Portuguese legislative election, 1976

Portuguese legislative election, 1976

← 1975 25 April 1976 1979 →
263 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 132 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Mário Soares Francisco Sá Carneiro Party PS PSD Leader since 19 April 1973 6 May 1974 Leader's seat Lisbon Porto Last election 116 seats, 37.9% 81 seats, 26.4% Seats won 107 73 Seat change 9 8 Popular vote 1,912,921 1,335,381 Percentage 34.9% 24.4% Swing 3.0% 2.0%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Diogo Freitas do Amaral Álvaro Cunhal Party CDS PCP Leader since 19 July 1974 31 March 1961 Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon Last election 16 seats, 7.6% 30 seats, 12.5% Seats won 42 40 Seat change 26 10 Popular vote 876,077 788,830 Percentage 15.9% 14.4% Swing 8.4% 1.9%
Prime Minister before election Vasco de Almeida e Costa (interim) Independent Elected Prime Minister Mário Soares PS

Portugal

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Portugal

Vasco de Almeida e Costa (interim)
Independent

Mário Soares
PS

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal

The Portuguese legislative election of 1976 took place on 25 April, exactly one year after the previous election, and two years after the Carnation Revolution. With a new Constitution approved, the country's main aim was the economical recovery and the strengthen of the democratic conquests.

The election was won again by the Socialist Party and Mário Soares, its leader, became the Prime-Minister of the 1st Constitutional government on 23 July. The lack of a socialist majority forced this party to form an unexpected coalition with the Democratic and Social Center, the party on the right end of the political spectrum at the time. The nature of such coalition, between a party that defended the socialist way to the country and another that voted against the constitution because of its socialist influences surprised most of the Portuguese voters and marked the start of the right-wing turn of the Socialist Party that would soon be attacked by all the left due to the new government measures against the left-wing conquests of the revolution, mainly the agrarian reform.

The Social Democratic Party was the second most voted party and the Portuguese Communist Party achieved a relevant increase in the voting, showing its growing influence, mainly in the south of the country.

The major parties involved and the respective leaders:

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