10 October 1999 2002 → 112 seats, 43.8% 88 seats, 34.1% 3 7 Start date October 10, 1999 | 23 February 1992 27 May 1999 115 81 2,385,922 1,750,158 | |
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Winner António Guterres | ||
The Portuguese legislative election of 1999 took place on 10 October. The Socialist Party was aiming a second term under the lead of António Guterres, in the end the Socialists won the election, but missed what would be an historical absolute majority for the party by just one MP.
Contents
The Social Democratic Party under the lead of José Manuel Durão Barroso was still away from the preferences of the majority of the Portuguese people, after the ten years cycle under the lead of Cavaco Silva that had terminated four years before. The Democratic Unity Coalition achieved an important climb in the scorecard, against those who predicted its irreversible decline after the end of the Socialist Bloc in the early 1990s. For the first time, the Left Bloc, formed after the merger of several minor left-wing parties became represented in the parliament after electing two MPs. Turnout in this election was very low, only being surpassed in 2009 and 2011 when turnout was just less than 60%.
Voter turnout reached only 61% of voters, one of the lowest ever recorded.
Parties
The major parties involved were listed with their leaders:
António Guterres, leader of the Socialist Party, was nominated Prime Minister for the second time, and missed the absolute majority by one MP, achieving exactly half of the 230 MPs.
Opinion polling
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 1995 and 1999 for reference.
Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.