1985 Portuguese legislative election

Portuguese legislative election, 1985

6 October 1985
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 125 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva Almeida Santos Hermínio Martinho Party PSD PS PRD Leader since 2 June 1985 13 June 1985 (interim) 10 July 1985 Leader's seat Lisbon Porto Lisbon Last election 75 seats, 27.2% 101 seats, 36.1% New party Seats won 88 57 45 Seat change 13 44 Popular vote 1,732,288 1,204,321 1,038,893 Percentage 29.9% 20.8% 17.90 Swing 2.7% 15.3% New party
Prime Minister before election Mário Soares PS Elected Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva PSD

The Portuguese legislative election of 1985 took place on 6 October. In June of the same year, the former Prime-Minister, Mário Soares, had resigned from the job due to the lack of parliamentary support, the government was composed by a coalition of the two major parties, the center-right Social Democratic and the center-left Socialist, in what was called the Central Bloc, however this was an unstable balance of forces and several members of each party opposed such alliance. The new leader of the Social Democratic Party, Cavaco Silva, elected in May, was among those that never supported such alliance, and short after being elected leader of the party made the coalition fall in July.

A new election was called by the President and the Social Democrats won with a short majority and Cavaco became the Prime-Minister. The election was the first of three consecutive election victories for the Social Democratic Party. Meanwhile, a new party had been founded by supporters of the President Ramalho Eanes, the Democratic Renewal Party, led by Hermínio Martinho that surprisingly gained 45 MPs in the election and became the parliamentary support of the Cavaco's government until 1987, when it removed its support, making Cavaco fall. The Communists and the Socialists lost votes and MPs and the left would only return to the government ten years later, in 1995.

Parties

The major parties involved and the respective leaders:

• United People Alliance (APU), Álvaro Cunhal
• Socialist Party (PS), Almeida Santos
• Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), Hermínio Martinho
• Social Democratic Party (PSD), Cavaco Silva
• Democratic and Social Center (CDS), Lucas Pires

Aníbal Cavaco Silva, leader of the Social Democratic Party, was nominated Prime Minister for the first time.

Opinion Polling

See also: Exit poll and Opinion poll

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed are currently represented in parliament. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1983 and 1985 for reference.

Date Released	Polling Firm	PS	PSD	CDU	CDS	PRD	Others	Lead
6 Oct 1985	Leg. Election	20.8 57 seats	29.9 88 seats	15.5 38 seats	10.0 22 seats	17.9 45 seats	5.9 0 seats	9.1
6 Oct (22:50)	RTP1	22.0 – 26.9	26.8 – 29.7	15.0 – 18.1	9.3 – 10.8	14.5 – 16.5	–	2.8 – 4.8
6 Oct (21:10)	RTP1	23.8 – 26.9	28.0 – 29.8	17.3 – 18.1	9.8 – 10.7	11.1 – 14.9	–	2.9 – 6.0
6 Oct	Rádio Comercial	19.0 – 22.0	29.0 – 31.0	14.0 – 16.0	8.0 – 16.0	18.0 – 22.0	–	9.0 – 10.0
Exit polls
4 Oct	Expresso	28.0 – 32.0	27.0 – 31.0	15.0 – 17.0	9.0 – 12.0	8.0 – 11.0	–	1.0
1985
25 Apr 1983	Leg. Election	36.1 101 seats	27.2 75 seats	18.1 44 seats	12.6 30 seats	Did not exist	6.0 0 seats	8.9

National summary of votes and seats

Vote share PSD   29.87% PS   20.77% PRD   17.92% APU   15.49% CDS   9.96% UDP   1.27% Others/Invalides   4.73%

Parliamentary seats PSD   35.20% PS   22.80% PRD   18.00% APU   15.20% CDS   8.80%

Distribution by constituency

 Results of the 1985 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency

Constituency	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	Total S
	PSD		PS		PRD		APU		CDS
Azores	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|48.3	3	20.1	1	15.2	1	4.4	-	6.5	-	5
Aveiro	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|38.4	6	23.0	4	13.4	2	6.5	1	13.5	2	15
Beja	13.7	1	20.1	1	11.6	-	44.9	3	2.2	-	5
Braga	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|32.8	6	21.8	4	16.8	3	8.5	1	24.0	2	17
Bragança	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|39.2	2	22.7	1	6.9	-	5.3	-	17.1	1	4
Castelo Branco	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|31.2	3	18.5	1	24.4	2	8.9	-	9.6	-	6
Coimbra	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|29.5	4	28.5	3	16.9	2	10.1	1	8.6	1	11
EvoraÉvora	19.1	1	14.3	1	15.8	1	41.2	2	3.3	-	4
Faro	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|28.4	3	22.3	2	20.5	2	15.4	2	6.1	-	9
Guarda	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|33.6	2	23.3	2	10.9	-	5.2	-	19.5	1	5
Leiria	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|38.6	5	19.6	2	15.3	2	7.9	1	12.2	1	11
Lisbon	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|25.6	15	19.8	12	21.3	13	20.1	12	8.1	4	56
Madeira	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|56.8	4	13.2	1	9.7	-	3.2	-	7.8	-	5
Portalegre	20.9	1	23.7	1	18.9	-	25.2	1	4.9	-	3
Porto	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|29.3	12	23.6	10	20.5	8	12.1	5	9.8	4	39
Santarém	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|27.8	4	18.6	2	23.8	3	16.4	2	7.7	1	12
Setúbal	15.4	3	16.5	3	20.4	4	38.2	7	3.8	-	17
Viana do Castelo	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|33.5	3	18.4	1	16.2	1	8.2	-	16.6	1	6
Vila Real	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|42.2	3	23.0	2	8.6	-	5.9	-	12.5	1	6
Viseu	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|37.7	5	20.0	2	10.9	1	5.0	-	19.9	2	10
zEurope	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|24.3	1	24.2	1	7.1	-	18.8	-	17.3	-	2
zRest of the World	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|40.5	1	7.8	-	3.3	-	2.6	-	37.9	1	2
Total	style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party (Portugal)/meta/color; color:white;"|29.9	88	20.8	57	17.9	45	15.5	38	10.0	22	250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

External links

• Comissão Nacional de Eleições
• Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político

See also

• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal
• Elections in Portugal