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1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election

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Field	Value
election_name	1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election
country	Portugal
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1973 Portuguese legislative election
previous_year	1973
next_election	1976 Portuguese legislative election
next_year	1976
seats_for_election	All 250 seats in the Constituent Assembly of Portugal
elected_members	elected members
majority_seats	126
registered	6,231,372
turnout	5,711,829 (91.7%)
election_date	25 April 1975
image1
leader1	Mário Soares
party1	Socialist Party (Portugal)
leader_since1	19 April 1973
leaders_seat1	Lisbon
seats1	116
popular_vote1	2,162,972
percentage1	37.9%
image2
leader2	Francisco Sá Carneiro
party2	PPD
colour2	FFA500
leader_since2	6 May 1974
leaders_seat2	Porto
seats2	81
popular_vote2	1,507,282
percentage2	26.4%
image3
colour3	DA251E
leader3	Álvaro Cunhal
party3	PCP
leader_since3	31 March 1961
leaders_seat3	Lisbon
seats3	30
popular_vote3	711,935
percentage3	12.5%
image4
colour4	0093DD
leader4	Diogo Freitas do Amaral
party4	CDS
leader_since4	19 July 1974
leaders_seat4	Lisbon
seats4	16
popular_vote4	434,879
percentage4	7.6%
image5
colour5	8b0000
leader5	Francisco Pereira de Moura
party5	MDP/CDE
leader_since5	September 1969
leaders_seat5	Lisbon
seats5	5
popular_vote5	236,318
percentage5	4.1%
image6	[[File:União Democrática Popular logo, 1975.svg	85px]]
colour6
leader6	João Pulido Valente
party6	UDP
leader_since6	9 March 1975
leaders_seat6	Lisbon
seats6	1
popular_vote6	44,877
percentage6	0.8%
<!-- Map -->	map	{{Switcher

Constituent Assembly elections were carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution. The election elected all 250 members of the Portuguese Constituent Assembly.

It was the first free election held in Portugal since 1925, and only the seventh free election in all of Portuguese history. It was also the first under universal suffrage since 1894. Turnout was a record 91.66 percent, which remains (as of 2025) the highest ever in any Portuguese democratic elections (general, regional, local or European).

The main aim of the election was the election of a Constituent Assembly, in order to write a new constitution to replace the Estado Novo regime's authoritarian Constitution of 1933 and so this freely-elected parliament had a single-year mandate and no government was based on parliamentary support; the country continued to be governed by a military-civilian provisional administration during the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly.

With very few opinion polls during the campaign, the real trend of the electorate was unknown, but incumbent Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves was confident in a victory of the most leftwing forces in Portugal, forecasting that the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) would win the election, followed by the Communists (PCP) and then the Socialist Party (PS). In the end, this forecast was totally wrong.

The election was won by the Socialist Party with almost 38 percent of the votes and 116 seats. The Social Democratic Party (then known as the Democratic People's Party, PPD) was the second-most voted party, 26.4 percent and 81 seats, defending a project that it would soon abandon, social democratic centrism, the Portuguese "Social-Democracy", and becoming the major right-wing party in the country a few years after. The size of the results of the PPD were a big surprise, taking into account that they won double the votes of the Communists.

The new parliament had a large majority of parties defending socialist or "democratic socialist" ideas and the Constitution, approved one year after, reflected such influence. The Portuguese Communist Party achieved a surprisingly low total, just 12 percent, considering the overwhelming support in the south of the country and the radical turn to the left of the revolutionary process after the failed fascist coup, one month before.

With the PPD's shift away from the left and towards the right coming after this election, the only right-of-centre party elected was the CDS, which received 7.6 percent of the vote and 16 seats. The other big surprise were the very weak results of MDP/CDE, which polled just at 4 percent and elected 5 members to the Assembly.

The results map showed a strong North-South division, with the more rightwing forces, PPD and CDS, dominating the North and Center regions, mainly in rural areas, and the PCP dominating the South, especially the Alentejo region. The PS dominated the big urban areas around Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Setúbal.

Background

Main article: Portuguese transition to democracy

The previous parliamentary elections were held on October 28, 1973, still under the authoritarian rule of the Estado Novo (New State), founded by António de Oliveira Salazar, who died in 1970. The People's National Action (ANP), the single party of the then President of the Council of Ministers, Marcelo Caetano, had won the all 150 deputies of the National Assembly in the 1973 election, with a participation rate of 66.5% of registered. The election was boycotted by Opposition forces due to complaints about democratic legitimacy and oppression.

1974 revolution

Main article: Carnation Revolution

Crowd celebrating the revolution in an armoured car.

On April 25, 1974, the Carnation Revolution, initiated by the captains of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), ended the authoritarian regime established in 1932 by António de Oliveira Salazar. After the revolutionary forces proclaimed victory, the National Salvation Junta, presided by General António de Spínola, took over the position of Head of State and Government.

With political parties once again legal, the Socialist Party (PS) leader, Mário Soares, and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Secretary General, Álvaro Cunhal, returned to Portugal less than a week later. In addition, the members of the "liberal wing" of the ANP, favorable to a democratization of the "Estado Novo" before its fall, founded the Democratic People's Party (PPD) which claimed to be social democratic.

At the end of three weeks, Spínola took the oath as President of the Republic, and nominated Adelino da Palma Carlos Prime Minister as the head of the 1st provisional government in which civil and military members plus independent, socialists, social democrats and communists also took part.

As early as July 18, Vasco Gonçalves, a military man seen as very close to the Communist Party, replaced Palma Carlos as head of the government. After this, the first party that didn't claim to be from the left or the center-left appeared, the Democratic and Social Center (CDS), which claimed to be an advocate of Christian democracy and liberalism.

Barely two and a half months later, after failing to carry out a counter-revolution, Spínola resigned as President of the Republic and was replaced by General Francisco da Costa Gomes, his deputy in the National Salvation Junta. On March 19, 1975, President Costa Gomes officially called an election to elect members to write a new Constitution.

Electoral system

The electoral system adopted, set by the electoral law approved on November 15, 1974, establishes the election of members of parliament by proportional representation according to the D'Hondt method, known to benefit the parties that come first.

The law fixes the number of one deputy per 25,000 inhabitants and one more per fraction of 12,500. Deputies were elected in twenty-three constituencies, namely the eighteen metropolitan districts, Horta, Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo, Funchal, Mozambique, Macau, and the rest of the world.

In application of these provisions, 250 seats were to be filled.

For these elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:

District	Number of MPs	Map
Lisbon	55
Porto	36
Setúbal	16
Braga	15
Aveiro	14
Santarém	13
Coimbra	12
Leiria	11
Viseu	10
Faro	9
Castelo Branco	7
Beja, Funchal, Guarda, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real	6
Évora	5
Bragança and Portalegre	4
Ponta Delgada	3
Angra do Heroísmo	2
Emigration, Horta, Macau and Mozambique	1

Parties

The table below lists the major parties that contested the elections:

Name	Ideology	Political position	Leader
Socialist Party (Portugal)}};"		PS	Socialist Party
Partido Socialista	Social democracy
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}};"		PPD	Democratic People's Party
Partido Popular Democrático	Liberalism
	PCP	Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português	Communism
CDS – People's Party}};"		CDS	Democratic and Social Center
Centro Democrático e Social	Christian democracy
Democratic Electoral Commission}};"		MDP/CDE	Portuguese Democratic Movement
Movimento Democrático Português	Left-wing nationalism
Democratic socialism
Left Bloc (Portugal)}};"		UDP	Popular Democratic Union
União Democrática Popular	Marxism
Socialism
Association for the Defense of Macau Interests}};"		ADIM	Association for the Defense of Macau Interests
Associação para a Defesa dos Interesses de Macau	Conservatism
Macau interests

Campaign period

Party slogans

Party or alliance	Original slogan	English translation	Refs
Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"		PS	« A verdadeira escolha »	"The real choice"
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"		PPD	« Tu decides votando »	"You decide by voting"
Portuguese Communist Party}}"		PCP	« Dá mais força à Liberdade »	"Empower Freedom"
CDS – People's Party}}"		CDS	« O voto certo »	"The right vote"
	MDP	« O voto do povo »	"The people's vote"
Left Bloc (Portugal)}}"		UDP	« Em frente com a UDP »	"Moving forward with UDP"

Candidates' debates

On the election night broadcast on RTP1, a debate took place, moderated by Joaquim Letria, on the electoral results revealed so far, with the participation of the leaders of the four main parties at the time: Mário Soares (Socialist Party), Joaquim Magalhães Mota replacing Francisco Sá Carneiro (Social Democratic Party), Álvaro Cunhal (Portuguese Communist Party), and Francisco Pereira de Moura (MDP/CDE). The questions to the guests were asked by a panel of commentators made up of journalists Manuel Beça Múrias, Dinis Abreu, José Júdice, Castro Mendes and José Carlos Vasconcelos.

1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election	Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	Present Absent invitee Non-invitee	PS	PPD	PCP	MDP/CDE	Refs	Socialist Party (Portugal)}};"		Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}};"		Portuguese Communist Party}};"
26 Apr	RTP1	Joaquim Letria	Soares	Mota	Cunhal	Moura	date=26 April 1975	url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/analise-das-eleicoes-para-a-assembleia-constituinte/	title=Análise das eleições para a Assembleia Constituinte	language=pt	work=RTP Arquivos	access-date=5 February 2022}}

Opinion polling

Polling firm/Link	Date Released	PS	[[File:Primeiro Símbolo do PSD.png	29px	link=Social Democratic Party (Portugal)	PPD]]	[[File:Portuguese Communist Party Hammer and Sickle.png	25px
1975 Constituent election	25 Apr 1975		37.9
26.4
12.5
7.6
4.1
11.5
Socialist Party (Portugal)}}; color:white;"	11.5
IPOPE	Mar 1975	47	21	17	2	4	9	26
Vida Mundial	27 Feb 1975	49	27	14		6	4	22
CUF	Dec 1974	35.1	27.0	10.8		2.7	24.4	8.1

Results

National summary

Distribution by constituency

23.0
2
2.4
-
6.1
-
1.1
-
2
-
31.8
5
7
3.2
-
11.1
2
3.9
-
14
-
35.6
3
5.3
-
3
2.2
-
5.5
-
1.4
-
6
-
27.4
5
7
3.7
-
18.0
3
2.9
-
-
-
15
-
24.7
1
3
2.7
-
13.5
-
3.7
-
-
-
4
-
5
24.3
2
5.6
-
6.4
-
3.9
-
0.8
-
7
-
7
27.2
4
5.7
1
4.6
-
4.4
-
12
-
3
6.9
-
37.1
2
2.8
-
7.8
-
0.9
-
5
-
6
13.9
1
12.3
1
3.4
-
9.5
1
1.1
-
9
-
19.6
1
5
1.7
-
10.0
-
1.3
-
6
-
28.2
2
3
2.9
-
19.5
1
3.6
-
6
-
23.0
-
1
2.4
-
3.1
-
1
-
33.2
5
5
6.4
-
6.8
1
3.4
-
1.1
-
11
-
29
15.0
9
18.9
11
4.8
3
4.1
2
1.7
1
55
-
1
1
-
1
1
-
30.4
1
2
1.5
-
3.1
-
2.7
-
3
-
3
9.9
-
17.5
1
4.0
-
4.5
-
1.2
-
4
-
18
29.4
12
6.7
2
8.9
3
2.6
1
0.6
-
36
-
8
18.8
3
15.1
2
4.3
-
4.1
-
1.0
-
13
-
7
5.7
1
37.8
7
1.6
-
6.0
1
1.3
-
16
-
24.5
2
3
3.8
-
14.5
1
7.1
-
6
-
27.1
2
4
2.9
-
7.2
-
2.3
-
6
-
21.5
2
6
2.3
-
17.2
2
4.0
-
10
-
34.4
-
1
4.6
-
11.0
-
1
-
- class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9"
116
26.4
81
12.5
30
7.6
16
4.1
5
0.8
1
0.0
1
250
-
}

Maps

Legislativas portuguesas de 1975 (Mapa).png|Most voted political force by municipality.

Notes

References

(29 September 2019). "Todos queriam votar nas eleições de 1975". Correio da Manhã.
(2015). "A primeira campanha eleitoral em democracia". RTP.
"25 de Abril de 1974". [[Rádio e Televisão de Portugal.
"As primeiras eleições livres". [[Correio da Manhã (Portugal).
[http://www.cne.pt/sites/default/files/dl/ac_1975_data_eleicao.pdf Official call of 1975 Constituent Assembly election]
[http://www.cne.pt/sites/default/files/dl/legis_dl_621_c_74.pdf Electoral Law of 1974]
"Mapa com o número de deputados da Eleição para a Assembleia Constituinte de 25 de Abril de 1975". CNE - Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Mapa com o número de deputados da Eleição para a Assembleia Constituinte de 25 de Abril de 1975.
"PS – 1975". EPHEMERA.
"ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 1983 – PSD". EPHEMERA.
"Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)". Francisco Teixeira.
"Comunicação Política em eleições legislativas em Portugal: uma análise a partir dos cartazes eleitorais (1975-2009)". Francisco Teixeira.
"MDP – CDE – 1975". EPHEMERA.
"UDP – 1975". EPHEMERA.
(26 April 1975). "Análise das eleições para a Assembleia Constituinte". RTP Arquivos.

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