An election was held in Portugal on Sunday, 9 June 2024, to elect the Portuguese delegation to the European Parliament from 2024 to 2029. It took place as part of the wider 2024 European Parliament election. This was the ninth European Parliament election held in Portugal. This election took place just three months after the 10 March 2024 legislative election, which resulted in a very narrow win for the Democratic Alliance, thus was seen as a "second round" of the March elections.

The Socialist Party (PS) narrowly polled ahead of the Democratic Alliance (AD), 32 percent versus 31 percent, although the result nearly mirrored the also very narrow result of the March 2024 legislative election. In terms of seats, the Socialists had a net loss of one, winning 8, while the AD held their 7 seats won in 2019. It was the first national election, in democratic Portugal, where a woman led her party's list to victory.

The major defeated in the election was Chega (CH), gathering less than 10 percent and winning just two seats, a result well below the 18 percent of the votes in the March election. The Liberal Initiative (IL) scored a strong result, 9 percent and 2 seats, in addition to polling very close to Chega. The Left Bloc (BE) and the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) lost considerable ground, gathering just 4.2 and 4.1 percent, respectively, and holding both one seat, while Livre, although increasing its share, failed to win a seat. People–Animals–Nature (PAN) performed badly, losing their sole seat, and polling behind the far-right National Democratic Alternative (ADN).

For the first time in 20 years, voter turnout increased with a total of 36.6 percent of voters casting a ballot. In Portugal alone, turnout stood at 42.3 percent, the highest share since 1989. The final and certified election results were published in the Portuguese official journal, Diário da República, on 28 June 2024.

Background Electoral system The voting method used, for the election of European members of parliament, is by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method. For the 2024 European Parliament elections, Portugal had 21 seats to fill. Members of Parliament are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

Date

The proposed election day, 9 June, conflicted with the Portugal Day holiday on 10 June, as well as with other several local holidays. The government feared that an election close to so many holidays would suppress turnout and attempted to find a compromise with EU countries to find an alternative date, but, no unanimity was reached and the election was then expected to be held on 9 June.

On 4 April 2024, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, signed the decree that confirmed the date of the elections for the European Parliament on 9 June 2024.

Candidates selection After winning the 2024 legislative election within the Democratic Alliance coalition, the Social Democratic Party, the CDS – People's Party and the People's Monarchist Party decided to run again in the following European Parliament election. Incumbent independent Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, was widely expected to be the main candidate of the AD, even though it raised some concerns within the PSD, as the party was part of the opposition in Porto City Council. In the end, unexpectedly, Luís Montenegro chose journalist and political commentator Sebastião Bugalho as the main candidate, after inviting Rui Moreira to be the second candidate, to which he refused.

Meanwhile, the Socialist Party had a number of potential candidates, such as former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ana Catarina Mendes, former Minister of Health Marta Temido, former Minister of Education Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, former MEP Francisco Assis, former European Commissioner António Vitorino, and even former Prime Minister António Costa, as a launching ramp for a candidacy for President of the European Council. In the end, Pedro Nuno Santos chose Marta Temido as the main candidate.

Following the party's strong performance in the March legislative election, there was some expectation about who would be Chega's main candidate. Ultimately, André Ventura selected former ambassador António Tânger Corrêa as the party's leading candidate for the election. Even so, the candidate lacked name recognition in the electorate, and during the campaign, voters had doubts about who the party's candidate really was.

In LIVRE, the process to select candidates was controversial. A primary was held, in which Francisco Paupério defeated the preferred candidate by party leader Rui Tavares, Filipa Pinto, in the first round. For the primary runoff, the party leadership tried to change voting rules, limiting the vote only to party members, by alleging evidence of external interference. However, this action received strong backlash and was eventually dropped, with Francisco Paupério being confirmed as the party's main candidate in the runoff.

Early voting Voters were also able to vote early, which happened on 2 June, one week before election day. Voters had to register between 26 and 30 May 2024 in order to be eligible to cast an early ballot. By the 30 May deadline, 252,208 voters had requested to vote early, a number thirteen times higher than in 2019, and also higher than in the 2024 March legislative election. On 2 June, 225,039 voters (89.2 percent of voters that requested) cast an early ballot.

Parties and candidates Portuguese delegation in the European Parliament before the elections European Parliament group Mandates National party Mandates S&D PS EPP PPD/PSD CDS–PP The Left BE CDU Greens/EFA PAN Francisco Guerreiro Source: European Parliament

Parties running in the election This is a list of the parties that were on the ballot and their main candidates.

+PartyEuropean PartyGroup2019 resultTop candidateRef.PSSocialist PartyPESS&D33.4Marta TemidoADEPP / ECPMEPP28.1Sebastião BugalhoBELeft BlocPELThe Left9.8Catarina MartinsCDUNI / EGPThe Left / Greens/EFA6.9João OliveiraPANPeople-Animals-NatureEGPGreens/EFA5.1Pedro Fidalgo MarquesLLIVREEGPGreens/EFA1.8CHChegaIDPatriots1.5António Tânger CorrêaNCWe, the Citizens!ALDE PartyNI1.1Pedro LadeiraILLiberal InitiativeALDE PartyRenew0.9João Cotrim de FigueiredoERise UpAENMNI0.5ADNNational Democratic AlternativeNINI0.5Joana Amaral DiasPTPPortuguese Labour PartyNINI0.3José Manuel CoelhoMASSocialist Alternative MovementNINI0.2RIRReact, Include, Recycle−−−Márcia HenriquesMPTEarth Party−EPP−Manuel CarreiraVPVolt PortugalVolt−−Duarte CostaNDNew Right−−−Ossanda Liber

Campaign Issues The campaign was dominated by issues like immigration and defence, with national politics also an issue due to the narrow victory of the Democratic Alliance in the 10 March legislative elections and the unstable situation of Luís Montenegro's minority government, with the prospect of a possible snap election in the short term.

Party slogans Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Refs PS « O futuro de Portugal na Europa » "Portugal's future in Europe" AD « Voz na Europa » "Voice in Europe" BE « Europa por ti, salvar o futuro » "Europe for you, save the future." CDU « Sempre contigo para o que der e vier » "Always with you no matter what happens" PAN « Pelo planeta, por ti, pelos animais » "For the planet, for you, for the animals" L « Por uma Europa Unida e LIVRE » "For a United and FREE Europe" CH « Uma Europa de nações livres » "A Europe of free nations" IL « Com Cotrim Sim » "With Cotrim Yes"

Candidates' debates With parties represented in the national Parliament + 2024 Portuguese European Parliament election debates Date Organisers Moderator(s) PS AD BE CDU PAN L CH IL 13 May SIC PPNININIPNIP 15 May RTP1 NINIPNIPPPNI 17 May TVI Sara PintoNINIPPNIPNIP 20 May SIC NININIPPNIPP 21 May RTP1PPNIPNINIPNI 22 May Observador Ricardo ConceiçãoNININININIPPNI 22 May Observador Ricardo ConceiçãoNINIPNIPNININI 23 May Observador Sara Antunes de OliveiraNINININIPNIPNI 23 May Observador Ricardo ConceiçãoNINIPPNINININI 23 May Observador Ricardo ConceiçãoNIPNININININIP 24 May Observador Ricardo ConceiçãoNININIPNININIP 24 May TVI Sara PintoPPPNIPNININI 28 May RTP1 PPPPPPPP 29 May Observador Ricardo ConceiçãoNIPNININIPNINI 3 Jun Antena 1TSFRenascençaObservador Natália CarvalhoRicardo AlexandreSusana MadureiraMartinsRui Pedro AntunesPPPPPPPP

With parties not represented in the national Parliament + 2024 Portuguese European Parliament election debates Date Organisers Moderator(s) NC E ADN PTP MAS RIR MPT VP ND 30 May RTP1 PPPPPPPPP

Opinion polling Polls that show their results without distributing those respondents who are undecided or said they would abstain from voting, are re-calculated by removing these numbers from the totals through a simple rule of three, in order to obtain results comparable to other polls and the official election results.

Polling firm/Link Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead2024 EP election 9 Jun 2024 36.6 32.131.1 9.8 4.3 4.1 1.2 3.8 9.1 4.5 1.0 CESOP–UCP 9 Jun 2024 14,185 37–4028–34 28–33 8–12 3–5 3–5 1–2 3–5 8–12 —0.5 ICS/ISCTE–GfK/Metris 9 Jun 2024 15,839 36.729.2–33.6 28.4–32.8 7.5–10.9 2.8–5.8 2.8–5.8 0.4–2.0 2.9–5.9 8.1–11.5 3.3–6.30.8 Pitagórica 9 Jun 2024 24,619 35.5–41.527.7–33.7 26.0–32.0 6.6–12.6 3.0–7.0 2.0–6.0 0.7–2.7 2.5–6.5 8.3–12.3 —1.7 Intercampus 9 Jun 2024 19,502 38–4227.2–33.2 26.9–32.9 7.5–11.5 3.1–6.1 2.3–5.3 0.3–2.3 3.0–6.0 8.3–12.3 2.8–8.80.3 Intercampus 29 May–4 Jun 2024 604 ? 27.5 28.3 13.7 6.6 2.9 3.5 5.1 10.4 2.00.8 CESOP–UCP 27 May–3 Jun 2024 1,552 ? 33 31 12 4 4 1 4 8 32Aximage17–22 May 202480155.3 30.6 26.6 15.5 6.3 3.5 1.6 5.2 7.5 3.24.0 Intercampus 12–20 May 2024 609 ? 23.1 22.0 18.1 9.2 3.7 4.0 6.9 12.0 1.01.1 CESOP–UCP 13–18 May 2024 965 ? 30 31 15 5 5 1 5 6 21 Duplimétrica 6–13 May 2024 800 ? 34 32 10 3 3 1 3 9 52 ICS/ISCTE 27 Apr–8 May 2024 1,001 ? 32 26 18 5 4 2 2 4 76 Intercampus 18–23 Apr 2024 605 ? 33.4 28.2 13.0 7.4 3.3 1.3 5.8 4.4 3.35.2Aximage12–16 Apr 202480558.0 31.3 24.8 18.4 5.9 4.1 1.8 3.6 5.8 4.3 6.5 2024 legislative elections 10 Mar 2024 59.8 28.0 28.8 18.1 4.4 3.2 1.9 3.2 4.9 7.5 0.8Ipsos23 Feb–5 Mar 20242,000? 29.6 31.0 3.4 – 14.2 4.4 2.3 2.1 3.6 4.5 4.9 1.4 2022 legislative elections 30 Jan 2022 51.5 41.4 29.1 1.6 0.0 7.2 4.4 4.3 1.6 1.3 4.9 4.7 12.3 2019 legislative elections 6 Oct 2019 48.6 36.3 27.8 4.2 0.2 1.3 9.5 6.3 3.3 1.1 1.3 8.8 8.52019 EP election 26 May 2019 30.7 33.4 21.9 6.21.5 9.8 6.9 5.1 1.8 0.9 12.5 11.5

Voter turnout The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas.

Turnout Time 12:00 16:00 19:00 2019 2024 ± 2019 2024 ± 2019 2024 ± Total 11.56% 14.48% 2.92 pp 23.37% 27.89% 4.52 pp 30.75% 36.63% 5.88 pp Sources

Results

Distribution by European group + Summary of political group distribution in the 10th European Parliament (2024–2029) Groups Parties Seats Total % Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) 8 8 38.10 European People's Party (EPP) 61 7 33.33 Patriots for Europe (PfE) 2 2 9.52 Renew Europe (RE) 2 2 9.52 European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 11 2 9.52 Total 21 21 100.00

Maps

Demographics Demographic Size PS AD CH IL BE CDU L Others Total vote 100% 32.1% 31.1% 9.8% 9.1% 4.3% 4.1% 3.8% 5.7% Sex Men 46% 30% 30% 13% 11% 3% 5% 4% 5% Women 54% 35% 32% 7% 8% 5% 4% 4% 6% Age 18–34 years old 22% 15% 29% 10% 19% 6% 3% 9% 9% 65 years and older 24% 48% 31% 6% 2% 3% 6% 1% 4% Education No/with High-school 53% 39% 28% 12% 5% 3% 4% 2% 6% College graduate 47% 26% 33% 7% 13% 5% 4% 5% 6% Source: ICS/ISCTE–GfK/Metris exit poll

See also 2024 European Parliament election Politics of Portugal List of political parties in Portugal

Notes

References

External links Official results site, Portuguese Ministry of Internal Administration Portuguese Electoral Commission ERC – Official publication of polls