230 seats to the Portuguese Assembly 116 seats needed for a majority
Registered
8,902,713 0.4%
Turnout
5,473,655 (61.5%) 0.4 pp
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
José Durão Barroso
Ferro Rodrigues
Paulo Portas
Party
PSD
PS
CDS–PP
Leader since
2 May 1999
20 January 2002
22 March 1998
Leader's seat
Lisbon[1]
Lisbon[2]
Aveiro[3]
Last election
81 seats, 32.3%
115 seats, 44.1%
15 seats, 8.3%
Seats won
105
96
14
Seat change
24
19
1
Popular vote
2,200,765
2,068,584
477,350
Percentage
40.2%
37.8%
8.7%
Swing
7.9 pp
6.3 pp
0.4 pp
Fourth party
Fifth party
Leader
Carlos Carvalhas
Francisco Louçã
Party
PCP
BE
Alliance
CDU
Leader since
5 December 1992
24 March 1999
Leader's seat
Lisbon[4]
Lisbon[5]
Last election
17 seats, 9.0%
2 seats, 2.4%
Seats won
12
3
Seat change
5
1
Popular vote
379,870
153,877
Percentage
6.9%
2.7%
Swing
2.0 pp
0.4 pp
Vote winner strength by district
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election
António Guterres
PS
Prime Minister after election
José Manuel Barroso
PSD
The 2002 Portuguese legislative election took place on 17 March. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic.
These elections were called after the resignation of the then incumbent Prime Minister, António Guterres after the defeat of the Socialist Party in the 2001 local elections. That fact, plus the problematic state of the country's finances were the main arguments of the right-wing parties, which led them to be the favourites to win the election.
With just over 40% of the votes cast, the Social Democrats regained the status as the largest political force in Portugal, although the Socialists won almost 38% of the vote. This was the closest legislative election in Portuguese democracy until 2024. This short distance also appears on the electoral map, with each party winning eleven of the 22 districts, while the PS won the most populous, Lisbon and Porto. As a result, the Social Democrats fail to win the absolute majority they had between 1987 and 1995.
As no Party got an absolute majority, the Social Democrats formed a coalition with the right-wing People's Party. The left-wing Democratic Unity Coalition achieved the lowest result ever, finishing in the third place in its traditional strongholds, Évora and Setúbal. The Left Bloc gained one MP. Turnout was slightly higher than it was in 1999 but remained quite low, marking a growing separation between the politics and the Portuguese people, mainly due to the image of the politicians as corrupts and the idea that all the parties are the same.
Voter turnout was slightly higher than in 1999, as 61.5% of the electorate cast a ballot.
^Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
^Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
^Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
^Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
^Assembleia da República - Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares
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