Elections to the National Assembly of Portugal were announced on August 12 and subsequently held on October 29, 1969, and were the first under prime minister Marcelo Caetano

Marcelo Caetano

Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano, GCTE, GCC, also spelled Marcello Caetano , was a Portuguese politician and scholar, who was the last prime minister of the Estado Novo regime, from 1968 until his overthrow in the Carnation Revolution of 1974....

, appointed in the previous year to replace long-term prime minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...

, who had been left incapacitated after a stroke. The constitution of 1933 stated that elections were to be held in all of Portugal's 18 constituencies by majority party list system, with all seats in each constituency going to the party list with a plurality of votes. In order to select a specific candidate, voters were constitutionally able to stroke out names. The quasi-sovereign National Union won all seats with an official turnout of 62,5% or 1,115,248 voters out of an electorate of some 1,784,341.
The electoral law of December 5, 1958 (rearranged to allow for the National Assembly to appoint the President) guaranteed universal suffrage

Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

 for all mature, literate Portuguese but unofficially curtailed female participation. All natural-born nationals residing in Portugal for the previous five years were allowed to stand for election.

The Monarchist Electoral Commission as well participated with an official support of 1,324 or 0,1% of the electorate.

The Chamber of Corporations

Bicameralism

In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....

, consisting of 200 members or more was appointed by the government following the election to the National Assembly. The Electoral Commissions were officially banned on November 8, with numerous candidates having retired prematurely due to reportedly extensive harassment and voter manipulation.

National summary of votes and seats

|-
! colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
|-

|981,263||87.99||—||130||100.00||±0
|-

|114,745||10.29||—||0||0.00||—
|-

|16,863||1.51||—||0||0.00||—
|-

|1,324||0.12||—||0||0.00||—
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|1,114,195
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|99.91
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|130
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|±0
|-
|colspan=2|Invalid ballots
|1,053||0.09||—||colspan=3 rowspan=2|
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout 62.50%)
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|1,115,248
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|±0.0
|-
| colspan=8 align=left | Source: INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
|}