2004 European Parliament election in Portugal

2004 European Parliament election in Portugal
13 June 2004
24 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout38.6% 1.3 pp
  First party Second party
 
Leader António Costa
(replacing António Sousa Franco) 		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]

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

Results

Party and European Parliament groupVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Socialist PartyPES1,516,00144.53+1.45120
Forward PortugalEPP–ED1,132,76933.27–6.009–2
Unitary Democratic CoalitionGUE/NGL309,4019.09–1.2320
Left BlocGUE/NGL167,3134.91+3.121+1
Portuguese Workers' Communist PartyNI36,2941.07+0.1900
New Democracy PartyNI33,8330.99New0New
People's Monarchist PartyNI15,4540.45–0.0200
Movement for the SickNI13,8400.41New0New
Earth PartyALDE13,6710.400.0000
Humanist PartyNI13,2720.39New0New
National Renewal PartyNI8,4050.25New0New
Democratic Party of the AtlanticNI5,5880.16+0.0100
Workers' Party of Socialist UnityNI4,2750.13–0.0300
Total3,270,116100.00–24–1
Valid votes3,270,11696.04–0.70
Invalid votes47,2241.39–0.05
Blank votes87,4422.57+0.74
Total votes3,404,782100.00–
Registered voters/turnout8,821,45638.60–1.33
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
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) [10]
Groups Parties Seats Total %
Party of European Socialists (PES) 12 12 50.00
European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED) 7
2 		9 37.50
European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 2
1 		3 12.50
Total 24 24 100.00

Maps

See also

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. ^ "Elecciones al Parlamento Europeo: Resultados por países 1979 - 2014". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 November 2017.
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