Portuguese legislative election, 1987
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| Portugal |
 This article is part of the series: |
The Portuguese legislative election of 1987 took place on 19 July. In the last election, in 1985, the Social Democratic Party had won a minority government managing to survive in coalition with the Democratic and Social Center and the Democratic Renewal Party, and after the approval of a no confidence resolution from the left-wing parties, with the aid of the Democratic Renewal Party, the government fell and Mário Soares, the President at the time, called for a new election.
The PSD was very popular going into the election, and was elected to a landslide majority government--the biggest that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election. The left-wing Democratic Unity Coalition lost some of its MPs to the Socialist Party and the Democratic Renovator Party lost almost all of its influence, mainly due to its responsibility in the fall of the former government. The right-wing Democratic and Social Center lost almost a half of the voting, due to the useful voting effect on the also right-wing, Social Democratic Party. European elections were held on the same day.
Parties
The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
- Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), Álvaro Cunhal
- Socialist Party (PS), Vítor Constâncio
- Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), Ramalho Eanes
- Social Democratic Party (PSD), Cavaco Silva
- Democratic and Social Center (CDS), Lucas Pires
Aníbal Cavaco Silva, leader of the Social Democratic Party, was nominated Prime Minister.
Opinion Polling
The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed are currently represented in parliament. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1985 and 1987 for reference.
| Date Released | Institute | Social Democratic | Socialist | Green-Communist | Democratic Renewal | Democratic and Social Centre | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 July 1987 | Election Results | 50.2% 148 seats |
22.2% 60 seats |
12.1% 31 seats |
4.9% 7 seats |
4.4% 4 seats |
28.0% |
| 19 July 1987 | Exit Poll - RTP1 | 48.0% – 50.0% | 21.0% – 23.0% | 12.5% – 14.5% | 5.0% – 7.0% | 3.0% – 5.0% | 27.0% |
| 19 July 1987 | Exit Poll - Antena1 | 45.0% – 47.0% | 24.0% – 25.0% | – | – | – | 21.0% – 22.0% |
| 17 July 1987 | Euroexpansão/Expresso | 41.0% – 44.0% | 22.0% – 25.0% | 13.0% – 15.0% | 11.0% – 14.0% | 4.0% – 6.0% | 19.0% |
| 6 October 1985 | Election Results | 29.9% 88 seats |
20.8% 57 seats |
15.5% 38 seats |
17.9% 45 seats |
10.0% 22 seats |
9.1% |
National summary of votes and seats
| Parties | Votes | % | ± | MPs | MPs %/ votes % | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1987 | ± | % | ± | ||||||||||
| Social Democratic | 2,850,784 | 50.22 |  20.3 | 88 | 148 | 60 | 59.20 | 24.0 | 1.18 | |||||
| Socialist | 1,262,506 | 22.24 | 1.4 | 57 | 60 | 3 | 24.00 | 1.2 | 1.08 | |||||
| Democratic Unity Coalition[A][B] | 689,137 | 12.14 |  3.4 | 38 | 31 | 7 | 12.40 | 2.8 | 1.02 | |||||
| Democratic Renewal | 278,561 | 4.91 | 13.0 | 45 | 7 | 38 | 2.80 | 15.2 | 0.57 | |||||
| Democratic and Social Centre | 251,987 | 4.44 | 5.6 | 22 | 4 | 18 | 1.60 | 7.2 | 0.36 | |||||
| People's Democratic Union | 50,717 | 0.89 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 |  0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | 32,977 | 0.58 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| Portuguese Democratic Movement | 32,607 | 0.57 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |||||
| Christian Democratic Party | 31,667 | 0.56 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| People's Monarchist Party | 23,218 | 0.41 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 | |||||
| Workers' Communist Party | 20,800 | 0.37 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| Communist Party (Reconstructed) | 18,544 | 0.33 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| Workers Party of Socialist Unity | 9,185 | 0.16 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| Total valid | 5,552,690 | 97.82 | 0.3 |
250 | 250 | 0 |
100.00 | 0.0 |
— | |||||
| Blank ballots | 50,135 | 0.88 | 0.1 | |||||||||||
| Invalid ballots | 73,533 | 1.30 | 0.4 | |||||||||||
| Total (turnout 71.57%) | 5,676,358 | 100.00 | 2.6 | |||||||||||
| A In 1985, as United People Alliance. B Portuguese Communist Party (29 MPs) and "The Greens" (2 MPs) ran in coalition.[3] | ||||||||||||||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições | ||||||||||||||
References
External links
See also
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