List of political parties in Portugal

This article lists political parties in Portugal. The Portuguese political scene has been dominated by the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party since the 1974 Carnation Revolution, although the CDS – People's Party has been present in some governments and the Portuguese Communist Party in coalition with The Greens holds the presidency of several municipalities.

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The parties, as of 2019, represented in the Assembly of the Republic are the Socialist Party (108 MPs), the Social Democratic Party (79 MPs), the Left Bloc (19 MPs), the Communist Party (10 MPs), the CDS – People's Party (5 MPs), the People-Animals-Nature (3 MPs), the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (2 MPs), the CHEGA (1 MP), and the Liberal Initiative (1 MP). LIVRE also elected one MP, Joacine Katar Moreira, who abandoned the party and became an independent MP, the same happened to one of the 4 original MPs of the People-Animals-Nature party in 2020. Several other parties are represented in the legislatures of the autonomous regions, the Legislative Assembly of the Azores and the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.


Existing parties

This list presents all the existing parties recognized by the Portuguese Constitutional Court.[1] It is organized by political spectrum and chronological order.

Far-left
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Portuguese Workers' Communist Party
Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses		 PCTP/MRPP Unknown A Maoist and formerly pro-Chinese party. It had a high-profile during the Carnation Revolution, mostly due to its influence among some groups of students, although it never reached 2% of the votes or elected a single MP. 1970

Left-wing to far-left
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Portuguese Communist Party
Partido Comunista Português		 PCP Central Committee (Secretary-General: Jerónimo de Sousa) Founded in 1921 as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International, has its major influence among the working class and played a major role in the opposition to the Estado Novo regime, being brutally repressed in the process. After being one of the most influential parties in the years that followed the Carnation Revolution, it lost most of its power base after the fall of the Eastern Bloc, but still enjoys popularity in vast sectors of Portuguese society, particularly in the rural areas of Alentejo and Ribatejo and also in the heavily industrialized areas around Lisbon and Setúbal. It also has a major influence among the biggest Portuguese labour union – General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP). Its historical leader was Álvaro Cunhal. 1921
Left Bloc
Bloco de Esquerda		 BE Collective leadership (coordinator: Catarina Martins) Formed as a result of the merger of three left-wing parties: the Popular Democratic Union, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the Politics XXI. An overwhelmingly urban party, it adopts a wide range of left-wing policies and portrays itself as a modern, progressive alternative to the Communist Party. 1999
Socialist Alternative Movement
Movimento Alternativa Socialista		 MAS Gil Garcia Formed in 2000 as a Portuguese Trotskyist political organization and it is the result of a merger between the Left Revolutionary Front (FER - Frente da Esquerda Revolucionária), and the young activists of the student movement Ruptura. The Ruptura/FER activists integrated the Left Bloc since its formation. In 2011, the movement split from the Left Bloc and formed a new party called Socialist Alternative Movement that was approved by the Constitutional Court in July 2013. 2000

Left-wing
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Ecologist Party "The Greens"
Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes"		 PEV Heloísa Apolónia The first Portuguese green party, it is traditionally allied with the Communist Party in the Unitarian Democratic Coalition. 1982

Centre-left to left-wing
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Portuguese Labour Party
Partido Trabalhista Português		 PTP Amândio Madaleno Social Democrat, it is a minor party of the centre-left. 2009
FREE
LIVRE		 L Collective leadership An eco-socialist, pro-European party. 2014

Centre-left
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Socialist Party
Partido Socialista		 PS António Costa (Prime Minister) Social Democrat and big tent, the PS is a major party in Portugal, resembling the British Labour Party, the German SPD or the Spanish PSOE. The party was founded before the 1974 Revolution in Bad Münstereifel, West Germany, by (among others) Mário Soares, its historical leader and one of the main opponents of the dictatorial regime. Its leader, António Costa, is the current Prime Minister of Portugal and the current Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres is a former leader and Prime Minister. 1973
Volt Portugal
Volt Portugal		 VP Tiago de Matos Gomes Portuguese chapter of Volt Europa - a pro-European and European federalist political movement. The organisation follows a "pan-European approach" in many policy fields such as climate change, migration, economic inequality, international conflict, terrorism and the impact of the technological revolution on the labour market. It identifies itself as a pan-European, progressive, social-liberal and environmentalist political party. 2020

Centre
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
People-Animals-Nature
Pessoas-Animais-Natureza		 PAN Collective leadership (spokesperson: André Silva) Party inspired by environmentalism and strongly focused on the rights of animals and animal welfare and which considers itself to be socially progressive, defending LGBT rights and women's rights. 2009
Democratic Republican Party
Partido Democrático Republicano		 PDR Bruno Fialho Founded by the former leader of the Portuguese Bar Association, António Marinho e Pinto. He ran as the Earth Party candidate for the 2014 European elections but left the party soon after to form his own party. A populist and Eurosceptic party, defends a reform of the electoral system and reform of justice system. 2014
Together for the People
Juntos Pelo Povo		 JPP Filipe Sousa Formed as an independent movement for the local elections of 2013 in the municipally of Santa Cruz in Madeira. Transformed into a political party in 2015 in order to contest the regional elections in Madeira. 2015
United Party of Retirees and Pensioners
Partido Unido dos Reformados e Pensionistas		 PURP Fernando Loureiro This party's goal is to defend the rights of retirees and pensioners, aiming to position itself as the political voice of the members of this age group. It was founded as a result of the anti-austerity movement. 2015
React, Include, Recycle
Reagir, Incluir, Reciclar		 RIR Vitorino Silva (more commonly known as Tino de Rans) Populist, environmentalist and anti-system party ("Rir" in Portuguese means "laughing"). 2019

Centre-right
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrata		 PPD/PSD Rui Rio (Leader of the Opposition) The name might be somewhat misleading, as the PSD is not a traditional social democratic party, being much closer to the centre-right. A major party, particularly strong in the interior North and Center regions, it is a big tent party and the equivalent of any other liberal conservative party in Europe such as the French Republicans or the Spanish Citizens. PSD was founded right after the 1974 Revolution as Partido Popular Democrático (Democratic Peoples' Party) by many personalities of the so-called "liberal wing" of the fascist regime, like Francisco Sá Carneiro (the PSD historical leader) and Francisco Pinto Balsemão. The current President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is a former leader. 1974
Earth Party
Partido da Terra		 MPT José Inácio Faria A centre-right green party, founded in 1993 by a faction of the People's Monarchist Party. 1993
We, the Citizens!
Nós, Cidadãos!		 NC Mendo Castro Henriques A minor party founded as a result of the anti-austerity movement. 2015
Liberal Initiative
Iniciativa Liberal		 IL João Cotrim de Figueiredo A liberal party, it supports the ALDE in the European Parliament. 2017

Centre-right to right-wing
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
CDS – People's Party
CDS – Partido Popular		 CDS–PP Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos A traditional Christian Democrat and conservative party, similar to the German CSU or the Spanish PP. Founded after the revolution, its historical leaders were Diogo Freitas do Amaral and Adelino Amaro da Costa. In 1976 it was the only party that voted against approval of a socialist constitution. Later, it was part of several governments in coalition with the PSD. The CDS congregates several right-wing tendencies ranging from christian democrats to neoliberals and more conservative elements. 1974
Alliance
Aliança		 A Pedro Santana Lopes A party formed by former Social Democratic leader and former Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes. 2018

Right-wing
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
People's Monarchist Party
Partido Popular Monárquico		 PPM Paulo Estevão Small monarchist party with little political expression. It is known that the pretender heir to the Portuguese throne, Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, does not support this party, since the question of monarchical regime is considered to be above partisanship. 1974

Right-wing to far-right
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
ENOUGH
CHEGA		 CH André Ventura Populist, radical right party founded by PSD dissident André Ventura, similar to the French National Rally, the Spanish Vox or the Italian Lega Nord. Like them, it is a socially conservative party that opposes globalisation, immigration, multiculturalism and the European Union. 2019

Far-right
Name Abbr. Leader History Founded
Rise Up!
Ergue-te!		 E José Pinto Coelho A far-right nationalist party with little political expression. It was called National Renewal Party (Partido Nacional Renovador) until July 2020 when it changed its name to Rise Up! (Ergue-te). 2000

Extinct parties

This list presents the parties and coalitions of the current Third Republic that were once recognized by the Portuguese Constitutional Court but ceased to exist. It is organized by political spectrum and alphabetical order (in Portuguese).

Far-left

Left-wing to far-left

Left-wing

Centre-left

Centre

Centre-right
  • Democratic Alliance - AD (Aliança Democrática)
  • Association for the Defense of the Interests of Macau - ADIM (Associação para a Defesa dos Interesses de Macau)
  • New Democracy Party – PND (Partido da Nova Democracia)
  • Portuguese Party of the Regions - PPR (Partido Português das Regiões)

Right-wing

Far-right

Historical parties

This list includes the defunct political parties that never reached the Third Republic, in chronological order.

Constitutional Monarchy (1834–1910)

First Republic (1910–1926)

Ditadura Nacional (1926–1933)

Estado Novo (1933–1974)

Although the Estado Novo was a dictatorship, with the National Union being legally the only party, the opposition was sometimes allowed to compete in (sham) elections; other parties were constituted underground or in exile.

See also

References
  1. Tribunal Constitucional – Partidos registados e suas denominações, siglas e símbolos
  • Portuguese Constitutional Court - current parties (in Portuguese)
  • "Partidos Políticos". Comissão Nacional de Eleições. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  • "Arquivo Electrónico da Democracia Portuguesa - História dos Partidos". Centro de Documentação 25 de Abril. Retrieved 2006-06-20.
  • "Partidos e Movimentos Portugueses". Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2005-05-17.
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