Выборы в Учредительное собрание Португалии (25 апреля 1975 года)

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Constituent Assembly elections were carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution. The election elected all 250 members of the Portuguese Constituent Assembly. It was the first free election held in Portugal since 1925, and only the seventh free election in all of Portuguese history. It was also the first under universal suffrage since 1894. Turnout was a record 91.66 percent, which remains (as of 2022) the highest ever in any Portuguese democratic elections (General, Regional, Local or European). The main aim of the election was the election of a Constituent Assembly, in order to write a new constitution to replace the Estado Novo regime's authoritarian Constitution of 1933 and so this freely elected parliament had a single year mandate and no government was based on parliamentary support; the country continued to be governed by a military civilian provisional administration during the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly. With few or no opinion polls during the campaign, the real trend of the electorate was unknown, but incumbent Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves was confident in a victory of the most leftwing forces in Portugal, forecasting that the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) would win the election, followed by the Communists (PCP) and then the Socialist Party (PS). In the end, this forecast was totally wrong. The election was won by the Socialist Party with almost 38% of the votes and 116 seats. The Social Democratic Party (then known as the Democratic People's Party, PPD) was the second most voted party, 26.4% and 81 seats, defending a project that it would soon abandon, social democratic centrism, the Portuguese "Social Democracy", and becoming the major right wing party in the country a few years after. The size of the results of the PPD were a big surprise, taking into account that they won double the votes of the Communists.

The previous parliamentary elections were held on October 28, 1973, still under the authoritarian rule of the Estado Novo (New State), founded by António de Oliveira Salazar who died in 1970. The People's National Action (ANP), the single party of the then President of the Council of Ministers, Marcelo Caetano, had won the all 150 deputies of the National Assembly in the 1973 election, with a participation rate of 66.5% of registered. The election was boycotted by Opposition forces due to complaints about democratic legitimacy and oppression.

On April 25, 1974, the Carnation Revolution, initiated by the captains of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), ended the authoritarian regime established in 1932 by António de Oliveira Salazar. After the revolutionary forces proclaimed victory, the National Salvation Junta, presided by General António de Spínola, took over the position of Head of State and Government. With political parties once again legal, the Socialist Party (PS) leader, Mário Soares, and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Secretary General, Álvaro Cunhal, returned to Portugal less than a week later. In addition, the members of the "liberal wing" of the ANP, favorable to a democratization of the "Estado Novo" before its fall, founded the Democratic People's Party (PPD) which claimed to be social democratic. At the end of three weeks, Spínola took the oath as President of the Republic, and nominated Adelino da Palma Carlos Prime Minister as the head of the 1st provisional government in which civil and military members plus independent, socialists, social democrats and communists also took part. As early as July 18, Vasco Gonçalves, a military man seen as very close to the Communist Party, replaced Palma Carlos as head of the government. After this, the first party that didn't claim to be from the left or the center left appeared, the Democratic and Social Center (CDS), which claimed to be an advocate of Christian democracy and liberalism. Barely two and a half months later, after failing to carry out a counter revolution, Spínola resigned as President of the Republic and was replaced by General Francisco da Costa Gomes, his deputy in the National Salvation Junta. On March 19, 1975, President Costa Gomes officially called an election to elect members to write a new Constitution.

Date Released Polling Firm PS Others Lead 25 Apr 1975 Election results 37.9 26.4 12.5 7.6 4.1 11.511.5 Mar 1975 IPOPE 47.0 21.0 17.0 2.0 4.0 9.0 26.0 Dec 1974 CUF 35.1 27.0 10.8 2.7 24.4 8.1

+ Summary of the 25 April 1975 Constituent Assembly electionsresultsPartyVotes%SeatsSocialist Party2,162,97237.87116Democratic People's Party1,507,28226.3981Portuguese Communist Party711,93512.4630Democratic and Social Centre434,8797.6116Portuguese Democratic Movement236,3184.145People's Socialist Front66,3071.160Movement of Socialist Left58,2481.020People's Democratic Union44,8770.791Communist Electoral Front (Marxist–Leninist)33,1850.580People's Monarchist Party32,5260.570Popular Unity Party13,1380.230Internationalist Communist League10,8350.190Association for the Defense of Macau Interests1,6220.031Democratic Centre of Macau1,0300.020Total5,315,06493.05250Valid votes5,315,06493.05Invalid/blank votes396,6756.95Total votes cast5,711,829100.00Registered voters/turnout6,231,37291.66Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições