep RTP1 P P N P [25]
12 Sep RTP1 P P P N [25]
Candidate viewed as "most convincing" in each debate
Date Organisers Polling firm/Link
PS PSD APU CDS Notes
3 Sep RTP1 Expresso 36 — 23 25 16% Neither

Opinion polling

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed were represented in parliament (1983-1985). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1983 and 1985 for reference.

  Exit poll

Date Released Polling Firm PS PSD APU CDS PRD Others Lead
6 Oct 1985 Leg. Election 20.8
57		 29.9
88		 15.5
38		 10.0
22		 17.9
45		 5.9
0		 9.1
6 Oct 1985(22:50) RTP1 22.0–26.9 26.8–29.7 15.0–18.1 9.3–10.8 14.5–16.5 – 2.8–4.8
6 Oct 1985 (21:10) RTP1 23.8–26.9 28.0–29.8 17.3–18.1 9.8–10.7 11.1–14.9 – 2.9–6.0
6 Oct 1985 Rádio Comercial 19.0–22.0 29.0–31.0 14.0–16.0 8.0–16.0 18.0–22.0 – 9.0–10.0
4 Oct 1985 Expresso 28.0–32.0 27.0–31.0 15.0–17.0 9.0–12.0 8.0–11.0 – 1.0
29 Apr 1985 Norma 24.7 16.4 18.4 17.1 8.4 15.0 6.3
Mar 1985 Norma 21.1 18.4 20.0 19.2 5.5 15.8 1.1
Feb 1985 Marktest 15.0 21.3 15.0 17.1 28.6 3.0 7.3
25 Feb 1985 Norma 20.7 21.6 17.8 17.6 10.0 12.3 0.9
21 Jan 1985 Norma 21.3 22.9 20.3 16.2 — 19.3 1.6
Dec 1984 Marktest 18.6 23.0 14.3 16.2 25.4 2.5 2.4
Dec 1984 Norma 23.5 25.2 23.4 13.2 — 14.7 1.7
Nov 1984 Marktest 19.8 24.0 15.5 14.9 23.3 2.5 0.7
Nov 1984 Norma 20.7 22.7 22.4 17.5 — 16.7 0.3
Oct 1984 Marktest 20.6 23.4 15.8 13.4 25.0 1.8 4.0
15 Oct 1984 Norma 23.9 24.8 23.1 14.7 — 13.5 0.9
Sep 1984 Marktest 18.8 22.6 15.2 15.7 26.6 1.1 4.0
Aug 1984 Marktest 19.2 22.8 13.8 15.6 26.9 1.7 4.1
Jul 1984 Marktest 17.9 20.6 16.9 13.4 29.0 2.2 7.7
Jul 1984 Norma 21.5 23.6 20.3 15.4 — 19.2 2.1
Jun 1984 Marktest 19.8 16.7 16.6 16.9 27.5 2.5 7.7
Jun 1984 Norma 24.2 21.5 22.1 17.0 — 15.2 2.1
May 1984 Marktest 25.4 19.8 13.9 14.6 24.6 1.7 0.8
Apr 1984 Marktest 28.7 19.5 15.2 10.8 17.7 8.1 9.2
Apr 1984 Norma 21.9 26.0 21.4 15.7 — 15.0 4.1
Mar 1984 Marktest 22.6 16.6 14.1 12.7 15.0 19.0 6.0
Feb 1984 Marktest 18.3 15.9 12.4 10.3 20.8 22.3 2.5
Jan 1984 Marktest 19.9 15.4 12.5 7.3 22.7 22.2 2.8
Jan 1984 Norma 31.8 22.8 21.2 13.3 — 10.9 9.0
25 Apr 1983 Leg. Election 36.1
101		 27.2
75		 18.1
44		 12.6
30		 Did not exist 6.0
0		 8.9

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 6 October 1985 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties Votes % ± MPs MPs %/
votes %
1983 1985 ± % ±
Social Democratic 1,732,28829.87Increase2.77588Increase1335.20Increase5.21.18
Socialist 1,204,32120.77Decrease15.310157Decrease4422.80Decrease17.61.10
Democratic Renewal 1,038,89317.92——45—18.00—1.00
United People Alliance[lower-alpha 4] 898,28115.49Decrease2.64438Decrease615.20Decrease2.40.98
Democratic and Social Centre 577,5809.96Decrease2.63022Decrease88.80Decrease3.20.88
People's Democratic Union 73,4011.27Increase0.800Steady00.00Steady0.00.0
Christian Democratic 41,8310.72Increase0.000Steady00.00Steady0.00.0
Revolutionary Socialist 35,2380.61Increase0.400Steady00.00Steady0.00.0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 19,9430.34Decrease0.100Steady00.00Steady0.00.0
Workers Party of Socialist Unity 19,0850.33Decrease0.000Steady00.00Steady0.00.0
Communist Party (Reconstructed) 12,7490.22Increase0.200Steady00.00Steady0.00.0
Total valid 5,653,610 97.49 Increase0.1 250 250 Steady0 100.00 Steady0.0 —
Blank ballots 48,7090.84Increase0.1
Invalid ballots 96,6101.67Decrease0.1
Total 5,798,929 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 7,818,98174.16Decrease3.6
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share
PSD
 
 29.87%
PS
 
 20.77%
PRD
 
 17.92%
APU
 
 15.49%
CDS
 
 9.96%
UDP
 
 1.27%
PDC
 
 0.72%
PSR
 
 0.61%
Others
 
 0.89%
Blank/Invalid
 
 2.51%
Parliamentary seats
PSD
 
 35.20%
PS
 
 22.80%
PRD
 
 18.00%
APU
 
 15.20%
CDS
 
 8.80%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 1985 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency
Constituency%S%S%S%S%S Total
S
PSD PS PRD APU CDS
Azores 48.3 3 20.1 1 15.2 1 4.4 - 6.5 - 5
Aveiro 38.4 6 23.0 4 13.4 2 6.5 1 13.5 2 15
Beja 13.7 1 20.1 1 11.6 - 44.9 3 2.2 - 5
Braga 32.8 6 21.8 4 16.8 3 8.5 1 14.0 2 16
Bragança 39.2 2 22.7 1 6.9 - 5.3 - 17.1 1 4
Castelo Branco 31.2 3 18.5 1 24.4 2 8.9 - 9.6 - 6
Coimbra 29.5 4 28.5 3 16.9 2 10.1 1 8.6 1 11
Évora 19.1 1 14.3 1 15.8 1 41.2 2 3.3 - 5
Faro 28.4 3 22.3 2 20.5 2 15.4 2 6.1 - 9
Guarda 33.6 2 23.3 2 10.9 - 5.2 - 19.5 1 5
Leiria 38.6 5 19.6 2 15.3 2 7.9 1 12.2 1 11
Lisbon 25.6 15 19.8 12 21.3 13 20.1 12 8.1 4 56
Madeira 56.8 4 13.2 1 9.7 - 3.2 - 7.8 - 5
Portalegre 20.9 1 23.7 1 18.9 - 25.2 1 4.9 - 3
Porto 29.3 12 23.6 10 20.5 8 12.1 5 9.8 4 39
Santarém 27.8 4 18.6 2 23.8 3 16.4 2 7.7 1 12
Setúbal 15.4 3 16.5 3 20.4 4 38.2 7 3.8 - 17
Viana do Castelo 33.5 3 18.4 1 16.2 1 8.2 - 16.6 1 6
Vila Real 42.2 3 23.0 2 8.6 - 5.9 - 12.5 1 6
Viseu 37.7 5 20.0 2 10.9 1 5.0 - 19.9 2 10
Europe 24.3 1 24.2 1 7.1 - 18.8 - 17.3 - 2
Outside Europe 40.5 1 7.8 - 3.3 - 2.6 - 37.9 1 2
Total 29.9 88 20.8 57 17.9 45 15.5 38 10.0 22 250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

Aftermath

Fall of the government

In early 1987, a trip of a Portuguese parliamentary delegation to the Soviet Union created a diplomatic issue as the delegation also traveled to Estonia, a territory that wasn't recognized by the Portuguese State as a Soviet controlled territory. Because of this incident, Opposition parties accused Cavaco Silva of disallowing Parliament and, shortly after, the Democratic Renewal Party proposed a motion of no confidence against the Government, and the party's leader, Hermínio Martinho, communicated to President Mário Soares their intentions.[26] At first, the Socialists weren't supportive of the PRD's motion, but, last minute negotiations led the PS to also support the motion. On 3 April 1987, the motion passes by a 134 to 108 vote and the government falls.[27] Mário Soares was in an official trip to Brazil when he was informed, which unpleased the President, and he then returned to Lisbon to meet with parties. The PS, PRD and PCP proposed an alternative government to the PSD minority, but Soares rejected and called a snap general election for 19 July 1987, which resulted in a landslide PSD majority government.[28]

Motion of no confidence
Aníbal Cavaco Silva (PSD)
Ballot → 3 April 1987
Required majority → 126 out of 250 check
No
  • • PSD (86)
  • • CDS (21)
  • • Ind. Rui Oliveira e Costa (1)
108 / 250
Yes
134 / 250
Abstentions
1 / 250
Absentees
7 / 250
Sources[29][30]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) contested the 1983 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU) and won a combined 18.1% of the vote and elected 44 MPs to parliament.
  2. ↑ Aníbal Cavaco Silva, PSD leader, refused to participate in the debate.
  3. ↑ Aníbal Cavaco Silva, PSD leader, refused to participate in the debate, being replaced by Eurico de Melo, however, the latter was forbidden from participating.Fundação Mário Soares 1985
  4. ↑ Portuguese Communist Party (35 MPs) and Portuguese Democratic Movement (3 MPs) ran in coalition.

References

  1. ↑ Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  2. ↑ Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
  3. ↑ "PRD", Diario de Notícias, 30 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "A crise económica que levou Portugal a provar pela primeira vez a receita do FMI" (in Portuguese). Público. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "19 de Maio de 1985: O líder inesperado" (in Portuguese). Expresso. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "1985 o ano que lançou Cavaco, por Ferreira Fernandes", Diario de Notícias, 9 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "Bloco Central junta PS e PSD", Diario de Notícias, 7 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "Mota Pinto, o aliado de Soares que militava no PPD", Público, 15 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "19 de Maio de 1985: O líder inesperado ", Expresso, 17 May 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  10. ↑ "Cavaco Silva e as Eleições Legislativas de 1985: uma Introdução", Alexandre António da Costa Luís, 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  11. ↑ "Aníbal Cavaco Silva, o PSD e a Evolução da Democracia Portuguesa: o XI Governo Constitucional (1987-1991)", Nuno Marques Freire, UNIVERSIDADE DA BEIRA INTERIOR Faculdade de Ciências Socias e Humanas, October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Quando o candidato do PS não foi o líder", Diario de Notícias, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  14. ↑ "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  15. ↑ Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"
  16. ↑ "Eleição da Assembleia da República de 6 de Outubro de 1985". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Eleição da Assembleia da República de 6 de Outubro de 1985. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  17. ↑ Composição dos Grupos Parlamentares/Partidos
  18. ↑ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – PS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  19. ↑ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – PSD". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  20. ↑ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – APU". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  21. ↑ "ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1985 – CDS". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  22. ↑ "Evolução da Comunicação Política e Eleitoral em Portugal" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  23. ↑ "Líderes partidários em confronto na TV". Fundação Mário Soares (in Portuguese). 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  24. ↑ "Álvaro Cunhal/Lucas Pires esta noite na RTP". Fundação Mário Soares (in Portuguese). 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  25. 1 2 "Eleições ganham-se na TV?". Fundação Mário Soares (in Portuguese). 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  26. ↑ "1987. Da moção de censura à primeira maioria de Cavaco". Ionline (in Portuguese). Jornal i. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  27. ↑ "A única moção de censura e as duas moções de rejeição que derrubaram governos" (in Portuguese). Jornal Económico. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  28. ↑ "Crise. Soares dissolveu em 1987. Cavaco não o pode fazer em 2015" (in Portuguese). Jornal i. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  29. ↑ "MOÇÕES / CENSURA - CONFIANÇA - REJEIÇÃO DO PROGRAMA" (PDF). Assembly of the Republic (in Portuguese). Lisbon. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  30. ↑ "Debates Parlamentares". Assembly of the Republic (in Portuguese). Lisbon. Retrieved 30 May 2022.

Sources

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