Centro Democrático e Social - Partido Popular

Centro Democrático e Social - Partido Popular
Party leader	vacant
founding	July 19, 1974
Alignment	Christian democracy right-wing populism national conservatism
Parliament seats	5/230 ( Assembleia , 2019 )
International connections	IDU
MEPs	1/21
European party	EPP
EP Group	EPP
Website	www.cds.pt

The Partido Popular - Centro Democrático e Social [ 'sẽtɾu dɨmu'kɾatiku i susi'aɫ / pɐɾ'tidu pupu'laɾ ] listen ^{? / i} , abbreviated CDS-PP , in German "Democratic and Social Center - People's Party", is a right-wing conservative Portuguese political party .

CDS party conference in Santa Maria da Feira in January 2005

The People's Party has been represented in the National Assembly, the Portuguese Parliament , since the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and has been involved in the Portuguese government several times with changing coalition partners . Under Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho it provided 24 MPs and formed the government with the liberal-conservative Partido Social Democrata . The party chairman was Assunção Cristas from 2016 to 2019 .

The CDS-PP is represented by one member in the European Parliament . At the European level, the CDS-PP has long been a member of the European Democrats , an EU - skeptical alliance of conservative parties that formed a group in the European Parliament with the European People's Party (EPP). In the meantime, however, the CDS-PP has joined the EPP. At the international level, it is a member of the International Democratic Union (IDU).

Although originally founded as a party from the center, which is also reflected in the party name, the CDS-PP today represents conservative to right-wing conservative positions. The CDS-PP advocates a restrictive immigration policy and is close to the Catholic Church .

history

The party was founded on July 19, 1974 under the name "Democratic and Social Center" ( Centro Democrático e Social - CDS ). It was founded shortly after the Carnation Revolution , which allowed political parties to operate in Portugal again. Important founding members were Diogo Freitas do Amaral , Adelino Amaro da Costa and Basílio Horta .

Shortly after it was founded, the CDS felt itself to be a collecting basin for that part of the population who were involved with the radical socialist currents, which, immediately after the Carnation Revolution, were supported by a large part of the Movimento das Forças Armadas and, at the time of Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves, also by the government were represented, did not agree. As its main political opponent, the party therefore saw the Portuguese Communist Party . In the elections to the Constituent Assembly ( April 25, 1975 ) the party won 16 seats. The CDS was the only party to vote against the country's new constitution because it was too socialist for them.

First participation in government in coalition with the socialists

In the first parliamentary elections after the adoption of a new constitution in April 1976 ( July 27, 1976 ), the Socialist Party of Mário Soares became the strongest parliamentary group , but without achieving a majority of its own. The CDS won 42 seats and thus achieved its main election goal of becoming stronger than the communists. Soares became prime minister of a minority government to which the CDS was initially in opposition. After this minority government had failed due to a lack of parliamentary support, the CDS joined a coalition led by Soares on January 23, 1978 , and appointed three ministers, including the foreign minister , and five state secretaries . Since the programmatic differences between the CDS and the socialists were too great, the coalition failed after a short time. Soares had to resign, and President Eanes then appointed non-partisan governments without a parliamentary majority until the parties were suitable for new elections.

The CDS as part of the Aliança Democrática

For the 1979 elections , the most important conservative parties in the country formed a party alliance at the suggestion of the CDS. In addition to the CDS, the resulting Aliança Democrática (dt. "Democratic Alliance", abbreviated AD) belonged to the Partido Social Democrata ("Social Democratic Party", PSD), which - contrary to its name suggests - is also a conservative party, as well as the smallest partner of the Partido Popular Monárquico ("Monarchist People's Party", PPM). The AD's strongest party was the PSD, whose chairman Francisco Sá Carneiro became the new Prime Minister after the AD won the election. In the Sá Carneiro government, the CDS provided five ministers and ten state secretaries, while the chairman of the CDS Freitas do Amaral became deputy prime minister and foreign minister.

On December 4, 1980 , Prime Minister Sá Carneiro was killed in a plane crash under circumstances that have not yet been clarified . Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa (CDS) was also on the plane and was also a victim of the accident. Francisco Pinto Balsemão became the new chairman of the PSD and thus also the new Prime Minister . The CDS remained in the government, while Freitas do Amaral remained deputy prime minister, but gave up the office of foreign minister in order to take over the office of defense minister from his unfortunate party colleague.

Unlike Sá Carneiro, Pinto Balsemão failed to hold the various parties in the AD together. Especially between him and his deputy Freitas do Amaral there were increasing differences. This eventually led to Freitas do Amaral resigning from his government post and also as party leader of the CDS. The CDS then left the AD, the government lost its majority and had to resign.

Twenty years of opposition 1982–2002

The new elections that became necessary after the resignation of the Pinto Balsemão government did not produce a clear result. The socialists became the strongest party, but again failed to gain a majority in parliament. A grand coalition of socialists and social democrats led by Mário Soares was founded . When this broke up in 1985 , the Social Democrats finally became the strongest party, led a minority government and from 1987 even had an absolute majority. The Social Democrats ruled from 1985 to 1995 ( Aníbal Cavaco Silva government ), after which the Socialists ruled alone until 2002 ( António Guterres government ), the CDS was in opposition to all these governments.

With the resignation of Freitas do Amaral, the party also needed a new chairman, who was eventually found in Francisco Lucas Pires, who was able to prevail against his rival Luís Barbosa with a fight candidate. The parliamentary elections of 1985 brought the party a bad result, Francisco Lucas Pires took responsibility for it and resigned. His successor Adriano Moreira could not turn the tide, so that in the end Freitas do Amaral took over the party chairmanship again (until 1992 ). At that time, the party only had four members in parliament.

The 1992 party congress brought a generation change at the top of the party when the former chairman of their youth organization, Manuel Monteiro, was elected as the new chairman. A year later, the party added the phrase “ People's Party ” to its traditional name , giving it its current name. The new chairman is taking a decidedly EU-critical course, and the dispute about the party's attitude towards the European Union ultimately led to a break with former chairman Diogo Freitas do Amaral. In 1993 the CDS-PP was expelled from the European People's Party because it rejected the Maastricht Treaty and also failed to pay its membership fees.

The party recovered in the 1995 elections , with 15 seats in parliament. The local elections of 1997 brought another slump in the electorate, Monteiro resigned, and Paulo Portas became the new party chairman .

Participation in government 2002-2005

CDS office in Figueira da Foz

The year 2002 brought new elections, which had become necessary due to the resignation of Guterres because of the losses of the socialists in the local elections of 2002. The elections were won by the PSD , which, however, missed an absolute majority. There was a renewed coalition of the national conservative CDS-PP with the PSD. The PSD politician José Manuel Barroso became prime minister , the CDS-PP entered the government with three ministers, including Paulo Portas as defense minister. In 2004 Barroso resigned as head of government after being elected President of the European Commission . His successor, Pedro Santana Lopes, was controversial domestically and had to resign after a short period of government, which resulted in new elections.

In the 2005 elections , the CDS also had to bear the consequences for the unpopularity of PSD Prime Minister Santana Lopes. The party was unable to achieve any of its electoral goals (remaining as the third strongest political force in the country, preventing an absolute majority of the socialists, a voting share of at least ten percent), lost two seats and only had twelve members in the National Assembly. The socialists achieved an absolute majority and led the government again with José Sócrates , the CDS-PP was again in the opposition.

The development after 2005

Paulo Portas took responsibility for the unexpectedly poor performance of the CDS-PP and stepped down from all his offices. José Ribeiro e Castro was elected to succeed him. However, the new chairman acted haplessly and was overthrown by his predecessor in spring 2007. In a direct election by party members, Paulo Portas was elected with 72 percent of the vote.

The XXVI met in Gondomar on March 12 and 13, 2016. Congress of the Party. With Assunção Cristas woman was first elected to lead the party.

Party leader

• 1974–1982: Diogo Freitas do Amaral
• 1982–1985: Francisco Lucas Pires
• 1985-1986: Adriano Moreira
• 1986-1992: Diogo Freitas do Amaral
• 1992–1997: Manuel Monteiro
• 1997-2005: Paulo Portas
• 2005–2007: José Ribeiro e Castro
• 2007-2016: Paulo Portas
• 2016–2019: Assunção Cristas

Election results since 1976

The results of the CDS and CDS-PP in national parliamentary elections are as follows:

Election results
year	Number of votes	Share of votes	Seats	Party leader
1976	876.077	16.0%	42	Freitas do Amaral
1979	-	-	43	Freitas do Amaral
1980	-	-	46	Freitas do Amaral
1983	716.705	12.6%	30th	Freitas do Amaral
1985	577,580	10.0%	22nd	Lucas Pires
1987	251.987	4.4%	4th	Lucas Pires
1991	254.317	4.4%	5	Manuel Monteiro
1995	534.470	9.1%	15th	Manuel Monteiro
1999	451,643	8.3%	15th	Paulo Portas
2002	477,350	8.7%	14th	Paulo Portas
2005	416.415	7.2%	12	Paulo Portas
2009	592.778	10.4%	21st	Paulo Portas
2011	653,888	11.7%	24	Paulo Portas
2015	(PàF electoral alliance)		18th	Paulo Portas
2019	221,774	4.2%	5	Assunção Cristas

In the elections of 1979 and 1980, the party did not participate with its own list, but with a community list within the framework of the Democratic Alliance (AD) (together with PSD and PPM). The AD won 42.2% of the vote in the 1979 elections and 44.4% in 1980.

In the 2015 elections , the party participated with the community list Portugal à Frente (this time together with PSD ). The PaF received 36.9% of the vote.

The party has traditionally achieved very good results, for example, in the autonomous region of Madeira , where it almost overtook the socialists who had ruled until then for second place in the parliamentary elections in 2011 . In the city of Lisbon and the district of the same name, too, CDS-PP regularly achieved above-average voter popularity, while in the “left” districts such as Beja or Évora the movement achieved poorer results.

See also

• List of political parties in Portugal

Web links

Commons : Centro Democrático e Social - Partido Popular  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.kas.de/laenderberichte/detail/-/content/wahlsieg-von-antonio-costa-und-der-sozialistische-partei-in-portugal
2. ^ Karl Magnus Johansson: European People's Party. 2002, p. 65.
3. ↑ Torsten Oppelland: The party system of the European Union. In: The party systems of Western Europe. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 455-475, on p. 460.
4. ↑ Election results - Assembleia da República ( Memento of the original of July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.