Since the beginning of

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the 19th century, several parties have, by gaining representation in parliament, continued the liberal ideology in contemporary Portuguese politics. But after the initial fervor of the

Liberal Revolution of 1820 The Liberal Revolution of 1820 ( pt, Revolução Liberal) was a Portuguese political revolution that erupted in 1820. It began with a military insurrection in the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest ...

and the outcome of the

Liberal Wars The Liberal Wars (), also known as the Portuguese Civil War (), the War of the Two Brothers () or Miguelite War (), was a war between liberal constitutionalists and conservative absolutists in Portugal over royal succession that lasted from 18 ...

(1828–1834) during the 19th century, liberalism was relegated to a secondary role in Portuguese politics and government and even outlawed for periods of time. The first fully-fledged liberal party (a political party professing classical liberalism including pro-market, business-friendly

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...

small government Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...

and

individual freedom Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...

as core tenets of its ideology) founded as such to have a seat in the Portuguese Parliament since the end of the

First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...

(1910–1926), was the Liberal Initiative, in 2019.

History

1826 to 1926

From Democratic Group to New Progressive Party

*1826: Supporters of the

liberal revolution of 1820 The Liberal Revolution of 1820 ( pt, Revolução Liberal) was a Portuguese political revolution that erupted in 1820. It began with a military insurrection in the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest ...

establish the

Democratic Group Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

(''Grupo Democrata'') *1840: The party is reorganized into the Progress Party (''Partido do Progresso''), founded by João de Saldanha *1849: The New Progressive Party merges with the conservative Regenerator Party ('' Partido Regenerador'') *1851: A faction leaves the party and founds the Progressive Historical Party/Party of Historical Progressives (Partido Progressista Histórico/Partido dos Progressistas Históricos) *1862: The Progressive Historical Party is split into the Reformist Party and the Historical Party (''Partido Histórico'') *1876: Both parties reunite and merge into the New Progressive Party (''Novo Partido Progressista''), which eventually develops into a Conservative party *1910: The New Progressive Party dissolves.

Portuguese Republican Party

*1872: Revolutionary and radical liberals establish the

Portuguese Republican Party The Portuguese Republican Party (, ) was a Portuguese political party formed during the late years of the constitutional monarchy that proposed and conducted the substitution of the monarchy with the Portuguese First Republic.Joaquim Teófilo Braga becomes Prime Minister of Portugal. *1911: Liberal and moderate factions of the Portuguese Republican Party ( Partido Republicano Português) form the Republican National Union ( União Nacional Republicano) which secedes. *1912: The Republican National Union is split and liberals establish the Evolutionist Republican Party ( Partido Republicano Evolucionista), led by

António José de Almeida António José de Almeida, GCTE, GCA, GCC, GCSE (; 27 July 1866 – 31 October 1929), was a Portuguese politician who served as the sixth president of Portugal from 1919 to 1923. Early career Born in Penacova to José António de Almeida ...

. The conservative wing in the split continues as the Republican Union. The radical remains of the Portuguese Republican Party rebranded themselves as Democratic Party ( Partido Democrático). *1919: The Republican Union and the Evolutionist Republican Party merged into the conservative Republican Liberal Party('' Partido Republicano Liberal'') and the liberals form the Popular Portuguese Party (

Partido Português Popular Partido, partidista and partidario may refer to: * Spanish for a political party, people who share political ideology or who are brought together by common issues Territorial subdivision * Partidos of Buenos Aires, the second-level administrative ...

) *1920: The National Reconstituted Republican Party secedes, leaving the Portuguese Republican Party as an intransigent radical, such as the Jacobine party which is banned in 1926. Liberal elements from the Portuguese Republican Party form the National Reconstituted Republican Party (''

Partido Republicano Reconstituente Nacional Partido, partidista and partidario may refer to: * Spanish for a political party, people who share political ideology or who are brought together by common issues Territorial subdivision * Partidos of Buenos Aires, the second-level administrative ...

'') *1922: The Portuguese Republic Party is renamed Radical Party (

Partido Radical The Radical Party (Spanish: ''Partido Radical'') was a Chilean political party. It was formed in 1863 in Copiapó by a split in the Liberal Party. Not coincidentally, it was formed shortly after the organization of the Grand Lodge of Chile, and ...

) *1923: The Republican Action Party and the merged into the conservative Nationalist Republican Party (''

Partido Republicano Nacionalista The Nationalist Republican Party ( pt, Partido Republicano Nacionalista, PRN, usually called ''Nationalists'') was a right-wing republican party during the First Portuguese Republic. It was founded as a merger of the Republican Liberal Party, the ...

''), but later that year it is refounded as the Republican Action ('' Acção Republicana'') *1925: Left-wing dissidents of the Republican Party/Democratic Party formed the Democratic Leftwing Republican Party ( Partido Republicano Esquerdista Democrático) and the Reformist Party. *1926: The Republic Action Party is banned.

1985 onwards

Social Democratic Party

175px, Pedro Passos Coelho, Prime Minister of Portugal from 2011 to 2015.

Francisco Sá Carneiro Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

became a member of the Portuguese National Assembly in 1969 under the Estado Novo dictatorial regime (1933-1974) and, in turn, one of the leaders of the "Liberal Wing" (''Ala Liberal'') of the National Assembly (the Portuguese legislature during the Estado Novo regime) which attempted to work for the gradual transformation of António de Oliveira Salazar's dictatorship into a Western European

liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...

. In May 1974, a month after the Carnation Revolution, Sá Carneiro and others founded the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) the original name of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(PSD). The Social Democratic Party was a full right member of the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism aroun ...

, from 1985 until 1996. The party leaned towards

since Aníbal Cavaco Silva served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1985 to 1995 (a period marked by high economic growth in the country) and later as

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic ( pt, Presidente da República Portuguesa, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, an ...

from 2006 to 2016. From June 2011 to November 2015, after a IMF-European Union orchestrated bailout to the insolvent Portuguese Republic has been requested by the incumbent Prime Minister

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

on 6 April 2011,

Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 118th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) b ...

of the Social Democratic Party served as Prime Minister and his policies and proposals, in accordance with the recommendations made by the

European troika The troika is a term used to refer to the single decision group created by three entities, the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was formed in the aftermath of the European de ...

to the Portuguese Republic, were regarded by the left as aligned with economic liberalism after decades of left-leaning, labor movement-inspired policies enacted by Portuguese socialist politicians and their political allies before the ultimate signals of financial collapse of the Republic arose in 2010. However, many of Pedro Passos Coelho cabinet's proposals from 2011 to 2015 didn't pass due to the anti-liberal, labor movement-inspired

Portuguese law The Law of Portugal is the legal system that applies to Portugal. It is part of the family of the civil law legal systems, based on Roman law. As such, it has many common features with the legal systems found in most of the countries in Contin ...

Social Liberal Movement

* 2005: The Social Liberal Movement (Movimento Liberal Social, MLS) is founded as a movement (not a political party). The current president is Miguel Duarte.

Liberal Initiative

175px, João Cotrim de Figueiredo, the first ever elected Member of the Portuguese Parliament for the Liberal Initiative. * 2017: The Liberal Initiative, a classical liberal party, is founded and becomes a full member of the ALDE European Party. In 2019, its debut year at the Portuguese legislative elections, the party won one seat in the Portuguese Parliament. The party supported its first government coalition, at regional level, after the

2020 Azorean regional election The 2020 Azorean regional election was held on 25 October 2020, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores. All 57 members of the assembly were up for election. The Socialist Party (PS) again w ...

. IL is, similarly to most alike

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

parties, closest to the right-wing libertarianism and

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

notion of classical

, following a reverse notion of that same base-ideology of

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

liberalism in North America. The party won 30 seats in municipal councils in its first ever

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

. In the 2022 legislative election, the party added seven new seats in the Portuguese Parliament for a total of eight MPs.

Political parties

References

{{Liberalism in Europe

Political history of Portugal Politics of Portugal