# 1991 Portuguese legislative election

The 1991 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. There was a reduction of 20 seats compared with previous elections, due to the 1989 Constitutional revision. For the first time in Portuguese democracy, an election was held after the four years of the legislature had been fully completed.
The Social Democratic Party, under the lead of Cavaco Silva, won a historic third term and won an absolute majority for the second consecutive election. While it lost 13 MPs due to the reduction of the overall number from the original 250 to 230, although just a 3 seat loss if the 1987 election results are tabulated with the new seat distribution, it gained a higher share of the vote than in 1987. Cavaco Silva became the first Prime Minister since Hintze Ribeiro, in 1904, to lead a party into three successive democratic election victories.
The Socialist Party, at the time led by Jorge Sampaio, the future President of Portugal, increased its share by 7 percentage points and gained 12 MPs, a gain of 16 if compared with 1987 with the new seat distribution, but did not manage to avoid the absolute majority of the Social Democrats. Like four and six years earlier, and like 1979 and 1980, the PS failed to win a single district. In the first legislative election after the fall of the Eastern Bloc, the communist dominated Democratic Unity Coalition lost much of its electoral influence, losing almost 10 MPs and 4 points of the votes, but were able to hold on to the district of Beja by a slight margin over the PSD.
On the right, the CDS could not recover its past influence, mainly to the effect of tactical voting for the Social Democratic Party by right-wing voters, increasing its parliamentary group by only 1 MP. The National Solidarity Party, using a populist campaign, achieved for the first time an MP, in what would be the only presence of such party in the Parliament.
Voter turnout fell to 67.8 percent, and for the first time below 70 percent of the electorate.

## Background
### Leadership changes and challenges
#### CDS 1988 leadership election

After CDS's poor results, just 4 percent, in the 1987 general elections, then CDS leader Adriano Moreira announced he would leave the leadership and called a party congress to elect a new leader. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, former party leader and defeated candidate in the 1986 presidential election, returned to the party and was the sole candidate to the party's leadership.
Ballot: 31 January 1988 :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Diogo Freitas do Amaral | Voice vote | Voice vote |
| Turnout | Turnout | | 100.0 |
| Source: ||||

#### PS 1989 leadership election

In the 1987 general election the PS polled 2nd with just 22 percent, while the PSD won a historic absolute majority. Then party leader, Vítor Constâncio was facing pressures because of his strategy, with interferences also from President Mário Soares, and, adding to this, his difficulty in finding a strong candidate for Lisbon to contest the 1989 local elections. Because of these pressures, Constâncio resign in late 1988 and a party congress to elect a new leader was called for mid January 1989. Two candidates were on the ballot, Jorge Sampaio and Jaime Gama. Sampaio was easily elected as PS leader.
Ballot: 15 January 1989 :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes |
| | Jorge Sampaio | WIN |
| | Jaime Gama | |
| Turnout | Turnout | |
| Source: ||||

#### PRD 1991 leadership election

The Democratic Renewal Party's results in the 1987 election were disappointing and António Ramalho Eanes resigned from the leadership. Hermínio Martinho returned to the leadership, but the party was plagued by deep divisions on its ideology and strategy, with key members, including Ramalho Eanes, announcing their departure from the party In June 1991, the party held a leadership ballot between Hermínio Martinho and Pedro Canavarro. Martinho defended the dissolution of the party, while Canavarro proposed the continuation of the party. The ballot results gave Canavarro a landslide victory. The results were the following:
Ballot: 2 June 1991 :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Pedro Canavarro | 145 | 79.2 |
| | Hermínio Martinho | 38 | 20.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 183 | |
| Source: ||||

## Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 230 members elected to four-year terms. The total number of MPs was reduced in 1989, during the Constitutional amendments, to 230 from the previous 250. Governments do not require absolute majority support of the Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 116 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.
The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude. The use of the d'Hondt method makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the Hare quota or Sainte-Laguë method, which are more generous to small parties.
For these elections, and compared with the 1987 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:
| District | Number of MPs | Map |
| Lisbon$^{(–6)}$ | 50 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Porto$^{(–2)}$ | 37 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Braga$^{(–1)}$ and Setúbal$^{(–1)}$ | 16 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Aveiro$^{(–1)}$ | 14 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Leiria$^{(–1)}$, Santarém$^{(–2)}$ and Coimbra$^{(–1)}$ | 10 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Viseu$^{(–1)}$ | 9 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Faro$^{(–1)}$ | 8 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Vila Real and Viana do Castelo | 6 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Azores, Castelo Branco, Madeira | 5 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Beja$^{(–1)}$, Bragança, Évora and Guarda$^{(–1)}$ | 4 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Portalegre | 3 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |
| Europe and Outside Europe | 2 | 16 6 37 6 4 14 9 4 10 5 10 10 50 3 4 16 4 8 5 5 2 2 |

## Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 5th legislature (1987–1991) and that also partook in the election:

### With the 1987 seat distribution

| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | 1987 result | 1987 result | Seats at dissolution |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | % | Seats | Seats at dissolution |
| | PPD/PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata | Liberal conservatism Classical liberalism | Centre-right | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | 50.2% | 148 / 250 | 148 / 250 |
| | PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista | Social democracy | Centre-left | Jorge Sampaio | 22.2% | 60 / 250 | 67 / 250 |
| | PCP | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português | Communism Marxism–Leninism | Far-left | Álvaro Cunhal | 12.1% | 29 / 250 | 29 / 250 |
| | PEV | Ecologist Party "The Greens" Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" | Eco-socialism Green politics | Left-wing | - | 12.1% | 2 / 250 | 0 / 250 |
| | PRD | Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovador Democrático | Centrism Third Way | Centre | Pedro Canavarro | 4.9% | 7 / 250 | 0 / 250 |
| | CDS | Democratic and Social Centre Centro Democrático e Social | Christian democracy Conservatism | Centre-right to right-wing | Diogo Freitas do Amaral | 4.4% | 4 / 250 | 4 / 250 |
| | Ind. | Independent Independente | Ecologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990; | Ecologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990; | Ecologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990; | Ecologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990; | Ecologist Party "The Greens" caucus dissolved in December 1990; | 2 / 250 |

#### Seat changes

* On December 1990, the 7 MPs of the Democratic Renewal Party left the party and decided to join the Socialist Party caucus, after a split with the party's leader, Pedro Canavarro.
* Also on December 1990, the two MPs from the Ecologist Party "The Greens" decided to dissolve their caucus and sit as Independents, following disagreements with the Portuguese Communist Party and defending an ecological party not aligned with the Communists.

### 1987 results with the new seat distribution

| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | 1987 notional result | 1987 notional result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Political position | Leader | % | Seats |
| | PPD/PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata | Liberal conservatism Classical liberalism | Centre-right | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | 50.2% | 138 / 230 |
| | PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista | Social democracy | Centre-left | Jorge Sampaio | 22.2% | 56 / 230 |
| | PCP | Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português | Communism Marxism–Leninism | Far-left | Álvaro Cunhal | 12.1% | 24 / 230 |
| | PEV | Ecologist Party "The Greens" Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" | Eco-socialism Green politics | Left-wing | - | 12.1% | 2 / 230 |
| | PRD | Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovador Democrático | Centrism Third Way | Centre | Pedro Canavarro | 4.9% | 6 / 230 |
| | CDS | Democratic and Social Centre Centro Democrático e Social | Christian democracy Conservatism | Centre-right to right-wing | Diogo Freitas do Amaral | 4.4% | 4 / 230 |

## Campaign period
### Party slogans

| Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation |
| PSD | « No bom caminho » | "On the right track" |
| PS | « Agora nós » | "Now us." |
| CDU | « Para um Portugal melhor » | "For a better Portugal" |
| CDS | « A verdade, sempre! » | "The truth, always!" |
| PSN | « O sol está a nascer para todos. » | "The sun is rising for everyone." |

### Candidates' debates

No debates between the main parties were held as the PSD leader and Prime Minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, refused to take part in any debate.

## Opinion polling

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1987 and 1991 for reference.
Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.
Exit poll
| Date Released | Polling Firm | | PS | | | | Others | Lead |
| 6 Oct 1991 | Leg. election | 50.6 135 | 29.1 72 | 8.8 17 | 4.4 5 | 1.7 1 | 5.4 0 | 21.5 |
| 6 Oct 1991 | RTP1 - Universidade Católica Seat projection | 48.0–51.9 128/138 | 28.5–31.5 73/83 | 7.5–10.0 11/14 | 4.5–5.5 4/7 | ? 1/2 | PSR ? 1/2 | 19.5 20.4 |
| 6 Oct 1991 | TSF/Expresso - Euroexpansão | 45.8–50.2 | 29.8–33.9 | 6.8–9.1 | 3.7–5.5 | 1.0–2.0 | PSR 1.4–2.6 | 16.0 16.3 |
| 6 Oct 1991 | Antena1 - Euroteste | 47.0–50.0 | 31.0–34.0 | 7.5–10.0 | 4.0–5.0 | – | PSR 1.0–1.5 | 16.0 |
| 6 Oct 1991 | Rádio Comercial - GEOIDEIA | 49.0–52.0 | 29.0–31.0 | 7.0–9.0 | 3.0–4.0 | 2.0–3.0 | PSR 1.0–2.0 | 20.0 21.0 |
| 6 Oct 1991 | Rádio Press | 45.5 | 35.0 | 9.6 | 4.5 | – | — | 10.5 |
| 6 Oct 1991 | Rádio Correio da Manhã | 45.8–50.2 | 29.8–33.9 | 6.8–9.1 | 3.7–5.5 | 1.0–2.0 | PSR 1.4–2.6 | 16.0 16.3 |
| 29 Sep 1991 | Universidade Católica Seat projection | 51.3 134 | 29.3 73 | 7.5 12 | 5.0 5 | — | 7.0 2 | 22.0 |
| 28 Sep 1991 | Euroteste | 47.3 | 35.5 | 8.5 | 4.1 | — | 4.6 | 11.8 |
| 28 Sep 1991 | Euroteste | 46.0 | 37.0 | 9.7 | 3.9 | — | 3.4 | 9.0 |
| 28 Sep 1991 | Euroexpansão | 44.0 | 33.0 | 9.0 | 6.0 | — | 8.0 | 11.0 |
| 27 Sep 1991 | Marktest | 43.1 | 32.8 | 7.7 | 4.6 | — | 11.8 | 10.3 |
| 27 Sep 1991 | Pluriteste | 41.2 | 34.7 | 8.4 | 8.1 | — | 7.6 | 6.5 |
| 20 Sep 1991 | Euroteste | 45.6 | 35.5 | 10.0 | 4.4 | — | 4.5 | 10.1 |
| 20 Sep 1991 | Marktest | 41.9 | 31.9 | 7.3 | 4.4 | — | 14.5 | 10.0 |
| 16 Sep 1991 | Pluriteste | 39.2 | 26.6 | 6.2 | 6.0 | — | 22.0 | 12.6 |
| 16 Sep 1991 | Euroteste | 45.1 | 34.5 | 10.2 | 5.2 | — | 5.0 | 10.6 |
| 14 Sep 1991 | Norma | 45.0 | 37.5 | 11.2 | 3.5 | — | 2.8 | 7.5 |
| 14 Sep 1991 | Euroexpansão | 44.7 | 40.0 | — | — | — | 15.3 | 4.7 |
| 28 Aug 1991 | Euroexpansão/Marktest | 35.3 | 36.8 | 8.7 | 4.9 | — | 14.3 | 1.5 |
| 13 Aug 1991 | DN/Renascença | 46.5 | 38.3 | — | — | — | 15.2 | 8.2 |
| 6 Aug 1991 | DN/Renascença | 44.8 | 41.6 | — | — | — | 13.6 | 3.2 |
| 4 Aug 1991 | Euroteste/JN | 47.5 | 37.8 | 12.3 | 8.2 | — | — | 7.7 |
| 19 Jul 1991 | Norma | 43.7 | 32.9 | 12.4 | 6.5 | — | 4.5 | 10.8 |
| 19 Jul 1991 | Euroteste | 45.4 | 36.6 | 10.8 | 4.0 | — | 3.2 | 8.8 |
| 13 Jan 1991 | Euroteste | 47.5 | 36.9 | 9.3 | 3.5 | — | 2.7 | 10.6 |
| 17 Dec 1989 | Local elections | 35.4 | 36.8 | 13.3 | 9.2 | — | 5.4 | 1.4 |
| 18 Jun 1989 | EP elections | 32.8 | 28.5 | 14.4 | 14.2 | — | 10.1 | 4.3 |
| 19 Jul 1987 | Leg. election | 50.2 148 | 22.2 60 | 12.1 31 | 4.4 4 | Did not exist | 11.1 7 | 28.0 |

## National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 6 October 1991 Assembly of the Republic elections results :
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ± | MPs | MPs | MPs | MPs | MPs | MPs %/ votes % |
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ± | 1987 | 1991 | ± | % | ± | MPs %/ votes % |
| | Social Democratic | 2,902,351 | 50.60 | 0.4 | 148 | 135 | 13 | 58.70 | 0.5 | 1.16 |
| | Socialist | 1,670,758 | 29.13 | 6.9 | 60 | 72 | 12 | 31.30 | 7.3 | 1.07 |
| | Democratic Unity Coalition | 504,583 | 8.80 | 3.3 | 31 | 17 | 14 | 7.39 | 5.0 | 0.84 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre | 254,317 | 4.43 | 0.0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2.17 | 0.6 | 0.49 |
| | National Solidarity | 96,096 | 1.68 | — | — | 1 | — | 0.44 | — | 0.39 |
| | Revolutionary Socialist | 64,159 | 1.12 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| | Portuguese Workers' Communist | 48,542 | 0.85 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| | Democratic Renewal | 35,077 | 0.61 | 4.3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0.00 | 2.8 | 0.0 |
| | People's Monarchist | 25,216 | 0.44 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| | Democratic Party of the Atlantic | 10,842 | 0.19 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 |
| | Left Revolutionary Front | 6,661 | 0.12 | — | — | 0 | — | 0.00 | — | 0.0 |
| | People's Democratic Union | 6,157 | 0.11 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Total valid | Total valid | 5,624,759 | 98.07 | 0.3 | 250 | 230 | 20 | 100.00 | 0.0 | — |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 47,652 | 0.83 | 0.1 | | | | | | |
| Invalid ballots | Invalid ballots | 63,020 | 1.10 | 0.2 | | | | | | |
| Total | Total | 5,735,431 | 100.00 | | | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 8,462,357 | 67.78 | 3.8 | | | | | | |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |||||||||||
Vote share
PSD
50.60%
PS
29.13%
CDU
8.80%
CDS
4.43%
PSN
1.68%
PSR
1.12%
PCTP/MRPP
0.85%
PRD
0.61%
Others
0.86%
Blank/Invalid
1.93% :
Parliamentary seats
PSD
58.70%
PS
31.30%
CDU
7.39%
CDS
2.17%
PSN
0.43% :

### Distribution by constituency

Results of the 1991 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic by constituency :
| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
| Constituency | PSD | PSD | PS | PS | CDU | CDU | CDS | CDS | PSN | PSN | | Total S |
| Azores | 64.1 | 4 | 25.8 | 1 | 1.3 | - | 3.4 | - | | | 5 |
| Aveiro | 58.6 | 9 | 27.8 | 4 | 2.8 | - | 6.1 | 1 | 1.3 | - | 14 |
| Beja | 29.3 | 1 | 28.4 | 1 | 30.4 | 2 | 2.3 | - | 1.0 | - | 4 |
| Braga | 53.6 | 10 | 31.5 | 5 | 4.6 | - | 5.6 | 1 | 0.8 | - | 16 |
| Bragança | 57.9 | 3 | 25.7 | 1 | 2.1 | - | 8.2 | - | 1.5 | - | 4 |
| Castelo Branco | 51.8 | 3 | 32.4 | 2 | 4.6 | - | 3.9 | - | 2.3 | - | 5 |
| Coimbra | 49.9 | 6 | 34.4 | 4 | 5.0 | - | 3.5 | - | 1.7 | - | 10 |
| Évora | 35.0 | 2 | 25.9 | 1 | 27.1 | 1 | 2.8 | - | 1.4 | - | 4 |
| Faro | 50.8 | 5 | 31.2 | 3 | 7.2 | - | 2.8 | - | 2.2 | - | 8 |
| Guarda | 58.6 | 3 | 26.8 | 1 | 2.3 | - | 5.9 | - | 1.3 | - | 4 |
| Leiria | 61.2 | 7 | 23.0 | 3 | 4.5 | - | 4.8 | - | 1.4 | - | 10 |
| Lisbon | 45.3 | 25 | 29.7 | 16 | 12.2 | 6 | 4.0 | 2 | 2.6 | 1 | 50 |
| Madeira | 62.4 | 4 | 20.2 | 1 | 1.0 | - | 6.1 | - | 1.9 | - | 5 |
| Portalegre | 38.9 | 2 | 33.5 | 1 | 15.2 | - | 3.3 | - | 1.8 | - | 3 |
| Porto | 51.3 | 21 | 32.9 | 13 | 6.4 | 2 | 4.1 | 1 | 1.1 | - | 37 |
| Santarém | 49.1 | 6 | 29.4 | 3 | 9.8 | 1 | 3.3 | - | 2.2 | - | 10 |
| Setúbal | 34.7 | 6 | 28.4 | 5 | 24.9 | 5 | 2.7 | - | 2.4 | - | 16 |
| Viana do Castelo | 56.9 | 4 | 25.2 | 2 | 5.0 | - | 7.2 | - | 1.2 | - | 6 |
| Vila Real | 60.6 | 4 | 26.0 | 2 | 2.6 | - | 5.1 | - | 1.2 | - | 6 |
| Viseu | 64.3 | 7 | 19.4 | 2 | 2.1 | - | 6.3 | - | 1.3 | - | 9 |
| Europe | 53.7 | 1 | 31.9 | 1 | 7.8 | - | 3.0 | - | | | 2 |
| Outside Europe | 77.3 | 2 | 4.9 | - | 1.0 | - | 14.6 | - | | | 2 |
| Total | 50.6 | 135 | 29.1 | 72 | 8.8 | 17 | 4.4 | 5 | 1.7 | 1 | 230 |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições ||||||||||||

### Maps

* Winner and seats by constituency.
* Most voted political force by municipality.