After various attempts of authoritarian coups d’état, the military revolt of 1926 came, which brought General Oscar Carmona (1928-51) to power. He called to his side, as finance minister, Professor António de Oliveira Salazar, who, also becoming head of the government (1932), established a “corporate” and paternalistic dictatorship, called Estado Novo. Salazar’s “plainclothes fascism” survived its founder and seemed to perpetuate itself in his successor M. Caetano (1968-74). To bring down the obtuse and anti-historical dictatorship was the army, for many years engaged in the bloody repression of the independence movements of the African colonies. Thanks to a bloodless coup d’etat (25 April 1974), known as the Carnation Revolution, a military government was established (with the support of the anti-fascist parties) and General A. de Spinola was appointed head of state.. But after fifty years of authoritarian rule, the start of democracy was immediately fraught with difficulties. The parties and public opinion were divided, roughly, between supporters of a “third world” political line and supporters of a “pro-European” policy (relying on the multiple links between Portugal and Western Europe). Within a few months, however, the old colonial empire was liquidated, banks and industries were nationalized, a draft Constitution was launched. However, on March 11, 1975, an obscure coup attempt involved Spinola, who had already been succeeded by General Francisco Costa Gomes in September 1974., under whose leadership a democratic Constitution was approved by the Constituent Assembly (April 1976) and the first elections were held that led to the presidency of the Republic General António Ramalho Eanes and confirmed the PS (Socialist Party) as a party of relative majority. Socialist leader Mario Soares, first at the head of a single-color and then of a coalition with the CDS (Social Democratic Center), he registered a series of failures in economic policy. The early elections of December 1979 sanctioned the defeat of the Socialist Party and the clear affirmation of the Democratic Alliance, a center-right coalition comprising PSD (Social Democratic Party), CDS and monarchists, led by the Social Democrat Francisco Sá Carneiro who became Prime Minister. Upon his death (December 4, 1980) he was replaced by Francisco Pinto Balsemão. Irrelevant differences between the parties of the Democratic Alliance, which arose following the unfavorable outcome of the municipal elections, led to the resignation of Pinto Balsemão (December 1982) and then to the early elections (March 1983), the outcome of which led to the formation of a PS-PSD government led by Soares. With him the “pro-Europeans” prevailed and on 12 June 1985 Soares signed the entry of Portugal into the EEC (effective from 1 January 1986).
However, according to computergees, in the political elections of the following October Soares had to cede the leadership to the Social Democrat Aníbal Cavaco Silva, confirming himself as an authoritative politician with the victory in the presidential elections of February 1986. In 1991 both Soares and Cavaco Silva were reconfirmed in their respective offices. The second half of the eighties of the twentieth century represented a long period of stability for the country: in foreign policy, in fact, Portugal’s commitment in the field of entry of Portugal into the EEC (effective from 1 January 1986). However, in the political elections of the following October Soares had to cede the leadership to the Social Democrat Aníbal Cavaco Silva, confirming himself as an authoritative politician with the victory in the presidential elections of February 1986. In 1991 both Soares and Cavaco Silva were reconfirmed in their respective offices. The second half of the eighties of the twentieth century represented a long period of stability for the country: in foreign policy, in fact, Portugal’s commitment in the field of entry of Portugal into the EEC (effective from 1 January 1986). However, in the political elections of the following October Soares had to cede the leadership to the Social Democrat Aníbal Cavaco Silva, confirming himself as an authoritative politician with the victory in the presidential elections of February 1986. In 1991 both Soares and Cavaco Silva were reconfirmed in their respective offices. The second half of the eighties of the twentieth century represented a long period of stability for the country: in foreign policy, in fact, Portugal’s commitment in the field of however, confirming himself as an authoritative politician with the victory in the presidential elections of February 1986. In 1991 both Soares and Cavaco Silva were reconfirmed in their respective offices. The second half of the eighties of the twentieth century represented a long period of stability for the country: in foreign policy, in fact, Portugal’s commitment in the field of however, confirming himself as an authoritative politician with the victory in the presidential elections of February 1986. In 1991 both Soares and Cavaco Silva were reconfirmed in their respective offices. The second half of the eighties of the twentieth century represented a long period of stability for the country: in foreign policy, in fact, Portugal’s commitment in the field of NATO and the EEC, a rapprochement with Spain and the signing, in 1987, of an agreement with the People’s Republic of China on the future of Macao (transfer of sovereignty in December 1999 and simultaneous acquisition of the status of special economic zone with market economy). In internal politics, on the other hand, greater attention was given to strengthening the productive structure, through economic policies of a markedly liberal inspiration (revision of the agrarian reform and privatizations).
Expression of this direction and an essential factor in its realization were the preliminary constitutional amendments of 1989, responsible for the abolition of the collectivist norms of a Marxist type., which was soon followed by the modification of labor legislation. In 1994, however, on the occasion of the European elections, the socialists, who had already won in the administrative elections of 1990 and 1993, managed to overtake the social democrats of Cavaco Silva, albeit by a narrow margin (respectively 34.7% and 34.4%). Following this, Prime Minister Cavaco Silva resigned (February 1995) from the presidency of the Social Democratic Party and was replaced by Defense Minister J. Fernando Nogueira. Subsequently, the political elections of October 1995 brought about the definitive collapse of the PSD and a small victory for the PS, which gave rise to a single-color minority government led by the socialist secretary António Guterres. Jorge Sampajo, former mayor of Lisbon and former secretary of the Socialist Party, and from the local elections of 1997. Thanks, then, also to the entry of Portugal into the Economic and Monetary Union (1 January 1999), the Socialist Party consolidated its supremacy, reaching an absolute majority both in the European elections in June 1999 and in the political elections of the following October, which saw Prime Minister Guterres for the second time. The successes reported by the policy pursued by the socialists in 2001, however, still did not seem to diminish: in January, despite the 50% abstention of the voters, Jorge Sampajo was re-elected with an absolute majority as President of the Republic. The socialist defeat at the administrative offices in December of the same year, due to the great success obtained by the PSD, which led to the resignation of Guterres and the calling of early elections, which were held in March 2002, therefore aroused surprise. to the PSD and its candidate for premier, José Manuel Durão Barroso, who, in April, thanks to the support of the People’s Party, formed a center-right government. In the same year Portugal was among the first nations officially recalled by the European Union for the size of the state deficit: to bring the latter back within the limits of the Stability Pact, the country has decided to launch a policy that provides for drastic cuts in social spending and a broad privatization plan for the energy and industrial sectors aeronautics and agro-food. In the political elections of July 2004, P. Santana Lopes (leader of the Social Democrats) established himself, while the former Prime Minister Barroso obtained the prestigious position of President of the European Commission. In the legislative elections of February 2005, José Socrates’ socialists asserted themselves, winning an absolute majority of seats in Parliament. However, in the presidential elections of January 2006 the result was reversed: in fact, the moderate Anibal Cavaco Silva won in the first round, former Prime Minister, who was reconfirmed in the 2011 elections. In March of the same year, Prime Minister Socrates resigned, after the rejection in parliament of his economic plan to reduce the state deficit; in the following elections in June, the PSD won (38.7%), led by Pedro Passos Coelho, while the PS stopped at 28%. In 2014, the EU and IMF bailout plan ended in exchange for an austerity policy. Coelho still won the political elections in October 2015, without obtaining an absolute majority of the seats. A few days after taking office, the Coelho government was disheartened by the left parties and forced to resign. President Cavaco Silva then assigned the socialist leader A. Costa the task of forming a new government, in which socialists, communists and the radical left participated. In 2016, M. Rebelo de Sousa, former leader of the center-right Social-Democratic Party, became president. In 2018 Portugal made an agreement with China to join the Belt and Road Initiative (New Silk Road).
In the European elections of May 2019, Costa’s Socialist Party achieved excellent results. Thus, in view of the policies of October 2019, Costa was trying to oust the far-left allies from the government. The electoral consultations, which took place after a season of strikes due to the prolonged freezing of wages, gave the victory to Costa, reconfirmed prime minister. However, the Socialist Party was unable to obtain an absolute majority. The elections of January 2021 decreed the victory of the outgoing premier António Costa, whose appreciated fiscal consolidation work led the Socialist Party to obtain 38.2% of the votes and 108 seats, without however being able to reach the majority alone. The Social Democratic Party fell to 29.2%. Far left forces are stable. Having formed a minority government, Costa was one of the main proponents of expansionary policies in the EU to combat the economic crisis. The country soon introduced containment measures for the COVID-19 contagion (state of emergency declared on March 19, 2020). However, the impact of the epidemic is significant (almost 70,000 cases and 2,000 deaths in September 2020).
