Socialist Party (Portugal)

Not to be confused with Portuguese Socialist Party.

Socialist Party Partido Socialista
President	Maria de Belém Roseira
Secretary-General	António José Seguro
Founder	Mário Soares
Founded	19 April 1973 (1973-04-19)
Headquarters	Largo do Rato 2, 1269-143 Lisbon
Newspaper	Acção Socialista
Youth wing	Socialist Youth
Membership  (2012)	83,524
Ideology	Social liberalism, Social democracy, Third Way, European federalism
Political position	Centre-left to Center
International affiliation	Socialist International
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Trade union affiliation	General Union of Workers
Colours	Pink, Red
Local Government	921 / 2,078
Regional Parliaments	37 / 104
Assembly of the Republic	74 / 230
European Parliament	7 / 21
Website
www.ps.pt
Politics of Portugal Political parties Elections

The Socialist Party (Portuguese: Partido Socialista, pronounced: [pɐɾˈtiðu susiɐˈliʃtɐ]), 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 (Portuguese: Acção Socialista Portuguesa).

The current leader is António José Seguro. José Sócrates, the former Prime Minister of Portugal, was the leader of the party until 5 June 2011. The party has currently 74 of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament and lost the June 2011 election. The Socialist Party stands out as about a third of its members in the Assembly of the Republic are women.^{[citation needed]}

Sócrates resigned as General Secretary on election night of 5 June 2011, due to having lost the general election by a margin higher than expected. Seguro was elected as leader of the party on July 23, winning 68% of the vote against his challenger, Francisco Assis, who got 32%.

PS is a member of the Socialist International and the Party of European Socialists, and has seven members in the European Parliament within the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) Group during the seventh parliament.

History

António José Seguro, leader since 2011

Social democracy
Development Humanism Age of Enlightenment French Revolution Utopian socialism Trade unionism Revolutions of 1848 Orthodox Marxism Revisionism Progressivism Reformism Gradualism Frankfurt Declaration
Ideas Representative democracy Democratic revolution Economic democracy Labor rights Mixed economy Nationalization Welfare state Fair trade Environmental protection Negative and positive rights Secularism Social corporatism Social market economy
Variants Bernsteinism Liberal socialism Nordic model Godesburg Third Way
People Attlee Awolowo Bernstein Ali Bhutto Branting Curtin Daszyński Debs Douglas Ecevit González Hilferding Jaurès Junmai Katayama Lassalle Layton Lévesque Mandela MacDonald Nader Nehru Batlle y Ordóñez Plekhanov Savage Palme Thomas
Organizations Social democratic parties Socialist International International Union of Socialist Youth Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance Young European Socialists (YES) International Trade Union Confederation

The PS was created at a conference of Portuguese Socialist Action (ASP), at that time in exile, on April 19, 1973, in Bad Münstereifel in West Germany. The twenty-seven delegates decided to found a party of socialism and freedom, making an explicit reference to a classless society and without Marxism, redesigned as a source of principal inspiration.

On 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution brought down the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo, established in 1933, and democracy was restored. The general secretary of the PS, Mário Soares, returned to Portugal after being in exile in France, and became foreign minister, and António de Almeida Santos was appointed Minister of interjurisdictional coordination in one of the first provisional governments.

After the Revolution, elections were called for the 25 April 1975 and the Socialist Party (PS) won the 1975 election for the Constituent Assembly and the 1976 elections for the National Assembly, then losing to the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) in the 1979 elections.

In 1980, the PS made an electoral alliance called the Republican and Socialist Front (FRS), between the Independent Social Democrats (ASDI), led by Sousa Franco, and the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy (UEDS), led by Lopes Cardoso. The alliance failed to defeat the AD.

They won the 1983 general election, but without an absolute majority, the Socialists formed a coalition with the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), creating a "Central Block". The new government began negotiations for Portugal to enter the EEC. In 1985 the Central Block broke down and the PS at the time led by Almeida Santos, lost the 1985 election. Cavaco Silva's PSD won the 1985 elections and again in 1987 and 1991 with absolute majority. The PS was in opposition for more than ten years.

In 1995, the Socialist Party, then led by António Guterres, won a general election for the first time in twelve years, and in 1999, they failed to obtain what would have been an historic absolute majority for the party by only one MP. In 2001, after a massive defeat in the 2001 local elections, António Guterres resigned as Prime Minister and called for new elections in 2002. The Socialist Party lost the 2002 general election by a small margin to the Social Democratic Party.

In June 2004, the PS won the European Parliament elections by a landslide, and a few weeks later, Durão Barroso, leader of the PSD and Prime Minister, resigned to become President of the European Commission. In December 2004, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Republic, called fresh elections for February 2005. These elections resulted in a landslide victory for the PS, winning for the first time since its foundation an absolute majority. José Sócrates, leader of the PS, became Prime Minister.

In 2009, after four-and-a-half years in power, the PS lost the European Parliament elections to the PSD. However, they won the general election held on 27 September but failed to renew the absolute majority they won in 2005.

The financial crisis of 2011 hit Portugal very hard, prompting Sócrates' government to impose harsh austerity measures. On 23 March 2011, the entire opposition in Parliament said no to new measures proposed by the government. As a result of this, José Sócrates resigned as Prime Minister and early elections took place on 5 June.

In the elections, the PS suffered a huge setback, with 28.1% of the vote, ten points behind the PSD, who formed a coalition with the People's Party. Sócrates resigned as General Secretary on election night after the PS's worst result since 1987. On 23 July, António José Seguro was elected as his successor.

Election results

Year	Party Leader	Votes	% of votes	Seats in the Assembly of the Republic	+/–	Position in government
1976	Mário Soares	1,912,921	34.89%	107 / 263		Government
1979	Mário Soares	1,642,136	27.33%	74 / 250	33	Main opposition party
1980	Mário Soares	N/A	N/A	66 / 250	8	Main opposition party
1983	Mário Soares	2,061,309	36.11%	101 / 250	35	Coalition with the Social Democratic Party
1985	Almeida Santos	1,204,321	20.77%	57 / 250	44	Main opposition party
1987	Vítor Constâncio	1,262,506	22.24%	60 / 250	3	Main opposition party
1991	Jorge Sampaio	1,670,758	29.13%	72 / 230	12	Main opposition party
1995	António Guterres	2,583,755	43.76%	112 / 230	40	Government
1999	António Guterres	2,385,922	44.06%	115 / 230	3	Government
2002	Ferro Rodrigues	2,068,584	37.79%	96 / 230	19	Main opposition party
2005	José Sócrates	2,588,312	45.03%	121 / 230	25	Government
2009	José Sócrates	2,077,238	36.56%	97 / 230	24	Government
2011	José Sócrates	1,566,347	28.05%	74 / 230	23	Main opposition party
^A In the Republican and Socialist Front, with the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy and the Independent Social Democratic Action.

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Notes
1987	1,267,672	22.5 (#2)	6 / 24
1989	1,184,380	28.5 (#2)	8 / 24	2
1994	1,061,560	34.9 (#1)	10 / 25	2
1999	1,493,146	43.1 (#1)	12 / 25	2
2004	1,516,001	44.5 (#1)	12 / 24	0
2009	946,818	26.5 (#2)	7 / 22 7 / 21	5 0

List of important people

Mário Soares, founder, Prime Minister 1976–1978 and 1983–1985.

António Guterres, Prime Minister from 1995 to 2002.

José Sócrates, Secretary General of the PS 2004-2011 and Prime Minister 2005-2011.

General Secretaries (Secretários-Gerais)

• Mário Soares: 1973–1986
• Almeida Santos (interim): 1986
• Vítor Constâncio: 1986–1989
• Jorge Sampaio: 1989–1992
• António Guterres: 1992–2002
• Ferro Rodrigues: 2002–2004
• José Sócrates: 2004–2011
• António José Seguro: 2011–

Prime Ministers

• Mário Soares: 1976–1978, 1983–1985
• António Guterres: 1995–2002
• José Sócrates: 2005–2011

Presidents of the Republic

• Mário Soares: 1986–1996
• Jorge Sampaio: 1996–2006

See also

• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal

• Socialist Party
• Republican and Socialist Front
• Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

External links

• Official Website (in Portuguese)
• Official Website - Featured links (list in Portuguese, links to international websites in English)
• Socialist Internacional
• Party of European Socialists