The PSD/CDS coalition (Portuguese: Coligação PSD/CDS, PPD/PSD.CDS-PP) is a recurring conservative[3] political and electoral alliance in Portugal formed by the Social Democratic Party (PPD/PSD) and CDS – People's Party (CDS-PP).

Coalition PSD/CDS
Coligação PSD/CDS
AbbreviationPPD/PSD.CDS-PP (official)
LeaderLuís Montenegro
Nuno Melo
Founded1997 (just the two parties) 1979 (Democratic Alliance along PPM)
IdeologyConservatism
Political positionCentre-right[1] to right-wing[2]
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
International affiliationCentrist Democrat International
International Democrat Union
Member partiesSocial Democratic Party
CDS – People's Party

Though the history of coalition between the two parties stretches back over 40 years, the parties have not run together in most elections and, when they did so, they always retained their own autonomous parliamentary groups afterwards.

History

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PSD and CDS were founded after the 1974 Revolution that overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship.

Both parties have had a close affinity for the most part of their existence. Previous to any electoral alliance, they both endorsed the same presidential candidate in the first democratic presidential election of 1976, Ramalho Eanes, who also had the backing of the Socialist Party.

The first time the two parties were together in a coalition was in the general and local elections of 1979, under the Democratic Alliance banner, albeit along with the People's Monarchist Party and the Reformers [pt], a small group of Socialist Party dissidents. This first continuous coalition lasted until 1983 and run a total of two general elections (1979 and 1980) and two local elections (1979 and 1982). Both parties endorsed again a single candidate in the 1980 and 1986 presidential elections.

In Portugal, presidential elections aren't formally partisan, although all major parties usually endorse a candidate from their ranks. In the 1991 presidential elections, PSD backed former Socialist Prime Minister Mário Soares, while CDS endorsed its own former minister Basílio Horta. Since 1996, both parties have always endorsed the same candidate (former PSD Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva in 1996, 2006 and 2011, and former PSD ministers Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral in 2001 and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in 2016 and 2021). The candidates supported by PSD and CDS have won since 2006.

The coalition with just the two parties appeared formally for the first time in the 1997 local elections and, at the local level, it has been expanded to more municipalities in each following election till today (2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021), holding, as of 2021, 31 mayors out of 308 municipalities in the country.

The coalition was on the ballot in the 2004 Azores regional election, as Coalition Azores (Portuguese: Coligação Açores, CA), but failed to win that election. The coalition was also on the ballot in the 2023 Madeira regional election, as We are Madeira (Portuguese: Somos Madeira, SM). The coalition has been on the ballot in two European Parliament elections, 2004 as Forward Portugal (Portuguese: Força Portugal, FP), and 2014 as Portugal Alliance (Portuguese: Aliança Portugal, AP).

On elections for the Assembly of the Republic, the two-party coalition was only tried once, in the 2015 legislative election, as Portugal Ahead (Portuguese: Portugal à Frente, PàF), and it polled ahead with almost 39% of the votes, but was unable to remain in power as it didn't gain enough seats for a majority.

Both parties are running again along with PPM as the Democratic Alliance for the 2024 European and general elections, except in Madeira's constituency in the general, where only PSD and CDS are running together as First Madeira.

Election results

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Assembly of the Republic

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2015 legislative election

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Logo of the Portugal Ahead (PáF) coalition.
Flag of the Portugal Ahead (PáF) coalition.

For the 2015 legislative election, PSD and CDS-PP ran under a coalition with the name Portugal Ahead. In the legislative election on 5 October 2015, the PSD/CDS-PP joint list received 36.9% of the vote and returned 102 seats in the Assembly of the Republic, with the PSD electing 5 deputies on standalone lists in Madeira and Azores.[4]

Although the coalition won the elections, and surprised many analysts and pundits, the left parties together had a majority in Parliament, and opted to negotiate a confidence-and-supply agreement, thus refusing to allow for a second PSD/CDS-PP cabinet. For the first time in Portuguese democracy the Socialist Party, the second most voted political force in the elections, negotiated with the BE, the PCP and the PEV a formation of a new government.

Following the fall of the short-lived 20th Constitutional Government, the "natural" extinction of the coalition was declared on 16 December 2015 by Passos Coelho: "No formal act is necessary to put an end to it".[5][6]

Election Coalition name Leader Votes % Seats Government
2015 Portugal Ahead Pedro Passos Coelho 2,085,465 38.6 (#1)
107 / 230
Coalition[a]
Opposition

After 2015

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After the Portugal Ahead coalition dissolution, both PSD and CDS contested a few constituencies in a joint coalition: In 2022, PSD and CDS ran in a joint coalition in Madeira called Madeira First, and in Azores both parties were joined with PPM in a coalition called Democratic Alliance. In 2024, the PSD, CDS and PPM ran in a joint coalition in all constituencies except Madeira, which repeated the PSD-CDS Madeira First coalition.

Election Coalition name Leader Votes % Seats Government
Nationwide coalitions
2024 Democratic Alliance[b] Luís Montenegro 1,867,464 28.9 (#1)
80 / 230
Coalition[c]
Coalitions in some districts
2022 All, in coalition and separately[d] Rui Rio 1,707,456 30.7 (#2)
77 / 230
Opposition
Madeira First (Madeira) 50,634 39.8 (#1)
3 / 6
Democratic Alliance[b] (Azores) 28,520 33.9 (#2)
2 / 5
2024 Madeira First (Madeira) Luís Montenegro 52,992 35.4 (#1)
3 / 6
Coalition

European Parliament

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2004 European Parliament election

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As Forward Portugal (Força Portugal, FP)

Election Leader Votes % Seats
2004 João de Deus Pinheiro 1,132,769 33.3 (#2)
7 / 21

2014 European Parliament election

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An alliance was formed as the Portugal Alliance (Aliança Portugal) for the 2014 European Parliament election, in which the alliance won 27.7% of the popular vote and 7 of Portugal's 21 seats in the European Parliament, sitting with the European People's Party Group.[7]

As Portugal Alliance (Aliança Portugal, AP)

Election Leader Votes % Seats
2014 Paulo Rangel 910,647 27.7 (#2)
7 / 21

Regional Assemblies

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2004 Azores regional election

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As Azores Coalition (Coligação Açores, CA)

Election Leader Votes % Seats Government
2004 Victor do Couto Cruz 38,883 36.8 (#2)
21 / 52
Opposition

2023 Madeira regional election

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As We are Madeira (Somos Madeira, SM)

Election Leader Votes % Seats Government
2023 Miguel Albuquerque 58,394 43.1 (#1)
23 / 47
Coalition[e]

Local elections

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Only in contests where PSD and CDS-PP ran in a joint coalition.

Election Votes % Councillors +/- Mayors +/- Assemblies +/- Parishes +/-
1997 124,859 2.3 (#6)
7 / 2,021
New
0 / 305
New
22 / 6,807
New
561 / 33,953
New
2001 472,581 9.0 (#4)
114 / 2,044
 103
15 / 308
 15
427 / 6,876
 392
2,124 / 34,569
 1,486
2005 462,199 8.6 (#4)
131 / 2,046
 17
18 / 308
 3
407 / 6,885
 20
2,065 / 34,498
 59
2009 540,053 9.8 (#3)
157 / 2,078
 21
19 / 308
 1
522 / 6,946
 115
2,911 / 34,498
 847
2013 379,110 7.6 (#4)
154 / 2,086
 3
16 / 308
 3
493 / 6,487
 29
2,096 / 27,167
 815
2017 454,222 8.8 (#4)
169 / 2,074
 15
16 / 308
 0
539 / 6,461
 46
2,486 / 27,005
 390
2021 540,783 10.8 (#3)
239 / 2,064
 70
31 / 308
 15
751 / 6,448
 212
3,210 / 26,790
 724

Presidential elections

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The table below shows the electoral results[8] of presidential candidates who were endorsed by both parties, besides endorsements by other parties.

Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
1976 António Ramalho Eanes 2,967,414 61.5 (#1)
1980 António Soares Carneiro 2,319,847 40.2 (#2)
1986 Diogo Freitas do Amaral 2,628,178 46.3 (#1) 2,864,728 48.7 (#2)
1996 Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,606,236 46.2 (#2)
2001 Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral 1,493,858 34.5 (#2)
2006 Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,746,689 50.6 (#1)
2011 2,231,603 53.0 (#1)
2016 Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa 2,411,925 52.0 (#1)
2021 2,534,745 60.7 (#1)

Leaders

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Luís Montenegro, Incumbent PSD leader.
Nuno Melo, Incumbent CDS-PP leader.
Date
(start of term)
PSD CDS-PP
22 March 1992 Manuel Monteiro
29 March 1996   Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
22 March 1998   Paulo Portas
1 May 1999   José Durão Barroso
30 June 2004   Pedro Santana Lopes
10 April 2005   Luís Marques Mendes
24 April 2005   José Ribeiro e Castro
21 April 2007   Paulo Portas
28 September 2007   Luís Filipe Menezes
31 May 2008   Manuela Ferreira Leite
26 March 2010   Pedro Passos Coelho
13 March 2016   Assunção Cristas
18 February 2018   Rui Rio
25 January 2020   Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos
2 April 2022   Nuno Melo
3 July 2022   Luís Montenegro

Notes

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  1. ^ Minority government (2015); Opposition (2015–2019).
  2. ^ a b The Democratic Alliance includes the People's Monarchist Party.
  3. ^ Minority government
  4. ^ PSD and CDS ran in coalition in only two constituencies: Azores (along with PPM) and Madeira (just the two). Nationwide, PPM only ran by itself in one constituency, Madeira, where it got 260 votes. These isolated PPM votes are not taken into account because they are not related to PSD or CDS candidacies.
  5. ^ Coalition government Social Democratic Party-CDS–PP; Confidence & supply gov't: PSD/CDS-PP ⇐ (PAN).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Portugal election: centre-right coalition retains power but could lose majority". The Guardian. Reuters. 5 October 2015.
  2. ^ "Portugal parliamentary election 2019: Who are the main parties?" Euronews. 5 October 2019.
  3. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2015). "Portugal". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015.
  4. ^ "Legislativas 2015 - Resultados Globais". Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  5. ^ (16 December 2015) Passos Coelho diz que a coligação "acabou" TSF. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  6. ^ (16 December 2015) Passos: Coligação com CDS acabou Expresso. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Results by country: Portugal". Results of the 2014 European elections. European Parliament. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Resultados Eleitorais". Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Administração Interna. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
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