Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of wikipedia)

Portugal elects on national level the President and the national Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. The President is elected for a five year term by the people while the Parliament has 230 members, elected for a four year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies, the districts. Also in a national level, Portugal elects 24 members of the European Parliament.

In the local elections, 308 Municipal Chambers and Municipal Assemblies, and more than 4000 Parish Assemblies are elected for a four year term in separate elections that usually occur on the same day.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR PORTUGAL? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Most recent election

(Courtesy of wikipedia)

The Portuguese presidential election were held on January 22, 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Jorge Sampaio, who was term-limited from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round for Aníbal Cavaco Silva of the Social Democratic Party candidate, the former Prime Minister, who won 50.59 percent of the vote in the first round, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election. Voter turnout was 62.60 percent for eligible voters.