Socialist Party (Portugal)

The Socialist Party (Partido Socialista; ) is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action (Acção Socialista Portuguesa).

José Sócrates, the former Prime Minister of Portugal, was the leader of the leader of the party until June 5th 2011. The party has currently 97 of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament. The Socialist Party stands out as about a third of its members in the Assembly of the Republic are women.

Sócrates obtained a landslide victory (winning 77% of the votes) in early October 2004 for the succession of Ferro Rodrigues as Secretary-General of the party. Other candidates for the post were Manuel Alegre and João Soares in a vote by party members.

PS is a member of the Socialist International and the Party of European Socialists, and has seven members in the European Parliament within the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) Group during the seventh parliament.

History
After the Carnation Revolution on 25 April, the Socialist Party (PS) won the 1975 election for the Constituent Assembly and the 1976 elections for the National Assembly, then losing to the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) in the 1979 elections.

In 1980, the PS made an electoral alliance called the Republican and Socialist Front (FRS), between the Independent Social Democrats (ASDI), led by Sousa Franco, and the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy (UEDS), led by Lopes Cardoso. The alliance failed to defeat the AD.

They won the 1983 general elections, but without an absolute majority, the Socialists made a coalition with the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), forming a "Central Block". The new government began negotiations for Portugal to enter the EEC. In 1985 the Central Block broke down and the PS at the time led by Almeida Santos, lost the 1985 election. Cavaco Silva's PSD won the 1985 elections and again in 1987 and 1991 with absolute majority. The PS was in opposition for more than ten years.

In 1995, the Socialist Party, then led by António Guterres, won the general elections for the first time in ten years, and in 1999, they failed to obtain what would have been an historic absolute majority for the party by only one MP. In 2001, after a massive defeat in the 2001 local elections, António Guterres resigned as Prime Minister and called for new elections in 2002. The Socialist Party lost the 2002 general elections by a small margin to the Social Democratic Party.

In June 2004, the PS won the European Parliament elections by a landslide, and a few weeks later, Durão Barroso, leader of the PSD and Prime Minister, resigned to become President of the European Commission. In December 2004, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Republic, called fresh elections for February 2005. These elections resulted in a landslide victory for the PS, winning for the first time since its foundation an absolute majority. José Sócrates, leader of the PS, became Prime Minister.

In 2009, after four-and-a-half years in power, the PS lost the European Parliament elections to the PSD. However, they won the general elections held on 27 September but failed to renew the absolute majority they won in 2005.

The financial crisis of 2011 hit Portugal very hard, prompting Sócrates' government to impose harsh austerity measures. On March 23, 2011, the entire opposition in Parliament said no to new measures proposed by the government. As a result of this, José Sócrates resigned as Prime Minister and early elections will take place on June 5.

General Secretaries (Secretários-Gerais)

 * Mário Soares: 1973–1986
 * Almeida Santos (interim): 1986
 * Vítor Constâncio: 1986–1989
 * Jorge Sampaio: 1989–1992
 * António Guterres: 1992–2002
 * Ferro Rodrigues: 2002–2004
 * José Sócrates: 2004–

Prime Ministers

 * Mário Soares: 1976–1978, 1983–1985
 * António Guterres: 1995–2002
 * José Sócrates: 2005–

Presidents of the Republic

 * Mário Soares: 1986–1996
 * Jorge Sampaio: 1996–2006