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1980 Portuguese legislative election
250 seats to the Portuguese Assembly; 125 seats needed for a majority
Registered	7,179,023 1.0%
Turnout	6,026,395 (83.9%); 1.0 pp
Prime Minister before election; Francisco Sá Carneiro; PSD	Prime Minister after election ; Francisco Sá Carneiro; PSD

The 1980 Portuguese legislative election took place on 5 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

In January 1980, the Democratic Alliance, which had won the previous election, on 2 December 1979, entered office with Francisco Sá Carneiro leading the government. However, this election was an extraordinary election and because of Fixed-term Parliament rules, in 1980, another election was held.

The Democratic Alliance (AD) won, again, and increased the majority they had achieved 10 months before, in December 1979. The AD won almost 48 percent of the votes and gathered 134 seats, six more.^[1] The Socialist Party (PS), now leading a broad coalition called Republican and Socialist Front, got basically the same vote share and seats as in 1979. The Communist led alliance, United People Alliance (APU) lost some ground, gathering almost 17 percent of the votes, 2 percentage points lower than 10 months earlier.

Turnout was one of the highest ever, almost 84 percent, and in terms of ballots cast, the more than 6 million votes cast was a record in Portuguese elections for 44 years after being surpassed in the 2024 legislative election.

Electoral system

The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members elected to four-year terms. Governments do not require absolute majority support of the Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 126 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.^[2]

The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude.^[3] The use of the d'Hondt method makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the Hare quota or Sainte-Laguë method, which are more generous to small parties.^[4]

For these elections, and compared with the 1979 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:^[5]

District	Number of MPs	Map
Lisbon	56	15 6 38 6 4 15 10 5 12 6 11 12 56 4 5 17 5 9 5 5 2 2
Porto	38
Setúbal	17
Aveiro and Braga	15
Santarém and Coimbra	12
Leiria	11
Viseu	10
Faro	9
Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real	6
Azores, Beja, Évora, Guarda and Madeira	5
Bragança and Portalegre	4
Europe and Outside Europe	2

Parties

The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the second half of the 1st legislature (1976–1980), as the 1979 election was a national by-election, and that also contested the elections:

Name			Ideology	Political position	Leader	1979 result^[6]
Name			Ideology	Political position	Leader	%	Seats
	PPD/PSD	Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata	Liberal conservatism	Centre-right	Francisco Sá Carneiro	45.3% ^[d]	80 / 250
	CDS	Democratic and Social Center Centro Democrático e Social	Christian democracy	Centre-right to right-wing	Diogo Freitas do Amaral		43 / 250
	PPM	People's Monarchist Party Partido Popular Monárquico	Monarchism Green conservatism	Right-wing	Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles		5 / 250
	PS	Socialist Party Partido Socialista	Social democracy	Centre-left	Mário Soares	27.3% ^[e]	74 / 250
	PCP	Portuguese Communist Party Partido Comunista Português	Communism Marxism–Leninism	Far-left	Álvaro Cunhal	18.8% ^[f]	44 / 250
	MDP/CDE	Portuguese Democratic Movement Movimento Democrático Português	Left-wing nationalism Democratic socialism	Left-wing	José Manuel Tengarrinha	18.8% ^[f]	3 / 250
	UDP	Popular Democratic Union União Democrática Popular	Marxism Socialism	Left-wing	Mário Tomé	2.2%	1 / 250

Campaign period

Party slogans

	Original slogan	English translation	Refs
AD	« Garantir o progresso. »	"Ensure progress."	^[7]
FRS	« Um governo para todos. A sua segurança. »	"A government for all. Your safety."	^[8]
APU	« Vota APU, para a vitória de Abril »	"Vote APU, for the victory of April"	^[9]
UDP	« Abril de novo pela força do povo »	"April again by the strength of the people"	^[10]

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 5 October 1980 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties		Votes	%	±	Seats					MPs %/ votes %

Parties		Votes	%	±	1979	1980	±	%	±	MPs %/ votes %
	Democratic Alliance^[g]	2,706,667	44.91	2.4	121	126	5	50.40	2.0	1.12
	Social Democratic^[h]	147,644	2.45	0.1	7	8	1	3.20	0.4	1.31
	Democratic and Social Centre^[h]	13,765	0.23	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
Total Democratic Alliance		2,868,076	47.59	2.3	128	134	6	53.60	2.4	1.13
	Republican and Socialist Front^[i]^[c]	1,606,198	26.65	—	—	71	—	28.40	—	1.07
	Socialist^[j]	67,081	1.11	—	74	3	—	1.20	—	1.08
Total Republican and Socialist Front		1,673,279	27.76	0.4	74	74	0	29.60	0.0	1.07
	United People Alliance^[k]	1,009,505	16.75	2.0	47	41	6	16.40	2.4	0.98
	People's Democratic Union	83,204	1.38	0.8	1	1	0	0.40	0.0	0.29
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity	83,095	1.38	1.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Revolutionary Socialist	60,496	1.00	0.4	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Labour	39,408	0.65	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	35,409	0.59	0.3	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	PDC / MIRN/PDP / FN	23,819	0.40	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic	8,529	0.14	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	OCMLP	3,913	0.06	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
Total valid		5,888,733	97.72	0.4	250	250	0	100.00	0	—
Blank ballots		34,552	0.57	0.1
Invalid ballots		103,140	1.71	0.3
Total		6,026,395	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,179,023	83.94	1.0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share

AD			44.91%
FRS			26.65%
APU			16.75%
PSD			2.45%
UDP			1.38%
POUS			1.38%
PS			1.11%
PSR			1.00%
AOC			0.65%
PCTP/MRPP			0.59%
Others			0.83%
Blank/Invalid			2.28%

Parliamentary seats

AD			50.40%
FRS			28.40%
APU			16.40%
PSD			3.20%
PS			1.20%
UDP			0.40%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 1980 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency
Constituency	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	Total S
Constituency	AD		FRS		APU		PSD		PS		UDP		Total S
Azores					3.1	-	57.0	4	27.3	1	1.3	-	5
Aveiro	58.8	10	27.1	4	6.8	1							15
Beja	22.4	1	21.1	1	47.1	3					1.3	-	5
Braga	54.9	9	29.3	5	8.4	1					0.9	-	15
Bragança	65.3	3	21.3	1	4.8	-					1.0	-	4
Castelo Branco	51.0	4	30.3	2	10.5	-					0.7	-	6
Coimbra	46.1	6	35.9	5	9.9	1					0.8	-	12
Évora	29.2	1	18.7	1	45.7	3					0.9	-	5
Faro	37.2	4	34.7	4	16.7	1					1.9	-	9
Guarda	60.6	4	26.3	1	5.0	-					0.7	-	5
Leiria	59.8	7	22.7	3	9.7	1					1.0	-	11
Lisbon	41.6	25	28.1	17	23.1	13					1.7	1	56
Madeira					2.9	-	63.6	4	16.5	1	4.5	-	5
Portalegre	33.4	2	32.4	1	26.1	1					0.7	-	4
Porto	46.6	19	34.3	14	11.9	5					1.4	-	38
Santarém	42.1	6	30.4	4	19.0	2					1.2	-	12
Setúbal	24.1	4	23.5	4	44.0	9					2.8	-	17
Viana do Castelo	59.2	5	22.8	1	10.0	-					0.7	-	6
Vila Real	62.1	5	22.8	1	5.1	-					0.8	-	6
Viseu	66.8	8	20.9	2	5.0	-					0.6	-	10
Europe	49.6	1			15.2	-			25.4	1	1.4	-	2
Outside Europe	85.5	2			2.6	-			4.0	-	0.4	-	2
Total	44.9	126	26.7	71	16.8	41	2.5	8	1.1	3	1.4	1	250
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Maps

Winner and seats by constituency.
Most voted political force by municipality.

Aftermath

Death of Francisco Sá Carneiro

Just two months after winning the 1980 elections, and while campaigning for the Democratic Alliance's candidate for the December 1980 Presidential election, Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro and his Defense minister Adelino Amaro da Costa, along with their spouses Snu Abecassis and Maria Vaz Pires, respectively, and the plane's pilot, died in tragic air crash when the small aircraft they were on board crashed and burned in Camarate, Loures, shortly after taking off from the main runway of Lisbon Airport.^[11] This tragic air crash sparked a series of conspirancy theories, mainly because of Portugal' involvement in the Iran–Iraq War and the supply of weapons to both Iraq and Iran.^[12] Several investigations surrounding the crash were conducted and the official cause of the crash is still a matter of intense debate.^[13] Diogo Freitas do Amaral was appointed as Interim Prime Minister until the election of Francisco Pinto Balsemão as PSD leader and subsequent nomination as Prime Minister.^[14]

Fall of the government

The Balsemão governments were very unstable due to lack of leadership and deep disagreements between the three parties that composed the Democratic Alliance (AD). In the 1982 local elections, the AD was able to gather 42 percent of the votes, against the 31 percent of the PS and 20.5 percent of APU, but suffered loses and many within the coalition, mainly Diogo Freitas do Amaral, labeled the results as a disaster.^[15] With this background, Pinto Balsemão resigned as Prime Minister and the PSD proposed names for Prime Minister to President António Ramalho Eanes. However, President Eanes refused to swear in a new AD government and dissolved Parliament by calling elections for 25 April 1983.^[16]

Notes

^ As leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
^ As leader of the Socialist Party (PS).
^ ^a ^b Republican and Socialist Front results are compared to the combined totals of the Socialist Party in the 1979 election.
^ The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic Social Center (CDS) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) contested the 1979 election in a coalition called Democratic Alliance (AD) and won a combined 45.3% of the vote and elected 128 MP's to parliament.
^ The Socialist Party (PS), Left-wing Union for the Socialist Democracy (UEDS) and the Independent Social-Democratic Action (ASDI) would contest the 1980 election in a coalition called Republican and Socialist Front (FRS).
^ The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) contested the 1979 election in a coalition called United People Alliance (APU) and won a combined 18.8% of the vote and elected 47 MPs to parliament.
^ Alliance formed by the Social Democratic Party (74 seats), the Democratic and Social Centre (46 seats) and the People's Monarchist Party (6 seats).
^ ^a ^b Social Democratic Party and Democratic and Social Centre electoral list only in Azores and Madeira.
^ Alliance formed by the Socialist Party (63 seats), the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy (4 seats) and the Independent Social-Democratic Action (4 seats).
^ Socialist Party electoral list only in Azores and Madeira.
^ Portuguese Communist Party (39 MPs) and Portuguese Democratic Movement (2 MPs) ran in coalition.