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Portugal
At stake: Assembly of the Republic
Background
In 1928, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar began his political career in Portugal as finance minister. Salazar was appointed to the position by Oscar Fragoso Carmona, who had taken office following a military coup in 1926. Seven years later, Salazar was appointed prime minister and drafted a new constitution under which Portugal's "Estado Novo" (New State) was born.
Despite the structure outlined in the constitution—a president elected to a seven-year term, and a prime minister appointed by the president—the government went virtually unaltered for years. Elections were held regularly, but the incumbents faced no opposition until 1945.
In 1958, Humberto Delgado launched a presidential bid focused on removing Salazar from office. Amidst allegations of the government's intention to manipulate results, no opposition candidate had ever completed a campaign. In the end, Delgado received 25 per cent of the national vote. Following the election, the constitution was altered to allow the legislative branch—under Salazar's control—to choose the president.
Salazar remained the de-facto head of government until he suffered a stroke in 1968. The "Estado Novo" gave way to the "Social State" when president Americo Tomas appointed Marcello Jose das Neves Caetano as prime minister. Salazar's death enabled Tomas to take full authoritative control as delineated in the 1933 constitution.
The Tomas-Caetano government lasted only five years. In 1974, General Antonio Ribeiro de Spinola led a coup and became president. He was succeeded by General Francisco Da Costa Gomes later that same year. This administration marked the end of Portugal's military rule, and ushered in a new age of democracy.
Portugal joined the European Economic Community—later the European Union (EU)— in 1986. The structure of government has remained essentially the same since the 1933 constitution. The president is the commander in chief of the armed forces, and appoints the prime minister in accordance with the result of the parliamentary election.
2004 Assembly of the Republic Election
Pedro Santana Lopes of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) took over as prime minister on Jul. 17, 2004, after Jose Durao Barroso left the post to become president of the European Commission.
In late 2002 and early 2003, Durao Barroso was ardent supporter of the war against Saddam Hussein's regime. He committed 128 members of the Republican National Guard (GNR) to the United States-led coalition effort. In early 2004, Durao Barroso condemned Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq following the Madrid terrorist attacks on Mar. 11. Despite public opposition, Durao Barroso maintained his support to the military operation in Iraq.
On Dec. 1, Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio announced the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, declaring that Santana Lopes lacked the "indispensable political conditions" to continue as head of government.
Santana Lopes publicly decried Sampaio's decision, saying the president "expressly guaranteed that there would be no dissolution." Socialist Party (PS) leader Jose Socrates criticized Santana Lopes, stating that the current prime minister "is not a victim, but the author of this crisis."
On Dec. 10, the dissolution of the legislative branch became official, and a fresh election was scheduled for Feb. 20, 2004.
An early December Eurosondagem poll put support for the opposition Socialists at 45 per cent, with the Social Democrats in second place with 36 per cent. In January, a new Eurosondagem survey gave the Socialists a 13 per cent lead over the governing Social Democrats.
On Jan. 22, the Socialists presented their election platform in Lisbon. The campaign plan calls for a reduction of the public work force and a referendum to ease the country's abortion regulations.
Late January polls by Marktest/Diario de Noticias/TSF, Universidade Catolica/RTP/Publico and Aximage/Correio de Manha put the Socialists well ahead with more than 45 per cent of the vote, with the Social Democrats at just under 30 per cent.
On Jan. 27, Santana Lopes severely criticized the results of the latest voting intention surveys, saying, "Those who have worked on polls for many years know that this is impossible. This shows that there is a mega-fraud being carried out involving this material.".
On Feb. 10, all 128 members of the paramilitary Republican National Guard (GNR) that were stationed in Iraq returned to the European nation. The law enforcement officers had been working under Italian command in Nasiriya since November 2003.
In mid-February, Portugal's National Statistics Institute (INE) tabled the unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2004 at 7.1 per cent, the highest level in six years. Socialist leader Socrates said the figure was "tragic."
On Feb. 15, the leaders of the five main political groups participated in a televised debate. CDS/PP leader Paulo Portas criticized a pledge made by Socrates to create 150,000 new jobs as "simplistic."
Pre-election polls by Aximage/Correio de Manha and Eurosondagem kept the Socialists on top with more than 40 per cent of the vote.
Voting went on without any major problems on Feb. 20. Preliminary results released by the National Elections Commission (NEC) gave the Socialist Party (PS) 119 lawmakers in the 230-seat Assembly. The Social Democrats were a distant second, with 73 legislators.
Santana Lopes conceded in a telephone call to Socrates, saying, "I wish for him and his family, his team, the greatest good fortune for the task the Portuguese decided to entrust him with."
Socrates—who secured a term as prime minister—declared, "Our party had never enjoyed an absolute majority in the Assembly. We should not treat this fact as a protest, but as an opportunity to build a new project for Portugal."
On Mar. 4, Socrates named his cabinet, which includes Luis Campos e Cunha as finance minister, Antonio Costa as interior minister, Diogo Freitas do Amaral as foreign minister and Luis Amado as defence minister. The new government took over on Mar. 12.
Political Players
President: Jorge Sampaio - PS
Chairman of the Council of Ministers: Jose Socrates - PS
The president is elected to a five-year term by popular vote.
Legislative Branch: The Assembleia da Republica (Assembly of the Republic) has 230 members, elected to four-year terms by proportional representation.
Results of Last Election:
President - Jan. 14, 2001
|
Vote% |
|
|
Jorge Sampaio - |
55.76% |
|
Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral - |
34.54% |
|
Antonio Abreu - |
5.13% |
|
Fernando Rosas - |
3.04% |
|
Antonio Garcia Pereira - |
1.59% |
Assembly of the Republic - Feb. 20, 2005
|
Vote% |
Seats |
|
|
Socialist Party (PS) |
45.30% |
121 |
|
Social Democratic Party (PSD) |
28.70% |
75 |
|
Unitarian Democratic Coalition (CDU) |
7.57% |
14 |
|
Social Democratic Centre / |
7.27% |
12 |
|
Leftist Bloc (BE) |
6.38% |
8 |
