2019 Portuguese legislative election

The 2019 Portuguese legislative election was held on 6 October 2019."Marcelo anuncia eleições legislativas em 6 de outubro", Sapo 24, 7 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were contested.

The Socialist Party (PS) won the elections with 36 percent of the votes and 108 seats, a gain of 22 compared with 2015. The PS won the big districts of Porto and Lisbon, although Porto was closer than expected, and was able to gain districts from the PSD, like Aveiro and Viana do Castelo, by razor thin margins."Um mapa cor-de-rosa com sete maiorias absolutas", Público, 7 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019. The PS won the city of Lisbon, however by a smaller share than four years earlier, and surprisingly lost the city of Porto to the PSD, where Rui Rio was mayor for 12 years.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) obtained 28 percent of the votes and won 79 seats. The party lost 10 seats compared with 2015, and, in terms of share of vote, it was the worst result since 1983, however in terms of seats, it was only the worst result since 2005, when the party won 75 seats. The PSD was able to hold on to their bastions of Viseu, Vila Real, Bragança, Leiria and Madeira. On election night, PSD leader Rui Rio classified the results as "not a disaster" and left the door open to continue as party leader."Rui Rio: “Não há desastre nenhum”", Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, 7 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019. However, in the aftermath of the election, several members of the party announced their intention to challenge Rio's leadership.

The Left Bloc (BE) achieved a similar result to 2015. The party won almost 10 percent of the votes and held the 19 seats elected in 2015. On election night, Catarina Martins said she was open to new negotiations with PS. The Unitary Democratic Coalition, (CDU), PCP-PEV coalition, suffered heavy losses, with 6.3 percent of the votes and 12 seats, and Jerónimo de Sousa, PCP secretary-general, said on election night that written agreements with PS were off the table. CDS – People's Party got just 4.2 percent of the votes, and got a parliamentary caucus reduced to just five seats, the lowest since 1991 and when the party was called the "taxi party", down from 18 in the 2015 election. Assunção Cristas, CDS leader, resigned on election night, called for a snap party congress and announced she would not run for reelection."CDS volta a meter-se num táxi e Assunção Cristas sai de cena", Público, 7 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019. People-Animals-Nature (PAN) saw a big increase in its share of the vote, winning 3.3% and 4 seats from Lisbon, Porto and Setúbal.

This election was marked by the entry of three new parties in Parliament. The right-wing/far-right party Chega (CH) was one of the big surprises on election night by electing an MP from Lisbon. It was the first time since the return to democracy that a right-wing/far-right party gained representation in Parliament."Entrada de extrema-direita no Parlamento “deve alarmar partidos”", Público, 8 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019. LIVRE and Liberal Initiative also elected one MP for Lisbon. Former Prime Minister and PSD leader Pedro Santana Lopes' new party, Alliance, failed to win a single seat and polled below 1 percent of the votes.

The turnout in this election was the lowest ever in a general election in Portugal, with just 48.6 percent of registered voters casting a ballot. In Portugal alone, 54.5 percent of voters cast a ballot, a drop compared with the 57 percent in the 2015 election.

Background

After the 2015 election, President Aníbal Cavaco Silva asked incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to form a minority government, as the Portugal Ahead coalition won the most votes and seats in the election. Passos Coelho second government was sworn in on 30 October 2015. However, during this period, the Socialist Party, the Left Bloc and the Communist Party reached a historic agreement in order to bring down the Passos Coelho minority government and support a Socialist minority government led by António Costa. Paulo Portas, CDS–PP leader, labeled the agreement as the Geringonça (), which became the name the left-wing agreement would be known for.

On 10 November 2015, the left-wing parties proposed a vote of rejection to the Portugal Ahead's government program, which was approved by a 123 to 107 vote, thus bringing down the government. On 26 November 2015, António Costa was sworn in as Prime Minister. After a few months of cohabitation with President Aníbal Cavaco Silva (PSD), Costa would have to cohabit with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (PSD), the winner of the 2016 presidential election, in which the Socialists did not support any candidate.

Costa's term was ruled by the 2017 deadly wildfires, in June and in October, with following reports showing mismanagement and lack of response and coordination, issues relating to allegations of nepotism within the government, the April 2019 fuel-tanker drivers' strike, and, later, by the Tancos arms theft scandal, which would have an impact during the 2019 election campaign, and at the same time, it was equally marked by solid economic growth, driven by expanding tourism and high exports.

Leadership changes and challenges CDS – People's Party Following the collapse of the PàF minority government and the subsequent nomination of António Costa as Prime Minister, with the support of the leftwing parties, CDS–PP leader Paulo Portas announced, in December 2015, he was leaving the party's leadership."Portas abandona liderança do CDS-PP", TSF, 28 December 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2021. A new party congress was called to elect a new leader. There were two candidates in the ballot: Assunção Cristas, supported by Portas, and Miguel Mattos Chaves, critical of Portas' leadership."Estratégia de Cristas recolhe 98,7% dos votos", Observador, 12 March 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2021. Cristas was elected by a landslide and the results were the following:

Socialist Party Party leader and Prime Minister António Costa faced a leadership challenge from party member Daniel Adrião in the party's 2016 leadership election. There were 49,127 party members registered to cast a ballot, and Costa was easily re-elected as party leader with 95% of the votes, compared with less than 3% for Adrião.

Two years later, in May 2018, Costa faced another challenge from Adrião, and was once again re-elected, this time with 96% of the votes, against Adrião's 4%. There were 51,191 party members registered to cast a ballot.

Social Democratic Party

After a disappointing result in the 2017 local elections, in which the PSD won just 30 percent of the votes and 98 mayoral races against the 38 percent of the PS and its 160 elected mayors, Pedro Passos Coelho announced he would not run for a 5th term as PSD leader. After that, Rui Rio, former mayor of Porto (2002–2013), announced he was running for the leadership."Rui Rio anuncia quarta-feira candidatura à liderança do PSD", RTP, 6 October 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018. Shortly after, Pedro Santana Lopes, former mayor of Lisbon (2002–2004; 2005) and Prime Minister (2004–2005), announced he was also running for the leadership of the party."PSD. Santana Lopes apresenta candidatura à liderança este domingo", RTP, 17 October 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018. Election day was scheduled to January 13, 2018. After a long campaign, Rui Rio was elected with 54.15 percent of the votes, against the 45.85 percent of Santana Lopes. Turnout was 60.3 percent."Rui Rio é o novo presidente do PSD", Jornal de Negócios, 13 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018. The results were the following:

Rui Rio was officially confirmed as party leader in the PSD congress, in Lisbon, between 16 and 18 February 2018. Just seven months after this leadership election, in early July 2018, Pedro Santana Lopes announced he was leaving the Social Democratic Party and would form his own party."Santana Lopes deixa o PSD e prepara novo partido", Observador, 27 June 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2020. A few weeks later he announced the creation of a new party, the Alliance."Aliança é o novo partido de Santana Lopes ", Público, 18 August 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2020. Following several months of bad polling for the PSD,"Opositores a Rio querem alternativa e não afastam congresso extraordinário", Público, 15 September 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2025. Rio's leadership started to be heavily criticized and by January 2019, Luís Montenegro, former PSD parliamentary leader, challenged Rio to call a leadership ballot, with Montenegro announcing his candidacy against Rio. However, Rio refused to call a leadership ballot, but decided to call a motion of confidence on his leadership, which he won by a 75 to 50 vote in favour at a meeting of the party's national council held on 18 January 2019:

Following the vote, Montenegro conceded defeat and withdrew his candidacy to the party's leadership.

Date

2019 Portuguese legislative election

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