Portuguese elections 1975

[Mike88]

With 2019 being a very full year of elections in Portugal, I've decided to make a little game. During the year, i will post "who would you have voted" polls for all the elections for Parliament in Portugal until 2015. The last poll will be the official 2019 election poll.

The first general elections in Portugal were in 1975, on April 25th, to elect a Constitutional Assembly that would write a new constitution. 12 parties participated in these elections, plus 2 more that only ran in Macau.

The parties were:

PS - Socialist Party, center-left
PPD - Democratic Peoples' Party (the current Social Democratic Party PSD), centrist
PCP - Communist Party, left-wing
CDS- Democratic Social Center, center-right
MDP - Portuguese Democratic Movement, left-wing
FSP - People's Socialist Front, left-wing
MES - Movement of Socialist Left, left-wing
UDP - People's Democratic Union, radical left
FEC(m-l) - Communist Electoral Front (Marxist–Leninist), far-left
PPM - People's Monarchist Party, right-wing
PUP - Popular Unity Party, far-left
LCI - Internationalist Communist League, far-left


A ballot given to voters in the 1975 elections.

Enjoy!

[Former President tack50]

PS, but I could see myself voting for PPD if I felt a PS government would lead to instabilty or a communist takeover (iirc didn't Portugal almost become communist during the Carnation Revolution?)

[LAKISYLVANIA]

PCP, Communist Party.

[Mike88]

(...) (iirc didn't Portugal almost become communist during the Carnation Revolution?)

Yes, there was the real possibility of the revolutionary forces, the Communists, the armed forces and other radical organizations, of taking over power. Things reached almost the state of civil war in the hot summer of 1975 when factories, houses and lands across the country where occupied and stripped from their owners by workers. In retaliation, counterrevolutionary movements started to appear in the North and Center of the country. In these areas, during the hot summer of 1975, many PCP, and other leftwing parties, headquarters were destroyed and burned to the ground by civilians. One of the most violent moments was the destruction of the Embassy of Spain, in Lisbon, by leftwing supporters in September of 1975. Things only calmed down after the 1975 November 25th coup when the revolutionary forces tried to seize power but found themselves without the support of the PCP and COPCON and failed completely any attempt to control power, leading the way for the approval of a new constitution and the evolution of Portugal into a normal liberal western democracy.

I will post in the next polls, the background prior to the elections.

Background:

Prior to the 1975 elections, Portugal had a precarious governmental situation where governments didn't have to respond to Parliament, there wasn't one, and only had to respond to the President of the Republic and the powerful Revolution Council. The 1st President was António de Spínola and the 1st PM was Adelino da Palma Carlos. Mr Carlos provisional government only lasted 2 months and was unable to pass anything. His successor was Vasco Gonçalves, an army official very close to the PCP. Mr Gonçalves didn't went along with António de Spínola, which was increasingly worried about the leftwing turn of events in Portugal. Spínola resigned as President in September 1974 and was succeeded by Costa Gomes. He resigned after he failed to organize a mass protest asking the "silent majority" of the Portuguese people to fight with him against the leftwing movements.

Mr Gonçalves government was marked by very indecisive postures that made his first months as PM seen as very disappointing and incompetent. The presence of moderates, PS and PPD particularly, had a deep influence in the government. But on 11 March 1975, there was a coup attempt by counterrevolutionary forces, led by former President António de Spínola, against the government. The coup failed spectacularly forcing Spinola to exile to Spain and led Gonçalves to radicalize his policies and create a huge division in the country. In the days following the failed coup, banks, insurance companies, small and big factories, were nationalized and many of their owners had to flee from Portugal. This was the situation prior to the April 25 1975 elections.

[SNJ1985]

People's Monarchist Party

[DavidB.]

PPM.

[Lechasseur]

PPM.

[Mike88]

More info from the 1975 elections:

(Will also post electoral posters in the next polls)

Electoral campaign posters:


MDP - The people united will never be defeated


CDS - The answer is very simple, Freitas do Amaral


PPD - Portugal with Sá Carneiro, Vote PPD


PS - Socialist Party, Democratize, Socialize, Develop


PCP - Built the future of your children, Vote PCP


FSP - Popular Socialist Front, the organized force of workers


PPM - Peoples' Monarchist Party, Alliance with the people for a better Portugal

[America Needs R'hllor]

PS

[Intell]

PS

[Wikipedia delenda est]

PS

[DC Al Fine]

CDS

[VPH]

Definitely PS!

[Mike88]

More election material. Video footage of the 1975 campaign:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E95CqaYRmbY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd_Rbc7gImk

[Mike88]

This poll is closed. Tomorrow, i will post the 1976 election poll. But lets compared Atlas polling results with the actual 1975 election results:

Atlas results:

43.3% PS
16.7% PPM
13.3% PCP
10.0% PPD
10.0% CDS
  3.3% MDP
  3.3% UDP
  0.0% Others/Invalid

1975 election results:

37.9% PS
26.4% PPD
12.5% PCP
  7.6% CDS
  4.1% MDP
  1.2% FSP
  1.0% MES
  0.8% UDP
  0.6% FEC(m-l)
  0.6% PPM
  0.2% PUP
  0.2% LCI
  0.0% ADIM (only in Macau)
  0.0% CDM (only in Macau)
  7.0% Invalid