Portuguese legislative election, 1983
Encyclopedia
The Portuguese legislative election of 1983 took place on April 25. The last election, in October 1980 had been won by a right-wing coalition, the Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Portugal)
The Democratic Alliance was a coalition in Portugal between the Social Democratic Party , the Democratic Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party , including also a group of...

 and Francisco Sá Carneiro
Francisco Sá Carneiro
Francisco Manuel Lumbrales de Sá Carneiro, GCTE, GCC, GCL founded the Portuguese Social Democratic Party in 1974 and was elected Prime Minister of Portugal in January 1980, but only held office for eleven months, dying in a plane crash with his partner, Snu Abecassis, on December 4, 1980...

 had retained office as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Portugal
Prime Minister is the current title of the chief of the Portuguese Government. As chief executive, the Prime Minister coordinates the action of ministers, representing the Government from the other organs of state, accountable to Parliament and keeps the President informed...

 with an increased majority. However, Sá Carneiro, along with other important members of the coalition, died in an aircrash only two months after the election, on December 5, 1980. Such happenings caused a massive political instability and Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão, GCC , is a former Prime Minister of Portugal, who served from 1981 to 1983.-Background:He is the son of Henrique Patrício de Balsemão and wife Maria Adelaide van Zeller de Castro Pereira , granddaughter in male line of an adulterine son of King Pedro...

, a senior official of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...

, the largest party in the Alliance, became Prime Minister. But Balsemão lacked support from such senior members of his party as Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC , is the President of Portugal. He won the Portuguese presidential election on 22 January 2006 and was re-elected on 23 January 2011, for a second five-year term. Cavaco Silva was sworn in on 9 March 2006....

, and several ministers resigned. Moreover, the right-wing policy was criticized by the left-wing and by the trade unions, and in February, the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers
General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers
The General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers is the largest trade union federation in Portugal...

, with the support of the Communists, called for a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

 that shook the government. The wave of resignations among Balsemão's ministers continued and by the end of the year, he also resigned. Because no one inside the Social Democratic Party accepted the office of Prime Minister, the President
President of Portugal
Portugal has been a republic since 1910, and since that time the head of state has been the president, whose official title is President of the Portuguese Republic ....

 Ramalho Eanes dissolved the Parliament and called an election for April.

The election was won by the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....

 with 36%, and Mário Soares
Mário Soares
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL, KE , Portuguese politician, served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996.-Family:...

 was nominated Prime Minister. However, the Socialists lacked a majority in the Assembly of the Republic
Assembly of the Republic
The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery...

 and were forced to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, in what was called the "Central Block
Central Block
Central Bloc is the name given in Portugal to the grand coalition the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party which ruled from 1983 to 1985, and to any potential coalition between those two parties....

". Although this coalition allowed Soares to govern, several members of both parties were against it, and internal attacks led to the collapse of the coalition after less than two years. In the election that followed, the Communist-dominated United People Alliance
United People Alliance
The United People Alliance , was an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Portuguese Democratic Movement...

 lost 3 MPs and the Democratic Social Center, after the dissolution of the Democratic Alliance, was now alone in the Parliament with 30 MPs, a loss of 16. The election marked the beginning of a process of bi-polarization of Portuguese politics.

The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
  • United People Alliance
    United People Alliance
    The United People Alliance , was an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Portuguese Democratic Movement...

     (APU), Álvaro Cunhal
    Álvaro Cunhal
    Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal, who used the name Álvaro Cunhal , was a Portuguese politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of Estado Novo. He served as secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party from 1961 to 1992...

  • Portuguese Socialist Party
    Socialist Party (Portugal)
    The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....

     (PS), Mário Soares
    Mário Soares
    Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL, KE , Portuguese politician, served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996.-Family:...

  • Social Democratic Party
    Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
    The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...

     (PSD), Mota Pinto
  • Democratic Social Center (CDS), Lucas Pires


Mário Soares, leader of the Socialist Party, was nominated Prime Minister.

National summary of votes and seats

|-
! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Seats
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
! align="center"|1980
Portuguese legislative election, 1980
The Portuguese legislative election of 1980 took place on October 5.In January 1980, the Democratic Alliance, which had won the previous election, on December 2 of 1979, entered office with Francisco Sá Carneiro leading the government...


! align="center"|1983
Portuguese legislative election, 1983
The Portuguese legislative election of 1983 took place on April 25. The last election, in October 1980 had been won by a right-wing coalition, the Democratic Alliance and Francisco Sá Carneiro had retained office as Prime Minister with an increased majority...


! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±
|-

|2,061,309||36.11||8.41||741||101||271||40.40||10.81
|-

|1,554,804||27.24||—||82||75||7||30.00||2.8
|-

|1,031,609||18.07||1.3||41||44||3||17.60||1.2
|-

|716,705||12.56||—||46||30||16||12.00||6.4
|-

|39,180||0.69||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-

|27,635||0.48||—||6||0||6||0.00||2.4
|-

|27,260||0.48||0.9||1||0||1||0.00||0.4
|-
|
|align=left|People's Democratic Union
People's Democratic Union (Portugal)
The People's Democratic Union is a marxist political movement in Portugal. The UDP transformed itself into a political association at its 15th congress due to its merger with other left-wing parties in the Left Bloc....

 / PSR
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Revolutionary Socialist Party was a small far-left Party in Portugal, founded in 1978 after the merger of two Trotskyist parties - the Internationalist Communist League and the Workers Revolutionary Party...


|25,222||0.44||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-

|20,995||0.37||0.2||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-

|19,657||0.34||1.1||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-

|13,327||0.23||0.8||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-

|11,500||0.20||—||—||0||—||0.00||—
|-

|6,113||0.11||0.0||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-

|5,523||0.10||0.0||0||0||0||0.00||0.0
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,560,839
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|97.43
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.3
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|250
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|250
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="41" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.0
|-
|colspan=2|Blank ballots
|42,494||0.74||0.1||colspan=5 rowspan=3|
|-
|colspan=2|Invalid ballots
|104,276||1.83||0.1
|-
|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout 77.79%)
|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,707,695
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00
|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|6.1
|-
| colspan=10 align=left|The Socialist Party contested the 1980 election in a coalition (Republican and Socialist Front
Republican and Socialist Front
Republican and Socialist Front was an electoral alliance in Portugal, consisting of the Socialist Party , Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy and Independent Social Democratic Action . FRS contested the Portuguese legislative election, 1980...

).
The Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Centre and the People's Monarchist Party contested,
together, the 1980 election in a coalition (Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Portugal)
The Democratic Alliance was a coalition in Portugal between the Social Democratic Party , the Democratic Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party , including also a group of...

).

|-
| colspan=10 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}
1 Socialist Party results are compared to the combined totals of the Republican and Socialist Front
Republican and Socialist Front
Republican and Socialist Front was an electoral alliance in Portugal, consisting of the Socialist Party , Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy and Independent Social Democratic Action . FRS contested the Portuguese legislative election, 1980...

 in the 1980 election.

2 Social Democratic Party results are compared to the combined totals of the Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Portugal)
The Democratic Alliance was a coalition in Portugal between the Social Democratic Party , the Democratic Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party , including also a group of...

 in the 1980 election.

See also

  • Politics of Portugal
    Politics of Portugal
    Politics in Portugal take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of the Republic is the head of state and has several significant political powers, which he...

  • List of political parties in Portugal
  • Elections in Portugal
    Elections in Portugal
    Elections in Portugal gives information on election and election results in Portugal.Only the elections since the Carnation Revolution of 1974 are listed here. During the period encompassing the Constitutional Monarchy and the First Republic there were also elections, but only for a limited...

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