The previous elections:
Portuguese elections 1975Portuguese elections 1976Portuguese elections 1979Portuguese elections 1980Portuguese elections 1983Portuguese elections 1985Portuguese elections 1987Portuguese elections 1991Portuguese elections 1995The 1999 general election, scheduled for October 10, was called after the expiration of the 7h Parliament, started in 1995.
Parties:
PS - Socialist Party center-left, leader António Guterres
PPD/PSD - Social Democratic Party, center-right, leader José Manuel Durão Barroso
CDS-PP - CDS-People's Party, center-right, leader Paulo Portas
CDU - Unitary Democratic Coalition (PCP, PEV), left-wing, leader Carlos Carvalhas
PCTP/MRPP - Portuguese Workers' Communist Party, far-left/Maoism, leader António Garcia Pereira
MPT - Earth Party, center-right, leader Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles
PSN - National Solidarity Party, centrist/pensioners' rights
POUS - Workers Party of Socialist Unity, far-left, leader Carmelinda Pereira
PDA - Democratic Party of the Atlantic, centrist, leader João Gago da Câmara
BE - Left Bloc, left-wing, leader Francisco Louçã
PH - Humanist Party, center-left, leader Luís Filipe Guerra
PPM - People's Monarchist Party, right-wing, leader Miguel Pignatelli Queiroz
Background:
The 1995 elections results gave the PS their best results in history, although 4 seats short of a majority. The PS, led by António Guterres, formed a PS minority that would rely on the support of the right or left depending of legislation. After more than 15 years in power, the PSD was plunged to the opposition benches and entered in a deep crisis. Things got worse after Cavaco Silva's defeat in the 1996 presidential elections, where he was beaten by Jorge Sampaio, 54% to 46%. The then PSD leader, Fernando Nogueira, resigned and the PSD elected Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as their new leader. At this time, the economy was quite strong, growing almost 5% per year, and the government persued many social policies, like the creation of a guaranteed minimum income. In the economic front, the PS minority persued policies of privatizations of many State owned companies, started by the previous PSD government, and the modernization of the country's infrastructures. During this time, the World Exposition 1998 was held in Lisbon and it was a huge success as it portrait Portugal as a modern, strong, inclusive and European country.
Nonetheless, the PS suffered some setbacks in the political front, as they lost the 1998 abortion referendum, 51% No and 49% Yes, although here the party was deeply divided with Guterres against and many wings of his party in favour, and lost the 1998 regionalization referendum by a huge margin, 64% No to 36% Yes.
Meanwhile, the PSD was in deep crisis. The leadership of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa wasn't very popular within the party and his position was always fragile. Bad polling made Marcelo to negotiate with CDS-PP new leader, Paulo Portas, a creation of an alliance between the two parties like in the late 70's and early 80's. The coalition was approved by both parties in 1998, but it wasn't very well received by party barons. The coalition was deeply unstable and failed to give strong polling results for PSD/CDS-PP so, in March 1999, the coalition abruptly ended after Marcelo resigned from the PSD leadership, due to Paulo Portas's involvement in the Moderna scandal, where there was suspicion of irregularities and misappropriation of funds. The PSD elected, in a snap party congress, José Manuel Durão Barroso as their new leader. The CDS-PP also suffered a huge change, again, after the departure of Manuel Monteiro, in 1998, from the party's leadership. The party was deeply divided and, in a contested party congress in 1998, Paulo Portas was elected as leader. On the left, big changes were also occurring. The smaller left-wing parties, UDP, PSR and PXXI, merged to form a big left-wing party. The new party was called the Left Bloc (BE) and was headed by Francisco Louçã.
During the 1999 campaign, PS was polling above 50% and an absolute majority was all but certain, with a strong economy and Portugal's prestige very high. The PSD was campaigning hard against Guterres, calling him a "Magician", but seemed stuck with their faithfull. CDS-PP tried to maintain their ground after very bad press against the party, while CDU wanted to become again, the 3rd biggest party in Portugal. BE campaigned hard on social issues. The stage was set for the 1999 elections.
Poll
