Portuguese legislative election, 1983

Portuguese legislative election, 1983

← 1980 25 April 1983 1985 →
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 125 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Mário Soares Carlos Mota Pinto Party PS PSD Leader since 19 April 1973 presumptive Leader's seat Lisbon Coimbra Last election 74 seats, 27.8%1 134 seats, 47.6%2 Seats won 101 75 Seat change 27 59 Popular vote 2,061,309 1,554,804 Percentage 36.1% 27.2% Swing 8.3% 20.4%
The first and the second most voted parties in each district (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
Prime Minister before election Francisco Pinto Balsemão PSD Elected Prime Minister Mário Soares PS

Portugal

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

Francisco Pinto Balsemão
PSD

Mário Soares
PS

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

The Portuguese legislative election of 1983 took place on 25 April. The last election, in October 1980 had been won by a right-wing coalition, the Democratic Alliance and Francisco Sá Carneiro had retained office as Prime Minister with an increased majority. However, Sá Carneiro, along with other important members of the coalition, died in an aircrash only two months after the election, on 5 December 1980. Such happenings caused a massive political instability and Francisco Pinto Balsemão, a senior official of the Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the Alliance, became Prime Minister. But Balsemão lacked support from such senior members of his party as Aníbal Cavaco Silva, and several ministers resigned. Moreover, the right-wing policy was criticized by the left-wing and by the trade unions, and in February, the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers, with the support of the Communists, called for a general strike that shook the government. The wave of resignations among Balsemão's ministers continued and by the end of the year, he also resigned. Because no one inside the Social Democratic Party accepted the office of Prime Minister, the President Ramalho Eanes dissolved the Parliament and called an election for April.