1999 European Parliament election in Portugal
The 1999 European Parliament election in Portugal was the election of MEP representing Portugal constituency for the 1999–2004 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1999 European election. In Portugal the election was held on 13 June. In the runner up for the 1999 general elections, the Socialist Party (PS) won the EU elections by a landslide. The party, headed by its founder and former PR and PM Mário Soares, scored a convincing victory over the Social Democrats. The PS increased its share of vote more than 8% and won  2 more seats compared with 1994. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) had a bad performance, but was able to hold on to its 9 seats, but, at the same time, the party saw their share of vote drop to 31%, around 3% lower than in 1994. The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) performed quite well, although it dropped compared with 1994. The Communist/Green alliance won more than 10% of the votes, a drop of around 1%, and lost one seat but was able to reclaim the title of 3rd largest party. The People's Party (CDS–PP), was the party  that suffered the most. The People's Party dropped to fourth place and had the biggest fall in terms of share of the vote, winning just 8% of the vote, a fall of more than 4%. They also lost one seat compared to 1994. Turnout increased compared with 1994, with 39.9% of voters casting a ballot. Electoral system. The voting method used, for the election of European members of parliament, is by proportional representation using the d'Hondt method, which is known to benefit leading parties. In the 1999 EU elections, Portugal had 25 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected  in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory. Parties and candidates. The major parties that partook in the election, and their EP list leaders, were: National summary of votes and seats. ! |National party ! |European party ! |Main candidate ! |Votes ! |% ! |+/– ! |Seats ! |+/– ! 12 ! 9 ! 2 ! 2 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 !|25