Next Portuguese legislative election

Next Portuguese legislative election

On or before 13 October 2019

230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic 116 seats needed for a majority   Leader Pedro Passos Coelho António Costa Catarina Martins Party PSD PS BE Leader since 26 March 2010 28 September 2014 30 November 2014 Leader's seat Lisboa Lisboa Porto Last election 89 seats[lower-alpha 1] 86 seats, 32.3% 19 seats, 10.2% Seats needed 27 30 97   Leader Assunção Cristas Jerónimo de Sousa André Silva Party CDS–PP CDU PAN Leader since 13 March 2016 27 November 2004 26 October 2014 Leader's seat Leiria Lisboa Lisboa Last election 18 seats[lower-alpha 1] 17 seats, 8.3% 1 seats, 1.4% Seats needed 98 99 115

Incumbent Prime Minister António Costa PS

The Next Portuguese legislative election will be held no later than October 2019. At stake will be all 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic.

Background

Politics of Portugal

The President of Portugal has the power to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic by his own will. Unlike other countries the President can refuse to dissolve the parliament at the request of the Prime Minister or the Assembly of the Republic and all the parties represented in Parliament. If the Prime Minister resigns, the President must nominate a new Prime Minister after listening to all the parties represented in Parliament and then the government programme must be subject to discussion by the Assembly of the Republic, whose members of parliament may present a motion to reject the upcoming government.

Date

According to the Portuguese Constitution, an election must be called between 14 September and 14 October of the year that the legislature ends. The election is called by the President of Portugal but is not called at the request of the Prime Minister; however, the President must listen to all of the parties represented in Parliament and the election day must be announced at least 60 days before the election.^[1] If an election is called during an ongoing legislature (dissolution of parliament) it must be held at least in 55 days. Election day is the same in all multi-seats constituencies, and should fall on a Sunday or national holiday. The next legislative election must, therefore, take place no later than 13 October 2019.^[2]

Electoral system

The Parliament of the Portuguese Republic consists of a single chamber, the Assembly of the Republic, composed of 230 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a maximum term of four years. Assembly members represent the entire country, rather than the constituencies in which they were elected. Governments do not require absolute majority support of the Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 116 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.^[3]

Each one of Portugal's eighteen administrative districts, as well as each one of the country's two autonomous regions - the Azores and Madeira - is an electoral constituency. Portuguese voters residing outside the national territory are grouped into two electoral constituencies - Europe and the rest of the world - each one of which elects two Assembly members. The remaining 226 seats are allocated among the national territory constituencies in proportion to their number of registered electors.

Political parties and party coalitions may present lists of candidates. The lists are closed, so electors may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists. Electors cast a ballot for a single list. The seats in each constituency are apportioned according to the largest average method of proportional representation (PR), conceived by the Belgian mathematician Victor d'Hondt in 1899. Although there is no statutory threshold for participation in the allocation of Assembly seats, the application of the d'Hondt method introduces a de facto threshold at the constituency level.^[4]

Parties

The parties represented in Parliament are:

Opinion polling

See also

• Elections in Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal
• Politics of Portugal

Notes

References

External links

• Popstar Poll Tracker
• Marktest Opinion Poll Tracker
• Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry
• Portuguese Electoral Commission
• ERC - Official publication of polls

Elections and referendums in Portugal
Presidential elections	1911** 1915 (May)** 1915 (Aug)** 1918 (Apr) 1918 (Dec)** 1919** 1923** 1925** 1928 1935 1942 1949 1951 1958 1965** 1972** 1976 1980 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016
Parliamentary elections	1820 1822 1826 1834 1836 (Jul) 1836 (Nov) 1838 1840 1842 1845 1847 1851 1852 1856 1858 1860 1861 1864 1865 1868 1869 1870 (Mar) 1870 (Sep) 1871 1874 1878 1879 1881 1884 1887 1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1897 1899 1900 1901 1904 1905 1906 (Apr) 1906 (Aug) 1908 1910 1911* 1915 1918 1919 1921 1922 1925 1934 1938 1942 1945 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1975* 1976 1979 1980 1983 1985 1987 1991 1995 1999 2002 2005 2009 2011 2015 Next
Local elections	1976 1979 1982 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017
European elections	1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
Referendums	1933 1998 (Jun) 1998 (Nov) 2007
* Constituent Assembly   ** Indirect elections See also: Elections in Azores Madeira