ELECTIONS HELD IN 1995
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| Assembleia da Republica | |
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| 1 October 1995 | |
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| Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. | |
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| The two main rivals in the 1995 parliamentary elections were the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) of Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva and the Socialist Party (PS) of President of the Republic Mario Soares, which had been a member of the governing coalition until 1985. In office since then, Mr. Cavaco Silva had ushered in a period of marked political and economic stability.
The respective campaigns of these two parties differed little on substance, with both favouring the European Union (EU) and committed to meeting the Maastricht Treaty's strict fiscal and monetary criteria for entering the European Monetary Union in 1999. In this connection, they backed austere budgetary measures and opposed higher taxes. The socialist group, led by Mr. Antonio Guterres, had in recent years embraced fiscal discipline and free-market economics, including a wide-ranging privatisation program. They also pledged continuing support for education and health services as well as social security reform. On polling day, the PS ended the centre-right PSD's 10-year reign by gaining 40 more seats while the Social Democrats lost 47. Thirty remaining seats were shared evenly by conservative and communist-led coalitions, both of whom were anti-EU. Although falling just short of an absolute parliamentary majority, the PS formed a minority Government on 12 October, thus ending its "cohabitation" in power with the PSD. The new Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Guterres, was sworn in on 29 October. |
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STATISTICS
| Round no 1 (1 October 1995): Elections results | |
| Number of registered electors | 8,711,815 |
| Voters | 5,850,160 (67.15%) |
| Round no 1: Distribution of votes | |||
| Political Group | % | ||
| Socialist Party (PS) | 43.93 | ||
| Social Democratic Party (PSD) | 34.02 | ||
| People’s Party (PP) | 9.10 | ||
| United Democratic Coalition (CDU) | 8.62 | ||
| Round no 1: Distribution of seats | |||
| Political Group | Total | Gain/Loss | |
| Socialist Party (PS) | 112 | +40 | |
| Social Democratic Party (PSD) | 88 | -47 | |
| People’s Party (PP)* | 15 | +10 | |
| United Democratic Coalition (CDU) | 15 | -2 | |
| Comments: | |
| *previously known as the Christian Democratic Centre (CDS) | |
| Distribution of seats according to sex: | |
| Men: | 200 |
| Women: | 30 |
Copyright © 1995 Inter-Parliamentary Union