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 A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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

' 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 The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic (, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister ...

António Ramalho Eanes António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes (born 25 January 1935) is a Portuguese general and politician who was the 16th president of Portugal from 1976 to 1986. Background Born at Alcains, Castelo Branco, he is the son of Manuel dos Santos Eanes, ...

dissolved Parliament and called an election for 2 December 1979 and, until the elections, the President nominated

Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo Maria de Lourdes Ruivo da Silva de Matos Pintasilgo (; 18 January 1930 – 10 July 2004) was a Portuguese chemical engineer and politician. She was the first and to date only woman to serve as Prime Minister of Portugal, and the second woman to ...

, the first and still only woman to lead a government in Portugal, as Prime Minister. In the elections, 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 won the election, receiving 45 percent of the votes and an absolute majority in seats. 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 v of the voting. 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, under the lead of

, won the elections and became the Prime-Minister of the 1st Constitutional Government after the revolution. However, the Government suffered several attacks 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 in July this party 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 the President of

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ramalho Eanes Ramalho is a Portuguese surname. Ramalho may refer to: People *João Ramalho (1493–1580), Portuguese explorer *Ramalho Ortigão (1836–1915), Portuguese writer *Rosa Ramalho (1888–1977), Portuguese ceramist *José Ramalho (rower) (1901–1967) ...

, after a failed attempt to unite the parties on the 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 Carlos Alberto da Mota Pinto (; 25 July 1936 – 7 May 1985) was a Portuguese professor and politician who served as the prime minister of Portugal between November 1978 and August 1979. Mota Pinto was one of the first members of the Soc ...

who would govern with extreme difficulties for less than one year. In July 1979, the President finally decided to dissolve the Parliament and call for a new election for December. Mota Pinto was replaced in the period between the dissolution and the election by

(the only women to lead a government in Portugal).

Leadership changes and challenges

PSD 1978 leadership election

The PSD suffered a lot of internal division after the 1976 election. The party was essential divided between those who want the party to pursue a more social democratic path, and those who want a more centrist to center-right approach, these aligned with

Francisco Sá Carneiro Francisco Manuel Lumbrales de Sá Carneiro (; 19 July 19344 December 1980) was a Portuguese politician, who was one of the founders and the first leader of the Social Democratic Party (then known as the Popular Democratic Party). He served as ...

. Because of these disputes, Sá Carneiro leaves the leadership in November 1977, and is succeeded by

António Sousa Franco Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ...

, who leads 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 the candidacy to the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

. Sá Carneiro returns to the leadership in the 1978 July party congress and 37 PSD MPs leave definitely the party and form the Independent Social Democratic Action (ASDI), which will merge with the PS a few years later." De condicionais a ASDI "
''Público'', 9 September 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2022. , - 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: 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 elections.

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 A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

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

district magnitude An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. The use of the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the

Hare quota The Hare quota (sometimes called the simple, ideal, or Hamilton quota) is the number of voters represented by each legislator in an idealized system of proportional representation where every vote is used to elect someone. The Hare quota is eq ...

Sainte-Laguë method The Webster method, also called the Sainte-Laguë method (), is a highest averages apportionment method for allocating seats in a parliament among federal states, or among parties in a party-list proportional representation system. The Sainte- ...

, which are more generous to small parties. For these elections, and compared with the 1976 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 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

Seat changes

* In January 1977, MPs Carmelinda Pereira and Aires Rodrigues were expelled from 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 th ...

caucus. * In March 1977, MP

Carlos Galvão de Melo Carlos Galvão de Melo (4 August 1921 – 20 March 2008) was a Portuguese military officer from the Portuguese Air Force. Life Galvão de Melo was the eldest of nine children of António Augusto Ferreira de Melo, a merchant based in Mozambi ...

left the Democratic and Social Center caucus. * In November 1977, MPs

António Lopes Cardoso António Poppe Lopes Cardoso (27 March 1933 – 8 June 2000) was a Portuguese politician. Biography He was born in Praia in the Santiago, Cape Verde, island of Santiago, Cape Verde in what was used to be a Portuguese colony. He studied at the Hi ...

, José Justiniano Pinto and

Reinaldo Rodrigues Reinaldo is a Spanish and Portuguese language given name for males (the English form is Reynold). It may refer to: Football *Reinaldo Merlo (born 1950), Argentine former footballer and manager *Reinaldo Gomes (born 1954), Portuguese football strike ...

left the

caucus due to disagreements with the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

led by

. * On July 1979, 37 MPs from 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 Form ...

, led by

António de Sousa Franco António Luciano Pacheco de Sousa Franco, GCC, GCSE ( Oeiras, September 21, 1942 – Matosinhos, June 9, 2004) was a Portuguese economist and politician. Background He was a son of António de Sousa Franco and wife Maria de Jesus Pacheco, in ...

and

Joaquim Magalhães Mota Joaquim Jorge de Magalhães Saraiva da Mota (November 17, 1935 in Santarém, São Salvador – September 26, 2007 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician. Background He was a son of Elói do Nascimento Saraiva da Mota (July 2, 190 ...

, left the party and formed a new party, the Independent Social Democratic Action, following a feud with PSD leader

, in which was called the "Unpostponable Options" split, regarding the ideological path of the party.

1976 results with the new seat distribution

{, class="wikitable" , - ! rowspan="2" colspan="3", Name ! rowspan="2", Ideology ! rowspan="2", Political position ! rowspan="2", Leader ! colspan="2", 1976 notional result , - ! % ! Seats , - , style="background:;", , style="text-align:center;", PS ,

Social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

, style="text-align:center;", 34.9% , , - , style="background:;", , style="text-align:center;", PPD/PSD ,

, , {{Nowrap,

Centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

, style="text-align:center;", 24.4% , {{Composition bar, 70, 250, {{party color, Social Democratic Party (Portugal) , - , style="background:{{party color, CDS – People's Party;", , style="text-align:center;", CDS , Democratic and Social Center
{{Nowrap, {{small, Centro Democrático e Social ,

Christian democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

, {{Nowrap,

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

Diogo Freitas do Amaral Diogo Pinto de Freitas do Amaral (; 21 July 1941 – 3 October 2019) 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 to 3 July 2006. He also serv ...

, style="text-align:center;", 16.0% , {{Composition bar, 40, 250, {{party color, CDS – People's Party , - , style="background:#f00;", , style="text-align:center;", PCP ,

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

{{small, Partido Comunista Português ,

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

Far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

Álvaro Cunhal Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the '' Estado Novo''. He served as secretary-general of the P ...

, style="text-align:center;", 14.4% , {{Composition bar, 34, 250, hex=#FF0000 , - , style="background:{{party color, Left Bloc (Portugal);", , style="text-align:center;", UDP , Popular Democratic Union
{{small, União Democrática Popular ,

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

Socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

Mário Tomé Mario is the Italian, French, Croatian, Czech, Norwegian, Slovak, Serbian, Hungarian, Slovene, Polish, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish, Bulgarian, Greek, German, Dutch, and English form of the Latin Roman name Marius. The video ...

, style="text-align:center;", 1.7% , {{Composition bar, 1, 250, Red

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 , - , bgcolor="#2A52BE", , AD , « A maioria certa » , "The right majority" , , - , width="1" bgcolor="{{party color, Socialist Party (Portugal)", , PS , « O direito à liberdade » , "The right to freedom" , , - , bgcolor="{{party color, Unitary Democratic Coalition", , APU , « Para a vitória democrática » , "For the democratic victory" , , - , bgcolor="{{party color, Left Bloc (Portugal)", , UDP , « O voto certo da mudança » , "The right vote for change" , {{cite news , url=https://ephemerajpp.com/2020/05/03/udp-1979/, title=UDP – 1979, language=pt, work=EPHEMERA , access-date=12 May 2020

Results

National summary

{{election table, title=Summary of the 2 December 1979 Assembly of the Republic elections results , - , colspan=11, AR Eleicoes 1979

, - ! rowspan="2" colspan=3 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", Seats , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center,

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align=center, 1979 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=± , - , style="background-color:#2A52BE;border-bottom-style:hidden;" rowspan="4", , bgcolor="2A52BE" align="center" , , align=left, Democratic Alliance{{efn, name=AD seats , 2,554,458, , 42.52, , {{N/A, , {{N/A, , 121, , {{N/A, , 48.40, , {{N/A , - , bgcolor="{{party color, Social Democratic Party (Portugal)" , , align=left,

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

{{efn, name=PSD and CDS , 141,227, , 2.35, , {{N/A, , 73, , 7, , {{N/A, , 2.80, , {{N/A , - , bgcolor="{{party color, Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party" , , align=left, Democratic and Social Centre{{efn, name=PSD and CDS , 23,523, , 0.39, , {{N/A, , 42, , 0, , {{N/A, , 0.00, , {{N/A , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2", ''Total Democratic Alliance''{{efn, name=Democratic Alliance 1976 , width="65" align="right" , ''2,719,208'' , width="40" align="right" , ''45.26'' , width="40" align="right" , ''{{increase4.4'' , width="40" align="right" , ''115'' , width="40" align="right" , ''128'' , width="40" align="right" , ''{{increase13'' , width="40" align="right" , ''51.20'' , width="40" align="right" , ''{{increase7.5'' , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor="{{party color, Socialist Party (Portugal)" , , align=left,

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, 1,642,136, , 27.33, , {{decrease7.6, , 107, , 74, , {{decrease33, , 29.60, , {{decrease11.1 , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor=red align="center" , , align=left, United People Alliance{{efn, name=APU , 1,129,322, , 18.80, , {{increase4.4, , 40, , 47, , {{increase7, , 18.80, , {{increase3.6 , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor={{party color, Left Bloc (Portugal) align="center" , , align=left, People's Democratic Union , 130,842, , 2.18, , {{increase0.5, , 1, , 1, , {{steady0, , 0.40, , {{steady0.0 , - , colspan="2" {{Party name with colour, Christian Democratic Party (Portugal), colour=darkolivegreen, shortname=Christian Democratic , 72,514, , 1.21, , {{increase0.7, , 0, , 0, , {{steady0, , 0.00, , {{steady0.0 , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor="{{party color, Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers / Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat" , , align=left, Portuguese Workers' Communist , 53,268, , 0.89, , {{increase0.2, , 0, , 0, , {{steady0, , 0.00, , {{steady0.0 , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor=pink align="center" , , align=left, UEDS , 43,325, , 0.72, , {{N/A, , {{N/A, , 0, , {{N/A, , 0.00, , {{N/A , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor=red align="center" , , align=left,

Revolutionary Socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

, 36,978, , 0.62, , {{increase0.5, , 0, , 0, , {{steady0, , 0.00, , {{steady0.0 , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor="{{party color, Workers Party of Socialist Unity" , , align=left, Workers Party of Socialist Unity , 12,713, , 0.21, , {{N/A, , {{N/A, , 0, , {{N/A, , 0.00, , {{N/A , - , colspan="2" style="width: 10px" bgcolor=darkred align="center" , , align=left, OCMLP , 3,433, , 0.06, , {{N/A, , {{N/A, , 0, , {{N/A, , 0.00, , {{N/A , - , colspan=3 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,843,739 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 97.28 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", {{increase2.0 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 263 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 250 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", {{decrease13 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", {{steady0.0 , - , colspan=3, Blank ballots , 42,863, , 0.71, , —, , colspan=5 rowspan=4, , - , colspan=3, Invalid ballots , 120,851, , 2.01, , {{decrease2.7 , - , colspan=3 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 6,007,453 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=3, Registered voters/turnout , , 7,249,346, , 82.86, , {{decrease0.6 , - , colspan=11 align=left , Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições
{{bar box , title=Vote share , titlebar=#ddd , width=550px , barwidth=500px , bars= {{bar percent, AD, #2A52BE, 42.52 {{bar percent, PS, {{party color, Socialist Party (Portugal), 27.33 {{bar percent, APU, {{party color, Portuguese Communist Party, 18.80 {{bar percent, PSD, {{party color, Social Democratic Party (Portugal), 2.35 {{bar percent, UDP, {{party color, Left Bloc (Portugal), 2.18 {{bar percent, PDC, darkolivegreen, 1.21 {{bar percent, PCTP/MRPP, {{party color, Portuguese Workers' Communist Party, 0.89 {{bar percent, UEDS, pink, 0.72 {{bar percent, PSR, red, 0.62 {{bar percent, Others, #777777, 0.66 {{bar percent, Blank/Invalid, #DDDDDD, 2.72 {{bar box , title=Parliamentary seats , titlebar=#ddd , width=550px , barwidth=500px , bars= {{bar percent, AD, #2A52BE, 48.40 {{bar percent, PS, {{party color, Socialist Party (Portugal), 29.60 {{bar percent, APU, {{party color, Portuguese Communist Party, 18.80 {{bar percent, PSD, {{party color, Social Democratic Party (Portugal), 2.80 {{bar percent, UDP, {{party color, Left Bloc (Portugal), 0.40

Distribution by constituency

{{election table, title=Results of the 1979 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency, sortable=yes , - class="unsortable" !rowspan=2, Constituency!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S !rowspan=2, Total
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 The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA", , 30.0 , 2 , 3.1 , - , style="background:{{party color, Social Democratic Party (Portugal); 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 Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;", 51.9 , 9 , 30.2 , 5 , 10.0 , 1 , 1.4 , - , 15 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Bragança Bragança may refer to: People *Jaime Celestino Dias Bragança, a Portuguese footballer Politics and History *House of Bragança - A Portuguese Royal House *Duke of Bragança - A Portuguese noble, and later royal, title * Bragança - One of the m ...

, 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 Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

, style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;", 44.8 , 6 , 35.1 , 5 , 11.2 , 1 , 1.3 , - , 12 , - , style="text-align:left;" , {{hs, Evora

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

, 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 Leiria () is a city and municipality in the Central Region, Portugal, Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, after Coimbra, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat o ...

, style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;", 56.2 , 7 , 23.2 , 3 , 10.9 , 1 , 1.5 , - , 11 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;", 40.0 , 24 , 25.8 , 15 , 26.0 , 16 , 2.8 , 1 , 56 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA", , 17.2 , 1 , 3.1 , - , style="background:{{party color, Social Democratic Party (Portugal); 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 Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, 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 Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

, 22.3 , 4 , 21.4 , 4 , style="background:red; color:white;", 47.0 , 9 , 4.0 , - , 17 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a concelho, municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo District, Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2021 was 85,778, in an area of . The urbanized are ...

, style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;", 54.8 , 4 , 24.9 , 2 , 9.8 , - , 0.9 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the Norte, Portugal, North region, Portugal. It is also the seat of the Douro (intermunicipal community), Douro Intermunicipal communities of Portugal, intermunicipal comm ...

, style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;", 57.7 , 4 , 21.4 , 2 , 6.1 , - , 1.5 , - , 6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões Interm ...

, 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

File:1979 Portuguese legislative election district results.svg, Winner and seats by constituency. File:Legislativas portuguesas de 1979 (Mapa).png, Most voted political force by

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

. {{clear

Notes

{{notes , refs = {{efn , name = Sá Carneiro , As leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). {{efn , name = Democratic Alliance 1976 , Democratic Alliance results are compared to the combined totals of the

, the Democratic and Social Centre and the People's Monarchist Party in the 1976 election. {{efn , name = Democratic Alliance , The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic Social Center (CDS) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) would contest the 1979 election in a coalition called Democratic Alliance (AD). {{efn , name = United People Alliance , The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) would contest the 1979 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU). {{efn , name = AD seats , Alliance formed by the

(73 seats), the Democratic and Social Centre (43 seats) and the People's Monarchist Party (5 seats). {{efn , name = PSD and CDS , Social Democratic Party and Democratic and Social Centre electoral list only in Azores and Madeira. {{efn , name = APU ,

(44 MPs) and

Portuguese Democratic Movement The Portuguese Democratic Movement/Democratic Electoral Commission ( Portuguese: ''Movimento Democrático Português / Comissão Democrática Eleitoral'', MDP/CDE or just MDP) was one of the most important organizations of the democratic opposit ...

(3 MPs) ran in coalition.

References

{{reflist

External links

Comissão Nacional de Eleições
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050408212102/http://eleicoes.cne.pt/cne2005/sel_eleicoes.cfm?m=raster#assemb , date=2005-04-08
Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político