electionstracker

Portugal 1987 legislative election

What was the result of the 1987 legislative election in Portugal?

Social Democratic Party won 148 of 250 seats with 51.3% of the vote. 71.6% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Portugal
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Social Democratic Party won 148 of 250 seats with 51.3% of the vote; 71.6% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 2.6 points on 1985.

  • Social Democratic Party 148 +60 seats 51.3% +20.7 points
  • Socialist Party 60 +3 seats 22.7% +1.4 points
  • Unitary Democratic Coalition 0 12.4%
  • Democratic Renewal Party 7 −38 seats 5.0% −13.4 points
  • CDS – People's Party 4 −18 seats 4.5% −5.7 points
  • Popular Democratic Union 0 0 seats 0.9% −0.4 points
  • Portuguese Communist Party 28 −6 seats
  • Democratic Intervention 2
  • Ecology Party -- Greens 1 0 seats
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Portugal 1985 legislative election, party by party.

126 of 250 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 51.3%

    Share of the vote won by Social Democratic Party

    Social Democratic Party won 148 of 250 seats. A majority needs 126.

  2. +60 seats

    Seats gained by Social Democratic Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1985. Democratic Renewal Party lost 38 seats.

  3. 71.6%

    Voter turnout

    Down 2.6 points on 1985.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Social Democratic Party148+6051.3+20.72,850,784
Socialist Party60+322.7+1.41,262,506
Unitary Democratic Coalition012.4689,137
Democratic Renewal Party7−385.0−13.4278,561
CDS – People's Party4−184.5−5.7251,987
Popular Democratic Union000.9−0.450,717
Portuguese Communist Party28−6
Democratic Intervention2
Ecology Party -- Greens10

± is the change against the Portugal 1985 legislative election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Social Democratic Party 2,850,784
  • Socialist Party 1,262,506
  • Unitary Democratic Coalition 689,137
  • Democratic Renewal Party 278,561
  • CDS – People's Party 251,987
  • Popular Democratic Union 50,717
  • Portuguese Communist Party
  • Democratic Intervention
  • Ecology Party -- Greens

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

71.6% of the 7,930,668 registered voters cast a ballot (5,676,358 ballots), down 2.6 points on 1985. 5,552,690 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1975.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Social Democratic Party51.3% of votes59.2% of seats
  • Socialist Party22.7% of votes24.0% of seats
  • Democratic Renewal Party5.0% of votes2.8% of seats
  • CDS – People's Party4.5% of votes1.6% of seats
  • Unitary Democratic Coalition12.4% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 13.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.0 by votes and 2.4 by seats; Social Democratic Party led Socialist Party by 28.6 points of the vote.

What else was on the same day?

Time and source Data as of