# Constituent Assembly of Portugal

The Constituent Assembly (Portuguese: Assembleia Constituinte) was the Portuguese constituent assembly elected on 25 April 1975, after the Carnation Revolution (25 April 1974), for the purpose of adopting a constitution for the Third Portuguese Republic, the Constitution of 1976.

## Background

After the Carnation Revolution, the National Salvation Junta dissolved all political offices previously existing in the Estado Novo (Law no. 1/74). On 14 May 1974, the President of the National Salvation Junta, António de Spínola, abolished the National Assembly and the Corporative Chamber (Law no. 2/74), the two parliamentary chambers in the Estado Novo, and established a transitory constitution (Law no. 3/74) to be used until the new constitution was approved.

## Election

The election of the Constituent Assembly was carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution and was the first free election in fifty years, the first in the new democratic regime created after the revolution.
The election was won by the Socialist Party, with the Democratic People's Party being the second most voted party. The parliament had a large majority of moderate parties, from Socialism to Centrism, meaning a victory of "democratic legitimacy over revolutionary legitimacy". A new Constitution was approved on 2 April 1976.
| Party | Party | Constituent Assembly | Constituent Assembly | Constituent Assembly |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| | PS | 2,162,972 | 37.87 | 116 |
| | PPD | 1,507,282 | 26.39 | 81 |
| | PCP | 711,935 | 12.46 | 30 |
| | CDS | 434,879 | 7.61 | 16 |
| | MDP/CDE | 236,318 | 4.14 | 5 |
| | UDP | 44,877 | 0.79 | 1 |
| | ADIM | 1,622 | 0.03 | 1 |
| | Other/blank/invalid | 611,944 | 10.71 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 5,711,829 | 100.00 | 250 |

## Composition

| Party | Party | Parliamentary group leader | Elected | Elected | Dissolution | Dissolution |
| Party | Party | Parliamentary group leader | Seats | % | Seats | % |
| | PS | António Lopes Cardoso (Beja) | 116 | 46.4 | 116 | 46.4 |
| | PPD | Carlos Mota Pinto (Coimbra) (1975) António Barbosa de Melo (Coimbra) (1975–1976) | 81 | 32.4 | 60 | 24.0 |
| | PCP | Octávio Pato (Lisbon) | 30 | 12.0 | 30 | 12.0 |
| | CDS | Victor Sá Machado [pt] (Lisbon) | 16 | 6.4 | 16 | 6.4 |
| | MDP/CDE | José Tengarrinha [pt] (Lisbon) | 5 | 2.0 | 5 | 2.0 |
| | UDP | João Pulido Valente (Lisbon) | 1 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 |
| | ADIM | Diamantino de Oliveira Ferreira (Macau) | 1 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 |
| | Independent | Various PPD deputies | 0 | 0.0 | 21 | 8.4 |
| Total | Total | Total | 250 | 100.0 | 250 | 100.0 |

### Changes

* Several Democratic People's Party (PPD) MPs → Independent: A total of 21 PPD MPs, including the party's parliamentary group leader, Carlos Mota Pinto, announced, on December 1975, that they are leaving the PPD and will become Independents, following deep disagreements with the party leader, Francisco Sá Carneiro, regarding the ideology and policies of the party.

## Election for President of the Constituent Assembly

To be elected, a candidate needed to reach a minimum of 126 votes. The then interim President Henrique de Barros, from the Socialist Party, was easily elected:
Election of the President of the Constituent Assembly :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 5 June 1975 | 5 June 1975 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 126 out of 250 | 126 out of 250 |
| | Henrique de Barros (PS) | 233 / 250 | Y |
| | Vasco da Gama Fernandes (PS) | 1 / 250 | N |
| | Blank ballots | 2 / 250 | 2 / 250 |
| | Invalid ballots | 4 / 250 | 4 / 250 |
| | Absentees | 10 / 250 | 10 / 250 |
| Sources: ||||