2004 European Parliament election in Portugal

2004 European Parliament election in Portugal

←  1999 13 June 2004 2009  →
24 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	38.6% 1.3 pp
First party Second party   Leader António Costa João de Deus Pinheiro Party PS FP Alliance PES EPP Last election 12 seats, 43.1% 11 seats, 39.3% Seats won 12 9 Seat change 0 2 Popular vote 1,516,001 1,132,769 Percentage 44.5% 33.3% Swing 1.5 pp 6.0 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Ilda Figueiredo Miguel Portas Party CDU BE Alliance GUE/NGL EACL Last election 2 seats, 10.3% 0 seats, 1.8% Seats won 2 1 Seat change 0 1 Popular vote 309,401 167,313 Percentage 9.1% 4.9% Swing 1.2 pp 3.1 pp

An election of MEPs representing Portugal for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 13 June 2004. It was part of the wider 2004 European election.

The Socialist Party (PS) was the big winner of the elections, achieving their best result in a European election ever. The party won 44.5 percent of the votes, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, and held on to the 12 seats won in 1999. However the Socialist victory, and the campaign overall, was overshadowed by the sudden death of the PS top candidate, António Sousa Franco. Sousa Franco died of a heart attack while campaigning in Matosinhos, just four days before election day. António Costa, number 2 on the list, became the Socialists' top candidate after Sousa Franco's death.

The Social Democrats (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested the election in a coalition called "Forward Portugal" (FP). The coalition had a very weak performance, winning just 33 percent of the votes, a big drop compared with the combined total of 39 percent the PSD+CDS had in 1999. The PSD lost two seats, while CDS–PP held on to their two seats.

The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) dropped one point and fell below 10 percent of the votes for the first time. CDU was still able to hold on to the two seats they had won in 1999. The Left Bloc (BE) gained a seat for the EU parliament for the first time, and saw its share of vote increase to almost 5 percent, an increase of more than 3 percentage points compared with 1999.

Turnout dropped compared with 1999, with 38.6 percent of voters casting a ballot.

Electoral system

The voting method used for the election of European members of parliament, is proportional representation using the d'Hondt method, which is known to benefit the largest parties slightly. In the 2004 EU elections, Portugal had 24 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

Parties and candidates

The major parties that partook in the election, and their EP list leaders, were: ^[1]

• Left Bloc (BE), Miguel Portas
• Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), Ilda Figueiredo
• Socialist Party (PS), António Costa ^[2]
• Social Democratic Party (PSD)/People's Party (CDS–PP) Força Portugal , João de Deus Pinheiro

Campaign period

Party slogans

Party or alliance		Original slogan	English translation	Refs
	PS	« Queremos um Portugal melhor »	"We want a better Portugal"	[3]
	FP	« Força Portugal! »	"Forward Portugal!"	[4]
	CDU	« Outro caminho para a Europa e para Portugal »	"Another path for Europe and Portugal"	[5]
	BE	« Estás farto? »	"Had enough?"	[6]

Candidates' debates

One last debate between the four main candidates was expected to be held on RTP on 10 June, but it was cancelled after the sudden death of the PS lead candidate António Sousa Franco on 9 June. Parties also cut short their campaigns. ^[7]

2004 European Parliament election in Portugal debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P Present   A Absent invitee N Non-invitee
			PS S. Franco	FP Pinheiro	CDU Figueiredo	BE Portas	Refs
1 June	SIC Notícias	Clara de Sousa	P	P	P	P	[8]
8 June	SIC Notícias	Clara de Sousa	P	P	N	N	[9]

Opinion polling

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Link	Date Released						O	Lead
2004 EP election	13 June 2004	44.5 12	33.3 9		9.1 2	4.9 1	8.2 0	11.2
UCP	13 June 2004	43–47 12/13	32–36 8/9		8–10 2/3	4–6 1	—	11
Eurosondagem	13 June 2004	44.1–47.9 12/13	29.7–33.5 8/9		10.1–11.9 2/3	5.1–6.9 1	—	14.4
Intercampus	13 June 2004	42.3–47.1 12/13	30.5–35.1 8/9		7.3–10.1 2	4.7–6.9 1	—	11.8 12.0
Aximage	11 June 2004	40.3	39.8		8.3	6.2	5.5	0.5
UCP	11 June 2004	44	37		8	5	6	7
Eurosondagem	11 June 2004	43.3	37.8		7.7	5.6	5.6	5.5
Intercampus	11 June 2004	42.4	27.5		12.6	6.7	10.9	14.9
Marktest	9 June 2004	49.2	37.4		6.3	5.0	2.1	11.8
Aximage	5 June 2004	39.2 11/12	34.5 9/10		7.9 2	2.4 1	16.0 0	4.7
Aximage	25 May 2004	39.5	33.6		8.3	4.0	14.6	5.9
TNS Euroteste	20 May 2004	34	34		4	3	25	Tie
Marktest [a]	19 May 2004	49.2	34.8		8.1	4.1	3.8	14.4
UCP	14 May 2004	44.3	40.7		5.4	5.2	4.4	3.6
Aximage	7 May 2004	40.5 11	35.8 9		6.1 1	3.3 0	14.3 0	4.7
Marktest	29 March 2004	54.7	34.5		5.5	2.4	3.0	20.2
Eurosondagem	19 March 2004	37.0 11	37.6 11		5.8 1	4.3 1	15.3 0	0.6
Aximage	7 March 2004	39.2 10	39.7 11		7.0 2	3.7 1	10.4 0	0.5
1999 EP election	13 June 1999	43.1 12	31.1 9	8.2 2	10.3 2	1.8 0	5.6 0	12.0

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the results of Portugal's 13 June 2004 election to the European Parliament

National party		European party	Main candidate	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Socialist Party (PS)	PES	António Costa	1,516,001	44.52	1.45	12	0
	Forward Portugal (FP) • Social Democratic Party (PSD) • People's Party (CDS–PP)	EPP	João de Deus Pinheiro	1,132,769	33.27	[10]	9 7 2	2 0
	Democratic Unitarian Coalition (CDU) • Communist Party (PCP) • Ecologist Party (PEV)	GUE/NGL	Ilda Figueiredo	309,401	9.09	1.23	2 2 0	0 0
	Left Bloc (BE)	EACL	Miguel Portas	167,313	4.91	3.12	1	1
	Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP)	None	António Garcia Pereira	36,294	1.07	0.19	0	0
	New Democracy Party (PND)	None	Manuel Monteiro	33,833	0.99	new	0	new
	People's Monarchist Party (PPM)	ECPM	Gonçalo da Câmara Pereira	15,454	0.45	0.02	0	0
	Movement for the Sick (MD)	None	Vitorino Brandão	13,840	0.41	new	0	new
	Earth Party (MPT)	ALDE	Luís Filipe Marques	13,671	0.40	0.00	0	0
	Humanist Party (PH)	None	-	13,272	0.39	new	0	new
	National Renovator Party (P.N.R.)	None	Paulo Rodrigues	8,405	0.25	new	0	new
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic (PDA)	None	José Soares	5,588	0.16	0.01	0	0
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity (POUS)	None	Carmelinda Pereira	4,275	0.13	0.03	0	0
Valid votes				3,270,116	96.04
Blank and invalid votes				134,666	3.96
Totals				3,404,782	100.00	—	24	1
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout				8,821,456	38.60	1.33
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine

Vote share PS   44.52% FP   33.27% CDU   9.09% BE   4.91% PCTP/MRPP   1.07% PND   0.99% Others   2.19% Blank/Invalid   3.96%

Seats PS   50.00% FP   37.50% CDU   8.33% BE   4.17%

Distribution by European group

Summary of political group distribution in the 6th European Parliament (2004–2009) ^[11]

Groups		Parties	Seats	Total	%
	Party of European Socialists (PES)	Socialist Party (PS)	12	12	50.00
	European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED)	Social Democratic Party (PSD) People's Party (CDS–PP)	7 2	9	37.50
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)	Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Left Bloc (BE)	2 1	3	12.50
Total			24	24	100.00

Maps

• 
  Most voted political force by district. (Azores and Madeira not shown)
• 
  Strongest party by municipality. Pink: PS; Darkblue: PSD-CDS; Red: CDU

Notes

1. Results presented here exclude undecideds (34.7%) and abstainers (14.0%). With their inclusion results are: PS: 26.2%; PSD/CDS-PP: 18.5%; CDU: 4.3%; BE: 2,2%; Blank: 2.0%.

References

1. Comissão Nacional de Eleições - Deputados, Mapa Oficial nº 1/2004
2. Candidate chosen to lead the Socialist list after the unexpected death of the former head of the list António Sousa Franco.
3. "António Costa dedica "resultado histórico do PS" a Matilde Sousa Franco". Público (in Portuguese). 13 June 2024. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
4. "Apresentação da lista "Força Portugal" ao Parlamento Europeu". RTP (in Portuguese). 3 May 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
5. "CDU - Outro caminho para a Europa e para Portugal". Portuguese Communist Party (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2 November 2024.
6. "Os dias e as fotografias que marcaram as lutas do Bloco". Público (in Portuguese). 28 February 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
7. "Homenagens a Sousa Franco decorrem hoje na Basílica da Estrela". Público (in Portuguese). 10 June 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
8. "Europeias: cabeças de lista realizam hoje primeiro debate na televisão". Público (in Portuguese). 1 June 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
9. "RTP e SIC-Notícias com debates "a quatro" na campanha eleitoral". Público (in Portuguese). 21 May 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
10. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested separately the 1999 election.
11. "Elecciones al Parlamento Europeo: Resultados por países 1979 - 2014". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 November 2017.

External links

• Results according to the Portuguese Electoral Commission of the 13 June 2004 election of the 24 delegates from Portugal to the European Parliament Archived 17 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine

See also

• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal
• Elections in Portugal
• European Parliament