2009 European Parliament election in Portugal

2009 European Parliament election in Portugal
22 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	36.8% 1.8 pp

An election of the delegation from Portugal to the European Parliament was held on 7 June 2009.

The election was a huge setback for the Socialist Party (PS), which lost almost 18 percentage points. Basically all predictions that said that the PS would win comfortably the election, were wrong. As a result, the party also lost five of its twelve European Parliament members. The Social Democrats (PSD) were the big winners in these elections, surprising pundits and analysts who predicted a very complicated result for the PSD leader, Manuela Ferreira Leite. The PSD won 31.7% of the vote and 8 seats. It was the first victory of the PSD, in European elections, since 1989. The People's Party (CDS-PP) also had a surprising result, winning 8% of the vote and electing two European Parliament members. Both PSD and CDS-PP, who ran in a joint list in 2004, increased sharply their scores and together they won more than 40% of the vote and 10 European Parliament members.

On the left, both the Left Bloc (BE) and Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) achieved very good results with the historic fact that BE surpassed CDU in term of votes and seats for the first time, although only just. Both parties increased their scores at the expense of the Socialist Party. The Left Bloc won 10.7% of the vote and three European Parliament members, their best score in EU elections to date, and CDU surpassed once again the 10% mark winning 10.6% of the vote, but maintaining the two European Parliament members they got in 2004.

Turnout in the elections was quite low, as only 36.78% of the electorate cast a ballot, a slightly lower share than in the 2004 election. Although the number of ballots cast was higher than in 2004, the number of registered voters increased considerably in these elections, making the final turnout share lower than in 2004.

Electoral system

The voting method used, for the election of European members of parliament, is by proportional representation using the d'Hondt method, which is known to benefit leading parties. In the 2009 European Union elections, Portugal had 22 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

Parties and candidates

The lists were headed by^[1]

Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, PS): Vital Moreira
Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata, PSD): Paulo Rangel
Democratic Unity Coalition (Coligação Democrática Unitária, CDU): Ilda Figueiredo
CDS – People's Party (CDS – Partido Popular, CDS–PP): Nuno Melo
Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda, BE): Miguel Portas
Portuguese Workers' Communist Party/Reorganized Movement of the Party of the Proletariat (Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses / Movimento Reorganizativo do Partido do Proletariado, PCTP/MRPP): Orlando Alves
Earth Party (Partido da Terra, MPT): Pedro Quartin Graça
Hope for Portugal Movement (Movimento Esperança Portugal, MEP): Laurinda Alves
People's Monarchist Party (Partido Popular Monárquico, PPM): Frederico Carvalho
Merit and Society Movement (Movimento Mérito e Sociedade, MMS): Carlos Gomes
National Renovator Party (Partido Nacional Renovador, PNR): Humberto Nuno de Oliveira
Humanist Party (Partido Humanista, PH): Manuela Magno
Workers Party of Socialist Unity (Partido Operário de Unidade Socialista, POUS): Carmelinda Pereira

Opinion polling and preliminary exit polls

Exit polls from the three major television networks in Portugal, RTP1, SIC and TVI were given precisely at 20:00 pm (local time) on 7 June 2009.

Date Released	Polling Firm						Others	Lead
Date Released	Polling Firm						Others	Lead
7 June 2009	Election results	26.5 7 seats	31.7 8 seats	8.4 2 seats	10.6 2 seats	10.7 3 seats	12.1	5.2
7 June 2009	Exit Poll – RTP1 Universidade Católica	28.0–33.0 7 / 8	29.0–34.0 8 / 9	7.0–10.0 2	9.0–12.0 2 / 3	9.0–12.0 2	—	1.0
7 June 2009	Exit Poll – SIC Eurosondagem	27.7–31.5 7 / 8	29.2–33.0 7 / 8	7.5–9.3 2	9.5– 11.3 2 / 3	11.6–13.4 3	—	1.5
7 June 2009	Exit Poll – TVI INTERCAMPUS	24.1–28.1 6 / 8	30.4–34.4 8 / 9	6.7– 9.3 1 / 2	9.7–12.7 2 / 3	9.8–12.8 2 / 3	—	6.3
Exit polls
5 June 2009	Universidade Católica	34.0	32.0	4.0	11.0	9.0	10.0	2.0
5 June 2009	Eurosondagem^{[permanent dead link]}	36.0	31.9	6.1	9.0	10.1	6.9	4.1
4 June 2009	Aximage	36.2	30.9	5.0	10.1	10.2	7.6	5.3
4 June 2009	Marktest^{[permanent dead link]}	29.4	32.5	3.3	8.9	8.9	17.0	3.1
1 June 2009	Marktest^{[permanent dead link]}	31.9	30.1	4.7	7.1	7.1	19.1	1.8
29 May 2009	Eurosondagem^{[permanent dead link]}	35.5	32.5	6.5	9.2	8.8	7.5	3.0
22 May 2009	Eurosondagem^{[permanent dead link]}	34.3	32.1	6.9	8.9	10.1	7.7	2.2
9 May 2009	Marktest	33.1	32.9	4.5	7.6	8.4	13.5	0.2
1 May 2009	Universidade Católica	39.0	36.0	4.0	7.0	12.0	2.0	3.0
24 April 2009	INTERCAMPUS	34.0	33.5	6.9	7.9	18.0	—	0.5
13 June 2004	Election results	44.5 12 seats	33.3 9 seats		9.1 2 seats	4.9 1 seats	8.2	11.2

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas.

Turnout	Time
	12:00			16:00			19:00
	2004	2009	±	2004	2009	±	2004	2009	±
Total	14.20%	11.86%	2.34 pp	27.19%	26.82%	0.37 pp	38.60%	36.78%	1.82 pp

Sources^[2]^[3]

Results

Summary of the results of Portugal's 7 June 2009 election to the European Parliament
National party		European party	Main candidate	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	EPP	Paulo Rangel	1,131,744	31.71	^[a]	8	1
	Socialist Party (PS)	PES	Vital Moreira	946,818	26.53	17.99	7	5
	Left Bloc (BE)	EACL / PEL	Miguel Portas	382,667	10.72	5.81	3	2
	Democratic Unitarian Coalition (CDU) • Communist Party (PCP) • Ecologist Party (PEV)	GUE/NGL	Ilda Figueiredo	379,787	10.64	1.55	2 2 0	0 0
	People's Party (CDS–PP)	EPP	Nuno Melo	298,423	8.36	^[a]	2	0
	Hope for Portugal Movement (MEP)	None	Laurinda Alves	55,072	1.54	new	0	new
	Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP)	None	Orlando Alves	42,940	1.20	0.13	0	0
	Earth Party (MPT)	ALDE	Pedro Quartin Graça	24,062	0.67	0.27	0	0
	Merit and Society Movement (MMS)	None	Carlos Alberto Gomes	21,738	0.61	new	0	new
	Humanist Party (PH)	None	Manuela Magno	17,139	0.48	0.09	0	0
	People's Monarchist Party (PPM)	ECPM	Frederico Duarte Carvalho	14,414	0.40	0.05	0	0
	National Renovator Party (P.N.R.)	None	Humberto Oliveira	13,214	0.37	0.12	0	0
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity (POUS)	None	Carmelinda Pereira	5,177	0.15	0.02	0	0
Valid votes				3,333,195	93.39
Blank and invalid votes				235,748	6.61
Totals				3,568,943	100.00	—	22	2
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout				9,704,559	36.78	1.82
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 8 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine

Vote share

PSD			31.71%
PS			26.53%
BE			10.72%
CDU			10.64%
CDS-PP			8.36%
MEP			1.54%
PCTP/MRPP			1.20%
MPT			0.67%
MMS			0.61%
Others			1.40%
Blank/Invalid			6.61%

Seats

PSD			36.36%
PS			31.82%
BE			13.64%
CDU			9.09%
CDS-PP			9.09%

Distribution by European group

Summary of political group distribution in the 7th European Parliament (2009–2014)^[4]
Groups		Parties	Seats	Total	%
	European People's Party (EPP)	Social Democratic Party (PSD) People's Party (CDS–PP)	8 2	10	45.45
	Party of European Socialists (PES)	Socialist Party (PS)	7	7	31.82
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)	Left Bloc (BE) Portuguese Communist Party (PCP)	3 2	5	22.73

Total			22	22	100.00