Since 1974, the year of the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

, eighteen legislative elections have been held in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The parliament is usually elected to a four-year term, and currently () there are 230 Members of the Parliament, elected in Party's lists in 22 constituencies, corresponding to the 18 continental

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, 2 autonomous regions, one constituency for the Portuguese living abroad in Europe and the last one for the Portuguese living abroad in the rest of the world. Each constituency elects a number of MPs proportional to its registered voters number, ranging from the 48 MPs in

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 ...

to the 2 in Portalegre.

Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 230 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 116 (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 the 2025 legislative elections, the MPs were distributed by districts as follows:

Election results 1976-2025

Parties are listed from left-wing to right-wing.

List of elections

1976 Portuguese legislative election The 1976 Portuguese legislative election was held on Sunday 25 April, exactly one year after the previous election, and two years after the Carnation Revolution. With a new Constitution approved, the country's main aim was economic recovery and st ...

1979 Portuguese legislative election The 1979 Portuguese legislative election took place on 2 December. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic, 13 seats less than those elected in 1976. The 3 years prior to the elect ...

1980 Portuguese legislative election The 1980 Portuguese legislative election took place on 5 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic. In January 1980, the Democratic Alliance, which had won the previous election, on 2 December 1979, entered ...

1983 Portuguese legislative election The 1983 Portuguese legislative election took place on 25 April. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic. The last election, in October 1980 had been won by a right-wing coalition ...

1985 Portuguese legislative election The 1985 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic. In June of the same year, the then incumbent Prime Minister, Mário Soar ...

1987 Portuguese legislative election The 1987 Portuguese legislative election took place on 19 July. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic. In the previous election, in 1985, the Social Democratic Party had won a m ...

1991 Portuguese legislative election The 1991 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic. There was a reduction of 20 seats compared with previous elections, due t ...

1995 Portuguese legislative election The 1995 Portuguese legislative election took place on 1 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. The incumbent prime minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, decided not to run for a fourth consecutive term and th ...

1999 Portuguese legislative election The 1999 Portuguese legislative election took place on 10 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic. After becoming the first minority government in Portuguese democracy to ...

* 2002 Portuguese legislative election *

2005 Portuguese legislative election The 2005 Portuguese legislative election took place on 20 February. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic. These elections were called after the decision of President of Portuga ...

2009 Portuguese legislative election The 2009 Portuguese legislative election was held on 27 September, to renew all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. In these elections there were approximately 9.5 million Portuguese at home and abroad called to determine the 230 seats ...

* 2011 Portuguese legislative election *

2015 Portuguese legislative election The 2015 Portuguese legislative election was held on 4 October. All 230 seats of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic were in contention. The right-wing coalition Portugal Ahead (PàF), composed of the Social Democr ...

2019 Portuguese legislative election The 2019 Portuguese legislative election was held on 6 October 2019. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were contested. In a campaign dominated by the Tancos airbase robbery

2022 Portuguese legislative election Early legislative elections were held on 30 January 2022 in Portugal to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic to the 15th Legislature of the Third Portuguese Republic. All 230 seats to the Assembly of ...

2024 Portuguese legislative election Snap election, Snap legislative elections were held on 10 March 2024 to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic to the 16th Legislature of Portugal. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were up ...

2025 Portuguese legislative election A Snap election, snap legislative election took place in Portugal on 18 May 2025 to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic for the 17th Legislature. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were u ...

Notes

References

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External links