The 1991 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. There was a reduction of 20 seats compared with previous elections, due to the 1989 Constitutional revision. The Social Democratic Party, under the lead of Cavaco Silva, won a historic third term and won with an absolute majority for the second consecutive turn, achieving a higher share than in the previous election, losing, however, 13 MPs due to the reduction of the overall number from the original 250 to 230. Cavaco Silva became the first Prime Minister since Hintze Ribeiro, in

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

, to lead a party into three successive democratic election victories. The Socialist Party, at the time led by

Jorge Sampaio Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th president of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. A member of the Socialist Party, a party which he led between 1989 a ...

, the future

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 ...

, increased its share by 7% and gained 12 MPs, but did not manage to avoid the absolute majority of the Social Democrats. Like four and six years earlier, and like 1979 and 1980, the PS failed to win a single district. In the first legislative election after the fall of the Eastern Bloc, the communist dominated

Democratic Unity Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition ( pt, CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP–PEV) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Gr ...

lost much of its electoral influence, losing 14 MPs and 4% of the voting, but were able to hold on to the district of Beja by a slight margin over the PSD. On the right, the CDS could not recover its past influence, mainly to the effect of tactical voting for the Social Democratic Party by right-wing voters, increasing its parliamentary group by only 1 MP. The National Solidarity Party, using a populist campaign, achieved for the first time an MP, in what would be the only presence of such party in the Parliament.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

fell to 67.8%, and for the first time below 70% of the electorate.

Background

Leadership changes

CDS 1988 leadership election

After CDS's poor results, just 4%, in the 1987 general elections, then CDS leader

Adriano Moreira Adriano José Alves Moreira, Order of Christ (Portugal), ComC GCC Order of Prince Henry, GOIH Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCSE (6 September 1922 – 23 October 2022) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor and a leading political f ...

announced he would leave the leadership and called a party congress to elect a new leader.

Diogo Freitas do Amaral Diogo Pinto de Freitas do Amaral (; 21 July 1941 – 3 October 2019), known as Freitas do Amaral, was a Portuguese politician and law professor. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 January 1980 to 12 January 1981 and from 12 March 2005 t ...

, former party leader and defeated candidate in the 1986 presidential election, returned to the party and was the sole candidate to the party's leadership. , - 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 ,

, align=center , , align=right , 100.0 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source:

PS 1989 leadership election

In the 1987 general election the PS polled 2nd with just 22%, while the PSD won a historic absolute majority. Then party leader,

Vítor Constâncio Vítor Manuel Ribeiro Constâncio, GCC, GCIH (born 12 October 1943) is a Portuguese economist and academic who served as Vice President of the European Central Bank from 2010 to 2018. He previously served as Governor of the Bank of Portugal fr ...

was facing pressures because of his strategy, with interferences also from

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th pres ...

, and, adding to this, his difficulty in finding a strong candidate for Lisbon to contest the 1989 local elections. Because of these pressures, Constâncio resign in late 1988 and a party congress to elect a new leader was called for mid January 1989. Two candidates were on the ballot,

and

Jaime Gama Jaime José de Matos da Gama, GCC, GCIH, GCL (born 8 June 1947) is a Portuguese former politician. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal from 1983 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2002, and he was President of the Assembly of the R ...

. Sampaio was easily elected as PS 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 ,

, align=center , WIN , align=right , , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

, align=right , , align=right , , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source:

PRD 1991 leadership election

The Democratic Renewal Party's results in the 1987 election were disappointing and António Ramalho Eanes resigned from the leadership.

Hermínio Martinho Hermínio Paiva Fernandes Martinho ComMA (born 23 March 1946) is a Portuguese agricultural engineer and politician, who was the first president of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD). Early life Hermínio Martinho was born on 23 March 1946 i ...

returned to the leadership, but the party was plagued by deep divisions on its ideology and strategy, with key members, including Ramalho Eanes, announcing their departure from the party In June 1991, the party held a leadership ballot between Hermínio Martinho and Pedro Canavarro. Martinho defended the dissolution of the party, while Canavarro proposed the continuation of the party. The ballot results gave Canavarro a landslide victory."Legislativas 91 – Parte IV" Minute 36:57
''RTP'', 6 October 1991. Retrieved 18 August 2022. The results were the following: , - 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 , Pedro Canavarro , align=right , 145 , align=right , 79.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

, align=right , 38 , align=right , 20.8 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 183 , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source:

Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 230 members elected to four-year terms. The total number of MPs was reduced in 1989, during the Constitutional amendments, to 230 from the previous 250. 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 116 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...

to be approved. The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the

district magnitude An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

. The use of the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest ...

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 1987 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:

Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 5th legislature (1987–1991) and that also partook in the election:

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

No debates between the main parties were held as the PSD leader and Prime Minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, refused to take part in any debate.

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 (1987-1991). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1987 and 1991 for reference. Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.

National summary of votes and seats

, - , colspan=11, Portugal Parliament 1991

, - ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left, Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center", MPs ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , MPs %/
votes % , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center, 1991 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , , 2,902,351, , 50.60, , 0.4, , 148, , , 135, , 13, , 58.70, , 0.5, , 1.16 , - , , 1,670,758, , 29.13, , 6.9, , 60, , 72, , 12, , 31.30, , 7.3, , 1.07 , - , , 504,583, , 8.80, , 3.3, , 31, , 17, , 14, , 7.39, , 5.0, , 0.84 , - , , 254,317, , 4.43, , 0.0, , 4, , 5, , 1, , 2.17, , 0.6, , 0.49 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" , , align=left, National Solidarity , 96,096, , 1.68, , , , , , 1, , , , 0.44, , , , 0.39 , - , , 64,159, , 1.12, , 0.5, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 48,542, , 0.85, , 0.5, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 35,077, , 0.61, , 4.3, , 7, , 0, , 7, , 0.00, , 2.8, , 0.0 , - , , 25,216, , 0.44, , 0.0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , , 10,842, , 0.19, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , , 6,661, , 0.12, , , , , , 0, , , , 0.00, , , , 0.0 , - , style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#E2062C align="center" , , align=left, People's Democratic Union , 6,157, , 0.11, , 0.8, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0.00, , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,624,759 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 98.07 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.3 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 250 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 230 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 20 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", — , - , colspan=2, Blank ballots , 47,652, , 0.83, , 0.1, , colspan=6 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=2, Invalid ballots , 63,020, , 1.10, , 0.2 , - , colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,735,431 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout , , 8,462,357, , 67.78, , 3.8 , - , colspan=11 align=left , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Distribution by constituency

, - class="unsortable" !rowspan=2, Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S !rowspan=2, Total
S , - class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=2 ,

PSD PSD may refer to: Educational bodies * Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a Pre-K to 12th grade school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Philippine School Doha, a Filipino scho ...

!colspan=2 , PS !colspan=2 , CDU !colspan=2 ,

CDS The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

!colspan=2 , PSN , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 64.1 , 4 , 25.8 , 1 , 1.3 , - , 3.4 , - , colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA", , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Aveiro , style="background:; color:white;", 58.6 , 9 , 27.8 , 4 , 2.8 , - , 6.1 , 1 , 1.3 , - , 14 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Beja , 29.3 , 1 , 28.4 , 1 , style="background:red; color:white;", 30.4 , 2 , 2.3 , - , 1.0 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 53.6 , 10 , 31.5 , 5 , 4.6 , - , 5.6 , 1 , 0.8 , - , 16 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bragança , style="background:; color:white;", 57.9 , 3 , 25.7 , 1 , 2.1 , - , 8.2 , - , 1.5 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Castelo Branco , style="background:; color:white;", 51.8 , 3 , 32.4 , 2 , 4.6 , - , 3.9 , - , 2.3 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 49.9 , 6 , 34.4 , 4 , 5.0 , - , 3.5 , - , 1.7 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 35.0 , 2 , 25.9 , 1 , 27.1 , 1 , 2.8 , - , 1.4 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Faro , style="background:; color:white;", 50.8 , 5 , 31.2 , 3 , 7.2 , - , 2.8 , - , 2.2 , - , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Guarda , style="background:; color:white;", 58.6 , 3 , 26.8 , 1 , 2.3 , - , 5.9 , - , 1.3 , - , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Leiria , style="background:; color:white;", 61.2 , 7 , 23.0 , 3 , 4.5 , - , 4.8 , - , 1.4 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Lisbon , style="background:; color:white;", 45.3 , 25 , 29.7 , 16 , 12.2 , 6 , 4.0 , 2 , 2.6 , 1 , 50 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Madeira , style="background:; color:white;", 62.4 , 4 , 20.2 , 1 , 1.0 , - , 6.1 , - , 1.9 , - , 5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Portalegre , style="background:; color:white;", 38.9 , 2 , 33.5 , 1 , 15.2 , - , 3.3 , - , 1.8 , - , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 51.3 , 21 , 32.9 , 13 , 6.4 , 2 , 4.1 , 1 , 1.1 , - , 37 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Santarém , style="background:; color:white;", 49.1 , 6 , 29.4 , 3 , 9.8 , 1 , 3.3 , - , 2.2 , - , 10 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 34.7 , 6 , 28.4 , 5 , 24.9 , 5 , 2.7 , - , 2.4 , - , 16 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 56.9 , 4 , 25.2 , 2 , 5.0 , - , 7.2 , - , 1.2 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the North region. It is also the seat of the Douro intermunicipal community and of the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro historical province. The Vila Real municipality cover ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 60.6 , 4 , 26.0 , 2 , 2.6 , - , 5.1 , - , 1.2 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 100,000 inhabitants, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunipical community, with 267,633 inhabi ...

, style="background:; color:white;", 64.3 , 7 , 19.4 , 2 , 2.1 , - , 6.3 , - , 1.3 , - , 9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 53.7 , 1 , 31.9 , 1 , 7.8 , - , 3.0 , - , colspan="2" rowspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA", , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Outside Europe , style="background:; color:white;", 77.3 , 2 , 4.9 , - , 1.0 , - , 14.6 , - , 2 , - , - class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:left;" , Total , style="background:; color:white;", 50.6 , 135 , 29.1 , 72 , 8.8 , 17 , 4.4 , 5 , 1.7 , 1 , 230 , - , colspan=12 style="text-align:left;" , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

Legislativas portuguesas de 1991 (Mapa).png, Most voted political force by

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Notes

References

External links

Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político