| Portuguese Legislative Election, 1983 |
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The Portuguese legislative election of 1983 took place on April 25 . The last election, in October 1980 had been won by a right-wing coalition, the Democratic Alliance and Sá Carneiro had become Prime-Minister, this time with a broad majority. However, Sá Carneiro, along with other important members of the coalition died in an aircrash, only two months after the election, in December 5 of 1980. Such happenings caused a massive political instability and Pinto Balsemão , at the time an high responsible of the Social Democratic Party became Prime-Minister. But Balsemão lacked support from important members of his party, mainly Cavaco Silva and several ministers resigned. Along with that the right-wing policy was criticized by the left-wing and by the trade unions, and in February, the General Confederation Of The Portuguese Workers , with the support of the Communists, called for a General Strike that shaked the government. The wave of resignations among Balsemão's ministers continued and by the end of the year, he also resigned. Because no one inside the Social Democratic Party accepted the job of Prime-Minister, the President Ramalho Eanes dissolved the Parliament and called an election for April. The election was won by the Socialist Party with 36%, and Mário Soares was nominated Prime-Minister, however the Socialists lacked a majority in the Parliament and were forced to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, in what was called the "Central Bloc". Although this coalition allowed Soares to govern, several members of both parties were against it, several internal attacks to the alliance made it last for less than two years until its end in 1985. Among the other parties, the Communists lost 3 MPs and the Democratic Social Center, after the end of the Democratic Alliance was again alone in the parliament with 30 MPs, it was the beginning of a process of bi-polarization of the Portuguese political map. The major parties involved and the respective leaders:
Mário Soares, leader of the Socialist Party, was nominated Prime Minister. NATIONAL SUMMARY OF VOTES AND SEATS (Azores and Madeira are not shown)]]
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(source: Portuguese Electoral Comission ) SEE ALSO |
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