The 2015 Portuguese legislative election was held on 4th October 2015. At stake were all 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic.
The centre-right coalition Portugal Ahead (PàF) - between the Social Democrats (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS) - led by Pedro Passos Coelho, emerged victorious with 38.6% of the votes and around 46% of the seats in the Assembly, with the Socialist Party (PS), and Left Block (BE) finishing in second and third place respectively. Despite PàF’s success, they did however suffer a loss in support of 12 points, and were not able to improve on the PSD's results in 2011 when it contested the election alone.
In the electoral map, the coalition won every district in the North and every district in the Centre except Castelo Branco. They also won the important metropolitan districts of Lisbon and Porto. The map does however indicate a clear north-south divide, with the conservative coalition winning almost everything in the North and Centre and the Socialist Party (PS) winning in the South.
For this event, Canning House is delighted to welcome, Pedro Ramos Pinto, University Lecturer in International Economic History, at Cambridge University, to provide insight into the domestic and international implications of the results of these elections.