1979 Portuguese legislative election

The 1979 Portuguese legislative election took place on 2 December. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic, 13 seats less than those elected in 1976.

1979 Portuguese legislative election
2 December 1979
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly
125 seats needed for a majority
Registered7,249,346 10.4%
Turnout6,007,453 (82.9%)
0.6 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Francisco Sá Carneiro Mário Soares Álvaro Cunhal
Party PSD PS PCP
Alliance AD APU
Leader since 2 July 1978 19 April 1973 14 April 1978
Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon Lisbon
Last election 115 seats, 40.9% 107 seats, 34.9% 40 seats, 14.4%
Seats before 110† 105† 34†
Seats won 128 74 47
Seat change 18* 31* 13*
Popular vote 2,719,208 1,642,136 1,129,322
Percentage 45.3% 27.3% 18.8%
Swing 4.4 pp 7.6 pp 4.4 pp
Prime Minister before election

Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo
PS

 Prime Minister after election

Francisco Sá Carneiro
PSD

The 3 years prior to the election were very unstable with Prime Minister Mário Soares' government collapsing in August 1978 and being succeeded by three Presidential appointed governments, in which the first two also collapsed due to lack of Parliamentary support. In the summer of 1979, President of Portugal António Ramalho Eanes dissolved Parliament and called an election for 2 December 1979 and, until the elections, the President nominated Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, the first and still only woman to lead a government in Portugal, as Prime Minister.

In the elections, the right-wing parties, the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party united in the Democratic Alliance (Portuguese: Aliança Democrática or AD) under the leadership of Sá Carneiro won the election, receiving 45% of the votes and an absolute majority in seats. The Socialists lost more than 30 MPs and the Communists, now allied with the Portuguese Democratic Movement in the United People Alliance achieved their highest total ever, with almost 20% of the voting.

Turnout dropped slightly to 82.6%, but the number of ballots cast surpassed 6 million.

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