General election in Portugal 1985
The 1985 general election in Portugal took place on October 6th.
The elections had become necessary because of growing tensions and disputes within the politically right-centered Social Democratic Party of Portugal . A current defending the government coalition with the socialists around Carlos Mota Pinto , Henrique Nascimento Rodrigues and Eurico de Melo, the so-called troika in the PSD leadership, and one of the former finance and planning minister in the cabinet of Francisco Sá Carneiro , Aníbal Cavaco Silva , led and more conservative group fought over the future direction of their party. The sudden death of Mota Pinto, who resigned from his party and government offices in February 1985, sparked new clashes. In May 1985, at the 12th Congress of the PSD, against the plans of the previous party leadership, Cavaco Silva was surprisingly elected President of the party's Political Commission. On June 4, 1985, the government coalition with the socialists broke up due to irreconcilable differences in labor and agricultural policy.
President António Ramalho Eanes then dissolved parliament and called new elections. Since neither the PSD nor the socialists had given him an opportunity to continue his political career in a leading position (the constitution did not allow another term as president of the country), he played a major role in the formation of the Democratic Renewal Party, which took place in February 1985 (PRD). The PRD saw itself as a center-left party and acted as the guardian of the moral values of Portuguese society and the Carnation Revolution .
The October 6 election resulted in a victory for the PSD, which won its first election single-handedly. What was surprising was the good result of the PRD, which immediately became the third strongest political force with almost 18% of the votes. The poor performance of the right-wing conservative CDS under Francisco Lucas Pires led to his resignation in October.
Since the PSD emerged from the election as the strongest party, it also provided the prime minister with Aníbal Cavaco Silva. However, since the PSD did not have its own parliamentary majority, he led a minority government that was alternately dependent on tolerance by the PRD and the CDS. After the PRD gave up its policy of tolerance in the spring of 1987, the first Cavaco Silva government came to an end.
The turnout was 74.16%. The counting was done according to the D'Hondt method .
Election results
| Political party | be right | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | % | +/- | number | +/- | ||
| Partido Social Democrata | 1,732,288 | 29.9 | +2.7 | 88 | +13 | |
| Partido Socialista | 1,204,321 | 20.8 | −15.3 | 57 | −44 | |
| Partido Renovador Democrático | 1,038,893 | 17.9 | - | 45 | - | |
| Aliança Povo Unido | 898.281 | 15.5 | −2.6 | 38 | −6 | |
| Centro Democrático e Social | 577,580 | 10.0 | −2.6 | 22nd | −8 | |
| União Democrática Popular | 73.401 | 1.3 | +0.8 | - | - | |
| Partido da Democracia Cristã | 41,831 | 0.7 | +0.0 | - | - | |
| Partido Socialista Revolucionário | 35,238 | 0.6 | +0.4 | - | - | |
| Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses | 19,943 | 0.3 | −0.1 | - | - | |
| Partido Operário de Unidade Socialista | 19,085 | 0.3 | −0.0 | - | - | |
| Partido Comunista (Reconstruído) | 12,749 | 0.2 | +0.2 | - | - | |
| Blank ballot paper | 48,709 | 0.8 | +0.1 | |||
| Invalid ballot | 96,610 | 1.7 | −0.1 | |||
| total | 5,798,929 | 100.0 | 250 | |||
| Eligible voters | 7,818,981 | |||||
| voter turnout | 74.2% | |||||
| Source: | ||||||
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares ( Memento of the original of July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Resultados Eleitorais , on eleicoes.cne.pt, accessed on January 30, 2012
Web links
- Comissão Nacional de Eleições Official website of the Electoral Commission
- Politics and government Wir-in-Portugal.de
