Portuguese legislative election, 2002

Portuguese legislative election, 2002

17 March 2002
230 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 116 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   129px Leader José Manuel Barroso Ferro Rodrigues Party PSD PS Leader since 27 May 1999 20 January 2002 Leader's seat Lisbon Lisbon Last election 81 seats, 32.3% 115 seats, 44.1% Seats won 105 96 Seat change 24 19 Popular vote 2,200,765 2,068,584 Percentage 40.2% 37.8% Swing 7.9% 6.3%
Prime Minister before election Guterres PS Elected Prime Minister Barroso PSD

Portugal

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

The Portuguese legislative election of 2002 took place on 17 March. These elections were called after the resignation of the former Prime-Minister, António Guterres after a defeat of the Socialist Party in the local elections. That fact, plus the problematic state of the country's finances were the main arguments of the right-wing parties, which led them to win the election.

With just over 40% of the votes cast, the Social Democrats regained the status as the largest political force in Portugal, although the Socialists won almost 38% of the vote. This was, and still is, the smallest difference between the two major parties in Portugal. This short distance also appears on the electoral map, with each party winning eleven of the 22 districts, where the PS won the most populous, Lisbon and Porto. As a result, the Social Democrats fail to win the absolute majority they had between 1987 and 1995.

As no Party got an absolute majority, the Social Democrats formed a coalition with the right-wing People's Party. The left-wing Democratic Unity Coalition achieved the lowest result ever, finishing in the third place in its traditional strongholds, Évora and Setúbal. The Left Bloc gained one MP. Turnout was slightly higher than it was in 1999 but remained quite low, marking a growing separation between the politics and the Portuguese people, mainly due to the image of the politicians as corrupts and the idea that all the parties are the same.

Voter turnout was slightly higher than in 1999, as 61.5% of the electorate cast a ballot.

Parties

The major parties involved and the respective leaders were:

• Left Bloc (BE), Francisco Louçã
• Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), Carlos Carvalhas
• Socialist Party (PS), Ferro Rodrigues
• Social Democratic Party (PSD), José Manuel Durão Barroso
• People's Party (CDS–PP), Paulo Portas

José Manuel Durão Barroso, leader of the Social Democratic Party, was nominated Prime Minister and formed a coalition government with the People's Party.

Opinion Polling

See also: Exit poll and Opinion poll

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed are currently represented in parliament. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1999 and 2002 for reference.

Date Released	Polling Firm	PSD	PS	CDU	CDS-PP	BE	Others	Lead
17 Mar 2002	Leg. Election	40.2 105 seats	37.8 96 seats	6.9 12 seats	8.7 14 seats	2.7 3 seats	3.7 0 seats	2.4
17 Mar (20:00)	RTP1 - Universidade Católica	37.0 – 42.0	36.0 – 41.0	5.5 – 8.0	7.5 – 10.0	3.0 – 4.0	—	1.0
17 Mar (20:00)	SIC - Eurosondagem	40.1 – 43.9	35.5 – 39.3	6.2 – 8.4	6.2 – 8.4	2.0 – 3.4	—	4.6
17 Mar (20:00)	TVI - INTERCAMPUS	37.8 – 42.8	35.5 – 40.5	6.8 – 9.8	5.3 – 8.3	1.6 – 4.2	—	2.3
Exit polls
15 Mar	Marktest	44.0	35.0	8.0	6.0	4.0	3.0	9.0
15 Mar	Lusófona	43.6	40.9	5.7	7.1	2.8	N/A	2.7
15 Mar	Eurosondagem	41.4	39.3	6.9	5.6	3.5	3.3	2.1
15 Mar	Eurequipa	44.7	33.9	7.1	9.1	3.2	2.0	10.8
15 Mar	Universidade Católica	42.2	37.5	6.9	6.8	3.6	3.0	4.7
14 Mar	INTERCAMPUS	41.0	39.0	8.0	5.0	3.0	4.0	2.0
14 Mar	Aximage	44.0	40.0	7.0	6.0	2.0	1.0	4.0
13 Mar	SIC/Visão	41.0	36.2	6.6	5.2	2.0	9.0	4.8
8 Mar	Marktest	43.0	36.0	6.0	7.0	4.0	4.0	7.0
2 Mar	Eurosondagem	38.0	35.0	6.0	5.0	2.0	14.0	3.0
2002
10 Oct 1999	Leg. Election	32.3 81 seats	44.1 115 seats	9.0 17 seats	8.3 15 seats	2.4 2 seats	3.9 0 seats	11.9%

National summary of votes and seats

 Summary of the 17 March 2002 Assembly of the Republic elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
					1999	2002	±	%	±
	Social Democratic	2,200,765	40.21	7.9	81	105	24	45.65	10.4	1.14
	Socialist	2,068,584	37.79	6.3	115	96	19	41.74	8.3	1.10
	People's	477,350	8.72	0.4	15	14	1	6.09	0.4	0.70
	Democratic Unity Coalition	379,870	6.94	2.1	17	12	5	5.22	2.2	0.75
	Left Bloc	149,966	2.74	0.3	2	3	1	1.30	0.4	0.47
	Workers' Communist Party	36,193	0.66	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Earth Party	15,540	0.28	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	People's Monarchist Party	12,398	0.23	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Humanist Party	11,472	0.21	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	National Renovator Party	4,712	0.09	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity	4,316	0.08	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Left Bloc / People's Democratic Union	3,911	0.07	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
Total valid		5,365,881	98.03	0.0	230	230	0	100.00	0.0	—
Blank ballots		55,121	1.01	0.1
Invalid ballots		52,653	0.96	0.0
Total (turnout 61.48%)		5,473,655	100.00	0.4
A Portuguese Communist Party (10 MPs) and "The Greens" (2 MPs) ran in coalition. B Left Bloc / People's Democratic Union joint electoral list only in Madeira.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share
PSD			40.21%
PS			37.79%
CDS-PP			8.72%
CDU			6.94%
BE			2.74%
Others/Invalides			3.59%

External links

• Preliminary results of the 2002 election
• Comissão Nacional de Eleições
• Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político

See also

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