This is a table of the electoral results of the Portuguese Communist Party. Despite the Party had been founded in 1921, the party experienced little time as a legal party, being forced into clandestinity after a military coup in 1926. In the following decades, Portugal was dominated by the dictatorial regime led by António Oliveira Salazar, that kept the Party illegal. Although the regime allowed elections during some periods, the Party, given its illegal status, could never legally enter the electoral process and the heavy manipulation of the electoral results never allowed a democratic candidate to win. The regime would only end in 1974, with the Carnation Revolution, that implemented broad democratic changes in the country.
Since then, four types of elections are held with different periodicity. The head of state, the President of the Republic, is elected for a five-year term, the Parliament is elected for a four-year term, like the municipal administrations, that since 1985, are also elected for a four-year term. Azores and Madeira elect a regional parliament each four years. Along with these, European elections are also held with a periodicity of five years since the country joined the European Union in 1986.
Since the revolution, the Party participated in every election, from the late 1970s until 1987, it ran in coalition with the Portuguese Democratic Movement in the United People Alliance (APU). In 1987, the APU was disbanded and since then, the Party participated in coalition with the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (PEV) inside the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU). The peak of the Party's electoral influence was from the Carnation Revolution until the early 1980s, since then, and mainly after the fall of the Socialist bloc in eastern Europe, the Party's electoral success was reduced, however, it still keeps a presence in the Parliament and still holds the presidency of 18 municipalities and several parishes.
Results Results in parliamentary elections
Results in Parliamentary Elections (year links to election page)YearCoalitionVotes%Mandates 1976 none 785,594 14.6% 40 1979 APU 1,121,374 19.0% 47 (44) 1980 APU 1,000,975 17.0% 41 (39) 1983 APU 1,024,475 18.2% 44 (41) 1985 APU 893,216 15.6% 38 (35) 1987 CDU 685,109 12.2% 31 (29) 1991 CDU 501,840 8.8% 17 (15) 1995 CDU 504,007 8.6% 15 (13) 1999 CDU 483,716 9.0% 17 (15) 2002 CDU 378,640 7.0% 12 (10) 2005 CDU 432,009 7.6% 14 (12) 2009 CDU 446,174 7.9% 15 (13) 2011 CDU 440,850 7.9% 16 (14) 2015 CDU 444,907 8.3% 17 (15) 2019 CDU 332,018 6.3% 12 (10) 2022 CDU 238,920 4.3% 6 2024 CDU 205,551 3.2% 4 2025 CDU 183,686 2.9% 3
Note:
The 1975 elections was the Portuguese Constituent Assembly election, as such it is not counted as a regular parliamentary election. In brackets is the number of MPs elected by the PCP in the total elected by CDU. In 1991 the overall number of MPs changed from the original 250 to 230. In the 2022 legislative election all the elected members from the CDU lists were PCP members.
Results in local elections Results in Local Elections (year links to election page)YearCoalitionVotes%MandatesMayors 1976 FEPU 720,499 17.7% 268 37 1979 APU 885,899 19.9% 316 50 1982 APU 1,038,033 20.9% 316 55 1985 APU 935,897 19.6% 303 47 1989 CDU 656,719 13.3% 258 50 1993 CDU 689,923 12.8% 246 49 1997 CDU 643,956 12.0% 236 41 2001 CDU 557,481 10.6% 199 28 2005 CDU 589,384 10.9% 203 32 2009 CDU 537,329 9.7% 174 28 2013 CDU 552,690 11.1% 213 34 2017 CDU 489,189 9.5% 171 24 2021 CDU 410,666 8.2% 148 19 2025 CDU 316,273 5.7% 93 12
Note:
The Local election results report the voting for the Municipal Chambers only and don't include occasional coalitions in some municipalities, e.g. in Lisbon, between 1989 and 2001. Voting for the Municipal Assemblies and Parish Assemblies is usually higher (11.7% and 12.0%, respectively, in 2005). The mayor of Setúbal since 2021 is a member of the PEV, another party from the CDU electoral coalition. The remaining 18 elected mayors are members of the PCP.
Results in European Parliament elections These are the results for Unitary Democratic Coalition, composed of the PCP, the PEV and the ID. Election year # of overallvotes % of overallvote # of overallseats won +/- Notes 1987 646,640 11.50 (#4) 1989 594,961 14.41 (#3) 1 PEV member Maria Amélia Santos was elected in the CDU list. 1994 339,283 11.19 (#4) 1 PEV member Maria Amélia Santos lost her seat. 1999 357,575 10.32 (#3) 1 2004 309,406 9.09 (#3) 0 2009 379,787 10.64 (#4) 0 2014 416,446 12.68 (#3) 1 2019 228,157 6.88 (#4) 1 2024 162,630 4.12 (#6) 1
(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)
Note:
In 2004, after the enlargement of the European Union, the number of MEPs elected by Portugal decreased from the original 25 to 24, to 22 in 2009 and it further decreased to 21 in 2014.
Coalitions Info:
The FEPU was composed of the PCP, the MDP/CDE and the FSP; The APU was composed of the PCP and the MDP/CDE, later it included the PEV; The CDU is composed of the PCP and the PEV.
Results in presidential elections Results in Presidential Elections (year links to election page)YearCandidate supportedVotes%Elected? 1976 Octávio Rodrigues Pato 365,344 7.6% No 1980 Carlos Alfredo de Brito withdrew - No 1986 Francisco Salgado Zenha 1,185,867 20.6% No 1991 Carlos Alberto Carvalhas 635,867 12.9% No 1996 Jerónimo Carvalho de Sousa withdrew - No 2001 António Simões de Abreu 221,886 5.1% No 2006 Jerónimo Carvalho de Sousa 466,428 8.6% No 2011 Francisco Lopes 300,921 7.1% No 2016 Edgar Silva 183,051 3.9% No 2021 João Ferreira 179,764 4.3% No
Notes:
In 1980, Carlos Brito withdrew in favour of Ramalho Eanes. In 1986, the Party's first candidate was Ângelo Veloso, that later withdrew in favour of Salgado Zenha. In 1986, in the second round, the Party supported Mário Soares. In 1996, Jerónimo de Sousa withdrew in favour of Jorge Sampaio.
See also Portuguese Communist Party History of the Portuguese Communist Party History of Portugal Carnation Revolution
References
External links In Portuguese: Portuguese Communist Party official web site History section of the Party's official website Avante Festival! official website Avante! newspaper online edition PCP's short biography by the Carnation Revolution archive center
In English: Portuguese Communist Party web site Portuguese Communist Party program