Socialist Party (Portugal)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007)

Socialist Party Partido Socialista
Leader	José Sócrates
Founded	April 19, 1973 (1973-04-19)
Headquarters	Largo do Rato 2, 1269-143 Lisbon
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Official colours	Red, Pink
Website
https://www.ps.pt/
Politics of Portugal Political parties Elections

The Socialist Party (Portuguese: Partido Socialista, pronounced [pɐɾˈtiðu susiɐˈliʃtɐ]) is a centre-left political party in Portugal. It was founded on April 19, 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action (Portuguese: Acção Socialista Portuguesa).

José Sócrates, Prime Minister of Portugal, is the leader of the party. The former President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, is also a member of the party. The party has currently 97 of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament.

José Sócrates obtained a landslide victory (winning 77% of the votes) in early October 2004 for the succession of Ferro Rodrigues as Secretary-General of the party. Other candidates for the post were Manuel Alegre and João Soares in a vote by party members.

It is a member of the Socialist International and the Party of European Socialists, and has 7 members in the European Parliament.

The Socialist Party stands out as about a third of its members in the Assembly of the Republic are women.

[edit] History

After the Revolution of April 25, the PS won the 1975 election for the Constituent Assembly and the 1976 elections for the National Assembly, then losing to the AD in the 1979 elections.

In 1980, the PS made an electoral alliance called the Frente Republicana e Socialista (FRS), between the Independent Social Democrats (SIDA), led by Sousa Franco and the Left Socialist Democracy (UEDS) led by Lopes Cardoso. The alliance failed to defeat the AD.

They won the 1983 general elections, but without an absolute majority, the socialists made a coalition with the center-right PSD, forming a "Central Block". The new gorvenment began negotiations for Portugal to enter the EEC. In 1985 the Central Block breaks down and the PS at the time led by Almeida Santos, loses the 1985 election. Cavaco Silva's PSD won the 1985 elections and again in 1987 and 1991 with absolute majority. The PS was in opposition for more than 10 years.

In 1995 the Socialist Party, then led by António Guterres, won the general elections for the first time in 10 years, and in 1999 they failed to obtain what would have been an historic absolute majority for the party by only one MP. In 2001, after a massive defeat in the 2001 local elections, António Guterres resigned as prime-minister and called for new elections in 2002. The Socialist Party lost the 2002 general elections by a small margin to the Social Democratic Party.

In June 2004, the PS won the European Parliament elections by a landslide, and a few weeks later, Durão Barroso, leader of the PSD and prime-minister, resigned to become President of the European Commission. In December 2004, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Republic, called fresh elections for February 2005. This elections resulted to be a landslide victory for the PS, winning for the first time since it's foundation an absolute majority. José Sócrates, leader of the PS, became Prime Minister.

In 2009, after 4,5 years in power, the PS lost the European Parliament elections to the PSD, however won the general elections held on 27 September, but failed to renew the absolute majority they won in 2005.

[edit] Election results, Portuguese parliamentary elections 1976-2009

[edit] List of important people

[edit] General Secretaries (Secretários-Gerais)

• Mário Soares: 1973 - 1986
• Almeida Santos (interim): 1986
• Vitor Constâncio: 1986 - 1989
• Jorge Sampaio: 1989 - 1992
• António Guterres: 1992 - 2002
• Ferro Rodrigues: 2002 - 2004
• José Sócrates: 2004 -

[edit] Prime Ministers

• Mário Soares : 1976 - 1978, 1983 - 1985
• António Guterres : 1995 - 2002
• José Sócrates : 2005 -

[edit] Presidents of the Republic

• Mário Soares : 1986 - 1996
• Jorge Sampaio: 1996 - 2006

[edit] See also

• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal
• Socialist Party
• Republican and Socialist Front

[edit] External links

• Official Website (in Portuguese)
• Official Website - Featured links (list in Portuguese, links to international websites in English)
• Socialist Internacional
• Party of European Socialists