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. There was a reduction of 20 seats compared with previous elections, due to the 1989 Constitutional revision.Sistema Eleitoral Português: Problemas e Soluções, "Leya", Marina Costa Lobo, 7 November 2018 For the first time in Portuguese democracy, an election was held after the four years of the legislature had been fully completed."A "década de betão" do cavaquismo", RTP, 7 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2025.

The Social Democratic Party, under the leadership of Cavaco Silva, won a historic third term and obtained an absolute majority for a second consecutive time. Although losing 13 seats due to the reduction in the total number from 250 to 230, the loss was only 3 seats if the results of the 1987 election are counted with the new seat distribution, while at the same time obtaining a higher percentage of votes than four years prior. Cavaco Silva became the first Prime Minister since Hintze Ribeiro, in 1904, to lead a party into three successive democratic election victories.

The Socialist Party, at the time led by Jorge Sampaio, the future President of Portugal, increased its share by 7 percentage points and gained 12 MPs, a gain of 16 if compared with the new seat distribution, but did not manage to avoid the renewal of the Social Democrats' absolute majority. 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 lost much of its electoral influence, losing almost 10 MPs and 3 percentage points, 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 fell to 67.8 percent, and for the first time below 70 percent of the electorate.

Background Cavaco Silva's second government was marked by strong economic and political reforms, such as the beginning of the reprivatization of many companies nationalized after the April 25th revolution, as well as the 1989 constitutional revision, approved by the two largest parties (PSD and PS), which further removed the left-wing ideological tone from the text, liberalizing the economic system. The arrival of European funds also initiated a period of strong economic transformation and modernization of the country's infrastructure. Despite the stability and strong economy, the PSD government faced protests, strikes and criticisms for its reforms, as well as some controversies, such as the "case of the contaminated hemophiliacs", in which hemophiliac patients were infected with plasma contaminated with HIV/AIDS virus, leading to the resignation of the then health minister, Leonor Beleza. The PSD suffered setbacks in the European and local elections during 1989. On the international front, the government mediated the Bicesse Accords with the aim of ending the Angolan Civil War.

Leadership changes and challenges Democratic and Social Center After CDS' poor results, just 4 percent in the 1987 general elections, then CDS leader Adriano Moreira announced he would leave the leadership and called a party congress to elect a new leader."Entrevista a Adriano Moreira", RTP, 30 January 1988. Retrieved 6 June 2022. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, former party leader and defeated candidate in the 1986 presidential election, decided to ran for the party's leadership, being the sole candidate on the ballot."Diogo Freitas do Amaral. "Vivi e agi à minha maneira"", Diário de Notícias, 4 October 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2022.

Socialist Party Following the 1987 election defeat, party leader Vítor Constâncio faced strong pressures because of his strategy, with interferences also from President Mário Soares, and difficulties in finding a strong candidate to contest the 1989 Lisbon local election."Perdeu PS para Guterres e Beleza ficou com votos do líder no congresso", JN, 10 September 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2022. Because of these pressures, Constâncio resigned in late 1988 and a party congress to elect a new leader was called for mid January 1989. Two candidates were on the ballot, Jorge Sampaio and Jaime Gama."8.º Congresso do PS", RTP, 14 January 1989. Retrieved 6 June 2022. Sampaio was easily elected as PS leader."Jorge Sampaio. A história de duas derrotas que fizeram o candidato a Belém ", RTP, 10 September 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2022.

Democratic Renewal Party The Democratic Renewal Party's results in the 1987 election were disappointing and António Ramalho Eanes resigned from the leadership."António Ramalho Eanes", Museu da Presidência da República, 10 September 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2022. Hermínio Martinho 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."4ª Convenção Nacional do PRD", RTP, 15 June 1990. Retrieved 6 June 2022. 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:

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 to be approved.

The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude. The use of the d'Hondt method 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.Gallaher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities"

For these elections, and compared with the 1987 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following: District Number of MPs Map Lisbon50 Porto 37 Braga and Setúbal 16 Aveiro 14 Leiria, Santarém and Coimbra 10 Viseu 9 Faro 8 Vila Real and Viana do Castelo 6 Azores, Castelo Branco, Madeira 5 Beja, Bragança, Évora and Guarda 4 Portalegre 3 Europe and Outside Europe 2

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: With the 1987 seat distribution Name Ideology Political position Leader 1987 result Seats atdissolutionComposição dos Grupos Parlamentares/Partidos % Seats PPD/PSD Social Democratic Party Centre-right AníbalCavaco Silva 50.2% PS Socialist Party Social democracy Centre-left Jorge Sampaio 22.2% PCP Portuguese Communist Party CommunismMarxism–Leninism Far-left Álvaro Cunhal12.1% PEV Ecologist Party "The Greens" Eco-socialismGreen politics Left-wing Isabel Castro PRD Democratic Renewal Party CentrismThird Way PedroCanavarro 4.9% CDS Democratic and Social Centre Christian democracyConservatism Diogo Freitasdo Amaral 4.4% Ind. IndependentEcologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990;

Seat changes On December 1990, the 7 MPs of the Democratic Renewal Party left the party and decided to join the Socialist Party caucus, after a split with the party's leader, Pedro Canavarro.

Also on December 1990, the two MPs from the Ecologist Party "The Greens" decided to dissolve their caucus and sit as Independents, following disagreements with the Portuguese Communist Party and defending an ecological party not aligned with the Communists.

1987 results with the new seat distribution Name Ideology Political position Leader 1987 notional result % Seats PPD/PSD Social Democratic Party Centre-right AníbalCavaco Silva 50.2% PS Socialist Party Social democracy Centre-left Jorge Sampaio 22.2% PCP Portuguese Communist Party CommunismMarxism–Leninism Far-left Álvaro Cunhal 12.1% PEV Ecologist Party "The Greens" Eco-socialismGreen politics Left-wing Isabel Castro PRD Democratic Renewal Party CentrismThird Way PedroCanavarro 4.9% CDS Democratic and Social Centre Christian democracyConservatism Diogo Freitasdo Amaral 4.4%

Campaign period Issues In the context of a strong economy, the election campaign became a "plebiscite" on Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's government. The Prime Minister even campaigned on a promise not to remain in office if the Social Democrats (PSD) failed to secure a majority of seats, warning of the dangers of instability. Opposition parties responded by accusing Cavaco Silva of trying to "blackmail" the electorate, with Socialist (PS) leader Jorge Sampaio stressing that voters had a "clear choice" between a PS or PSD government.

Party slogans Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs PSD « No bom caminho » "On the right track" PS « Agora nós » "Now us." CDU « Para um Portugal melhor » "For a better Portugal" CDS « A verdade, sempre! » "The truth, always!" PSN « O sol está a nascer para todos. » "The sun is rising for everyone."

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. 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.

1991 Portuguese legislative election

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