Democratic Renewal Party (Portugal)

The Democratic Renewal Party (Portuguese: Partido Renovador Democrático, pronounced: [pɐɾˈtiðu ʁɨnuvɐˈðoɾ dɨmuˈkɾatiku], PRD; also Democratic Renovator Party) was a Portuguese political party, founded in 1985 with the political support of the until-then-independent President of the Republic, Ramalho Eanes. At the time of its foundation, it was meant to "moralize Portuguese political life" and the party positioned itself in the political centre. Its first leader was Hermínio Martinho.

A short time after its foundation, the PRD profited by the dissolution of the Portuguese parliament, occupied at the time by a grand coalition between the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party, from both of which the PRD included dissidents (for example, on the Socialist side, José Medeiros Ferreira, former foreign Minister in a Mário Soares government and also a supporter of the centre-right Democratic Alliance as a dissident of the PS, and on the Social Democratic side, Joaquim Magalhães Mota, a co-founder of the Social Democrats). Due to a disastrous economic policy, Ramalho Eanes dissolved the parliament and called for a new election where the newly founded PRD surprisingly won 18% of the vote and got 45 MPs, becoming the third major party.^[11] The election did not give the majority of the seats to any party, so the party with the most votes, the Social Democratic Party, formed a minority government with PRD tactical support, sending the PSD's Socialist former coalition partners into opposition.

In the local elections of 1985, however, the party began to have difficulties, achieving only 5% of the voting and few seats. In the following presidential election, in 1986, the party supported Salgado Zenha along with the Portuguese Communist Party, but its candidate did not manage to reach the second round.

In 1987, the party made a decision that would lead to its dissolution, supporting a motion of no-confidence, along with the Communists and the Socialists, that led to the fall of the first government of Aníbal Cavaco Silva, elected in 1985.^[5] In the subsequent legislative election, the party lost most of its support, almost disappearing from parliament, losing 38 of its 45 MPs. Meanwhile, Ramalho Eanes had replaced Hermínio Martinho as leader of the party, a post he too left after the electoral disaster.

In the European Parliament election of 1989, the party made a pact with the Socialist Party and elected one MEP from the Socialist lists, Pedro Canavarro. In the legislative election of 1991, the party, at the time led by Canavarro, lost all of its parliamentary representation and never regained it, nor reached its previous position. Canavarro left the leadership of the party and was replaced by Manuel Vargas Loureiro, who led it until its extinction. In the late 1990s, the weakened and disjointed party was taken over by extreme right-wing elements.^[12]

Election Results

Assembly of the Republic

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-	Notes
1985	1,038,893	17.9 (#3)	45 / 250
1987	278,561	4.9 (#4)	7 / 250	38
1991	35,077	0.6 (#8)	0 / 230	7

Local elections

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall councillors won	+/-	# of overall mayors elected	+/-	Notes
1985	224,161	4.7 (#5)	49 / 1,975		3 / 305
1989	38,565	0.8 (#7)	4 / 1,997	45	0 / 305	3
1993	1,456	0.0 (#12)	0 / 2,015	4	0 / 305	0
1997	1,487	0.0 (#17)	0 / 2,021	0	0 / 305	0

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-	Notes
1987	250,158	4.4 (#5)	1 / 24
1989	N/A	N/A (#5)	1 / 24	0	Candidates in the Socialist Party list.
1994	5,941	0.2 (#13)	0 / 25	1

External links

• Short biography of the PRD by the Documentation Centre of the Carnation Revolution (in Portuguese)

References

1. ↑ Chilcote, Ronald H. (2010), The Portuguese Revolution: State and Class in the Transition to Democracy, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 118 
2. ↑ Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations 5, Gale Research, 1995, p. 339 
3. ↑ Leston-Bandeira, Cristina; Freire, André (2005), "Internalising the Lessons of Stable Democracy: The Portuguese Parliament", Southern European Parliaments in Democracy (Routledge): 81 
4. ↑ Gallagher, Tom (1989), "The Portuguese Socialist Party: the pitfalls of being first", Southern European Socialism: Parties, Elections, and the Challenge of Government (Manchester University Press): 25 
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Leston-Bandeira, Cristina (2004), From Legislation to Legitimation: The Role of the Portuguese Parliament, Routledge, p. 125-126 
6. ↑ Freire, André (2006), "The Party System of Portugal", Die Parteiensysteme Westeuropas (VS Verlag): 373 
7. ↑ Amorim Neto, Octavio (2003), "Portugal: Changing Patterns of Delegation and Accountability under the President's Watchful Eyes", Delegation and Accountability in Parliamentary Democracies (Oxford University Press): 563 
8. ↑ Puhle, Hans-Jürgen, Mobilizers and Late Modernizers: Socialist Parties in the New Southern Europe, p. 295 
9. ↑ Boissieu, Laurent de. "Élections européennes Portugal". Europe Politique (in Francês). Retrieved 9 April 2014. 
10. ↑ Deputados Beirôco - Capucho, Parlamento Europeu Gabinete de Informação em Portugal (scroll down until the section on Pedro Canavarro)
11. ↑ Leston-Bandeira, Cristina (2004), From Legislation to Legitimation: The Role of the Portuguese Parliament, Routledge, p. 22, 126 
12. ↑ Hainsworth, Paul (2008), The Extreme Right in Western Europe, Routledge, p. 64