Constituent Assembly of Portugal

Constituent Assembly Assembleia Constituinte
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Established	2 June 1975
Disbanded	2 April 1976
Succeeded by	1st Legislature
Leadership
President	Henrique de Barros, Socialist Party[1]
Vice Presidents	Vasco da Gama Fernandes, Socialist Party Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Democratic People's Party José Tavares Magro, Communist Party
Structure
Seats	250
Political groups	PS (116)   PPD (81)   PCP (30)   CDS (16)   MDP/CDE (5)   UDP (1)   ADIM (1)
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation
Last election	25 April 1975
Meeting place
São Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal

The Constituent Assembly (Portuguese: Assembleia Constituinte) was the Portuguese constituent assembly elected on 25 April 1975, after the Carnation Revolution (25 April 1974), for the purpose of adopting a constitution for the Third Portuguese Republic, the Constitution of 1976.

Background

After the Carnation Revolution, the National Salvation Junta dissolved all political offices previously existing in the Estado Novo (Law no. 1/74[2]). On 14 May 1974, the President of the National Salvation Junta, António de Spínola, abolished the National Assembly and the Corporative Chamber (Law no. 2/74[3]), the two parliamentary chambers in the Estado Novo, and established a transitory constitution (Law no. 3/74[3]) to be used until the new constitution was approved.

Election

Main article: 1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election

The election of the Constituent Assembly was carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution and was the first free election in fifty years, the first in the new democratic regime created after the revolution.

The election was won by the Socialist Party, with the Democratic Party being the second most voted party. The parliament had a large majority of parties defending socialist or democratic socialist ideas and the Constitution, approved on 2 April 1976, reflected such influence.

Party		Constituent Assembly
		Votes	%	Seats
	PS	2,162,972	37.87	116
	PPD	1,507,282	26.39	81
	PCP	711,935	12.46	30
	CDS	434,879	7.61	16
	MDP/CDE	236,318	4.14	5
	UDP	44,877	0.79	1
	ADIM[a]	1,622	0.03	1
	Others/blanks/invalids	611,944	10.71	0
Total		5,711,829	100.00	250

Composition

Party		Parliamentary group leader	Elected		Dissolution
			Seats	%	Seats	%
	PS	António Lopes Cardoso (Beja)	116	46.4	116	46.4
	PPD	Carlos Mota Pinto (Coimbra) (1975) António Barbosa de Melo (Coimbra) (1975–1976)	81	32.4	64	25.6
	PCP	Octávio Pato (Lisbon)	30	12.0	30	12.0
	CDS	Victor Sá Machado [pt] (Lisbon)	16	6.4	16	6.4
	MDP/CDE	José Tengarrinha [pt] (Lisbon)	5	2.0	5	2.0
	UDP	João Pulido Valente (Lisbon)	1	0.4	1	0.4
	ADIM	Diamantino de Oliveira Ferreira (Macau)	1	0.4	1	0.4
	Independent	Various PPD deputies	0	0.0	17	6.8
Total			250	100.0	250	100.0

See also

• Assembly of the Republic
• Constitution of Portugal
• History of Portugal
• São Bento Palace

Notes

1. Independent Democratic Association of Macau electoral list only in Macau.

References

1. "Assembleia Contituinte - Cronologia" (in Portuguese). Assembly of the Republic. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
2. "Diário do Governo" (PDF). Diário do Governo. 1st (in Portuguese) (97). 25 April 1974. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
3. "Diário do Governo" (PDF). Diário do Governo. 1st (in Portuguese) (112). 14 May 1974. Retrieved 19 October 2012.