Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
| Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata |
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|---|---|
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| Leader | Pedro Passos Coelho |
| Founded | May 6, 1974 |
| Headquarters | Rua de Sao Caetano 9, Lisbon |
| Newspaper | Povo Livre |
| Membership | 150,901 |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism, Conservatism, Neoliberalism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party |
| Official colours | Orange |
| Assembly of the Republic |
81 / 230
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| Mayors |
139 / 308
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| European Parliament |
8 / 22
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| Website | |
| http://www.psd.pt/ | |
| Politics of Portugal Political parties Elections |
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The Social Democratic Party (Portuguese: Partido Social Democrata, pronounced [pɐɾˈtidu susiˈaɫ dɨmuˈkɾatɐ]) is a liberal conservative[1] political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD, however on voting ballots its acronym appears as PPD/PSD, the first three letters coming from the party's initial name, Partido Popular Democrático (Democratic People's Party).
The party has 81 of the 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic, and has lost the most recent Portuguese legislative election. The current leader is Pedro Passos Coelho, who was elected on March 26, 2010.
The party's name can be misleading: although its first official political position, after its foundation as the People's Democratic Party, was centre-left and adhered to social democracy, it is nowadays a party of the centre-right and does not advocate social democracy in the usual sense of the term. However the party still adheres to populism and is still its main unifying ideology[2]. The party left the Liberal International in 1996 and their delegates to the European Parliament have, since the late 1990s, sat with the European People's Party (EPP) Group, along with European conservative and Christian-democratic parties. Previously, the PSD had belonged the to European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.
The party publishes the weekly Povo Livre (Free People) newspaper.
Contents |
History
The Social Democratic Party was born on May 6, 1974, when Francisco Sá Carneiro, Francisco Pinto Balsemão and Joaquim Magalhães Mota publicly announced the formation of what was then called PPD - Democratic People's Party (Portuguese: Partido Popular Democrático). On May 15, the party's first headquarters were inaugurated in Largo do Rato, Lisbon. This was followed, on June 24, with the formation of the first Political Committee, consisting of Francisco Sá Carneiro, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Joaquim Magalhães Mota, Barbosa de Melo, Mota Pinto, Montalvão Machado, Miguel Veiga, Ferreira Júnior, António Carlos Lima, António Salazar Silva, Jorge Correia da Cunha, Jorge Figueiredo Dias and Jorge Sá Borges.
The "Povo Livre" publication was founded, its first issue being published on July 13, 1974, lead by its first two directors, Manuel Alegria and Rui Machete. PPD's first major meeting was held in "Pavilhão dos Desportos", Lisbon, on October 25, and a month later, the party's first official congress would take place.
On January 17, 1975, 6300 signatures were sent to the Supreme Court so that the party could be approved as a legitimate political entity, which happened a mere 8 days later.
Alberto João Jardim was the co-founder of the Madeiran branch of PSD, and governed the autonomous archipelago for decades running as a member of the party.
In government and opposition
The Social Democratic Party participated in a number of coalition governments in Portugal between 1974 and 1979, following the Carnation Revolution. This is seen as a transitional period in Portuguese politics, in which political institutions were built and took time to stabilize. In 1979, the PSD formed an electoral alliance, known as the Democratic Alliance (AD), with the Democratic Social Centre (now called the People's Party, CDS-PP) and a couple of smaller, right-wing parties. The AD won the parliamentary elections towards the end of 1979, and the PSD leader, Francisco Sá Carneiro, became Prime Minister. The AD increased its parliamentary majority in new elections called for 1980, but was devastated by the death of Sá Caneiro in an aircrash on December 4, 1980. Francisco Pinto Balsemão took over the leadership of both the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Alliance, as well as the Prime Ministership, but lacking Sá Carneiro's charisma, he was unable to rally popular support.
The Democratic Alliance was dissolved in 1983, and in parliamentary elections that year, the PSD lost to the Socialist Party (PS). Falling short of a majority, however, the Socialists formed a grand coalition, known as the Central Block, with the PSD. Many right-wingers in the PSD, including Aníbal Cavaco Silva, opposed participation in the PS-led government, and so, when Cavaco Silva was elected leader of the party on 2 June 1985, the coalition was doomed.
The PSD won a plurality (but not a majority) in the general election of 1985, and Cavaco Silva became Prime Minister. Economic liberalization and tax cuts ushered in several years of economic growth, and early elections held in 1987 resulted in a landslide victory for the PSD, who captured 50.2% percent of the popular vote and 148 of the 250 parliamentary seats - the first time that any political party had mustered an absolute majority. They won the 1991 election almost as easily, but continuing high levels of unemployment eroded the popularity of the Cavaco Silva government and the PSD lost the 1995 and 1999 elections. They made a comeback in 2002, however; despite falling short of a majority, the PSD won enough seats to form a coalition with the CDS-PP, and the PSD leader, José Manuel Durão Barroso, became Prime Minister. Durão Barroso later resigned his post to become President of the European Commission, leaving the way for Pedro Santana Lopes, a man with whom he was frequently at odds, to become leader of the party and Prime Minister.
In the parliamentary election held on 20 February 2005, Santana Lopes led the PSD to its worst defeat since 1983. With a negative swing of more than 12% percent, the party won only 75 seats, a loss of 30. The rival Socialist Party had won an absolute majority, and remained in government in the 2009 parliamentary election albeit without an absolute majority, leaving the PSD in opposition.
The PSD-supported candidate Aníbal Cavaco Silva won the Portuguese presidential elections in 2006.
In the European Parliament election held on 7 June 2009, the PSD defeated the governing socialists capturing 31.7% of the popular vote and electing 8 MEPs, while the Socialist Party only won 26.5% of the popular vote and elected 7 MEPs.
Although this was expected to be a "redrawing" of the "electoral map", the PSD was still defeated later that year, though the PS lost it's majority.
Factions
The PSD is frequently referred to as a party that is not ideology-based but rather a "power party" ("partido do poder")[3], which adopts a functional big tent party strategy to win elections[3]. Due to this strategy, which most trace to Cavaco Silva's leadership[4], the party is made up of many factions, mostly centre-right (including liberal democrats, Christian democrats and neoconservatives) as well as quasi-social-democrats and former Communists:
- Portuguese Social democrats: the main faction when the party was created, throughout the party's history rightist politicians joined them to have a greater chance of gaining power and influencing the country's politics (see Liberals, Conservatives, Right-wing populists and Neoliberals). They don't follow traditional social democracy but "Portuguese Social democracy" as defined by Sá Carneiro's actions and writings, which includes a degree of centrist and leftist populism. They followed a kind of anti-class struggle party/cross-class party strategy. All the other members of the party claim to follow this line. Among its representatives were most of the leaders between Francisco Sá Carneiro and Cavaco Silva, Alberto João Jardim (also a founding member and an anti-neoliberal) and to an extent Luís Filipe Menezes (who called the PSD the "moderate left party"[5], identified himself with a centre-left matrix and an united left strategy and defended a more open party on issues like abortion[6]). Mendes Bota is another left-wing populist[7] The Portuguese social-democrats are centered around the Grupo da Boavista (Boavista Group).
- European-style Social-democrats: follow traditional social democracy. They share with the Portuguese Social democrats their presence at the creation of the party and “a non marxist progressivist line”[8]. Many of them (former party leader António Sousa Franco, party co-founder Magalhães Mota, writer and feminist Natália Correia) supported the Opções Inadiáveis (Pressing Options) manifesto[9], and then left to create the Independent Social Democrat Association (Associação Social Democrata Independente, ASDI)[10] and the Social Democrat Movement (Movimento Social Democrata, MSD)[11], forming electoral coalitions (later fusioning to) the Socialist Party during the 1970s-1980s. Some took part in the Democratic Renovator Party. A later example of an European-style Social democrat leaving the party for the Socialists is activist and politician Helena Roseta. The ones still in the party adapted to its current right-wing outlook or Portuguese Social democracy. They today include former communists-turned centre-leftists, like Zita Seabra. Durão Barroso might have moved from Thatcherism to Social democracy[12]. Ironically, both Social democrat factions were represented in the 2008 party elections by Manuela Ferreira Leite, economically neoliberal and socially conservative (often compared to Thatcher).
- Agrarianism: the other main faction at creation. The PSD was always more successful in the Northern and rural areas of the country. When Sousa Franco and his SPD-inspired social democrats started their break with the rest of the party he referred to a division between "a rural wing, led by Sá carneiro, and an urban wing, more moderate and truly social democratic, close to the positions of Helmut Schmidt"[13] Due to the electoral influence of ruralism on the PSD's politics they may be seen inside of or influencing most factions.
- Liberals (Classical and Social): due to the Salazarist connotation of the term “right-wing”[14] (and all terms connected: “liberal”, “conservative”, etc.) after the Carnation Revolution, the little atractiveness of economic liberalism in European politics [15], no specific Liberal or Conservative parties were formed in post-1974 Portugal, except the experiences of the Catholic Action-monarchist Liberal Party in 1974[16] and the centrist liberal Democratic Renovator Party, so they started working inside the PSD. This strategy of joining “socialism and liberalism under the same hat”[3] was especially successful during Cavaco Silva’s leadership, when the party gave up its candidacy to the Socialist International and became member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal party and Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group|European Parliament group, leaving the international and the European party and group in 1996 to join the Christian Democrat International (today Centrist Democrat International), the European People's Party and the European People's Party-European Democrats. Since then the Liberal-Social democrat rift (or even the Liberal-Conservative-Populist-Social democrat rift) has plagued the party’s cohesion and actions[17][18]. Durão Barroso (a former revolutionary Maoist who switched sides in the 1980s) is sometimes referred to as the most pure liberal of the party.[19] In terms of social liberals, some try to link both social democracy and social liberalism to the PSD[20], to refer to the early PSD as liberal[21] or partly social liberal[22] party, and social liberalism is sometimes identified with the social market economy tradition the party traditionally supported[23]. Even members of the Social Liberal Movement admit the traditional and current presence of social liberals (and other liberals) on the SDP[24].
- Christian democrats and Social Christians: some claim the PSD as the party from Christian democracy and Social Christianity from the beginning[25], or having these currents as part of its legacy[22]. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is one of the main preachers of Social Christianity inside the PSD. As is Paulo Rangel[26].
- Right-wing Populists: Distinct from Radical right-wing populists, the populist centre and centre-left social democrats (like João Jardim and Sá Carneiro), the populist overlapers (like Cavaco Silva), and the euro-skeptic populists of the Democratic and Social Centre–People’s Party (CDS-PP). They are social-economic liberal conservative/conservative liberal and moderate, culturally religious conservatives and internationalist national conservatives. Their main representative is Pedro Santana Lopes. Though the main right-wing populists were present at the founding of the party (like Santana Lopes), they were clearly right-wing, recruited when their abilities were noticed in educated circles and universities[27], with minor agreements with Sá Carneiro's philosophy. Frequently, as the PSD is a bipartisanship party, right-wing populists from the CDS-PP join the party. Luís Filipe Meneses is frequently described as a populist but he tried to lead the party back to a “left” line[28], and doesn’t identify or act like the liberal conservative/conservative liberal populists.
- Conservatives: with the post-revolutionary opposition to the right (see above in liberal) no specific Conservative party was founded in Portugal; conservatives acted inside the CDS-PP and the PSD. Frequently linked with the Neoliberals, pure conservatives are rare in the party, as the usual partisan or politician of the party is economically moderate but socially conservative. One of the rare exceptions of a pure conservative in this party was former party member and MP Vasco Pulido Valente, who is highly elitist and a cultural purist (unlike most of the party's partisans, who have various degrees of populism or meritocratism), highly conservative and traditionalist[29].
- Neoconservatives: mostly former communists and leftists who supported the policies of the Bush Administration and defend similar views in Portuguese politics. The main exemple is José Pacheco Pereira[30][31] (though his support of the Bush doctrine on the Invasion of Iraq is sometimes challenged[32]. They are frequently referred to as "Cavaco-ists" due to their support of cavacoism's legacy and candidates representative of it, like Cavaco Silva himself and Ferreira Leite, defending the position that they should take a hard stance on the Left and its social liberalism[33]).
- Neoliberals: Neoliberal tendencies were introduced in Portuguese economy by Cavaco Silva, removing socialism from the constitution and finishing the de-collectivization of the economy started with Sá Carneiro. Cavaco (a self-described Neo-Keynesian) never employed a totally Reaganite or Thatcherite strategy, maintaining a social democrat matrix and many (right and left-wing) populist and neo-Keynesian policies. Alberto João Jardim described the inconsistant neoliberalism of the PSD: “those Chicago Boys have some funny ideas, but when election time arrives the old Keynesianism is still what counts”[34]. Cavaco Silva and Durão Barroso are both sometimes referred to as the closest to neo-liberal leaders of the party[35]. The main pure representative of the streak is Manuela Ferreira Leite, but even she called herself a «social democrat» and explained «I'm not certainly liberal, I'm also not populist»[36] and lead the social democratic factions during internal party rifts, though she accepts the nickname "Portuguese iron lady" and comparisons to Thatcher if «[it] means (...) an enormous intransigance on values and in principles, of not abdicating from these values and from these principles and of continuing my way independently of the popularity of my actions and the efects on my image»[36]. The main group (officially non-partisan) associated with the neoliberal faction of the SDP is the Projecto Farol (Lighthouse Project)[37].
- Overlappers: the average SDP voter and partisan since Cavaco Silva’s leadership. Cavaco himself, though a self-described Neo-Keynesian, an early member of the party since its centre-left days and a man with social liberal and centrist populist economic policy tendencies, he is personally a conservative (opposing same-sex marriage[38] and abortion) and a practicing Catholic[39]. As such Cavacoism should be considered a "hybrid" or a political syncretism[40]. A similar case is Vasco Graça Moura, who claims to be an economic social democrat but opposes gay people serving in the military and is a self-described "centre-left reactionary"[41]. The overlappers are mainly represented in the forums gathered by the District of Oporto section of the party, which during the 2009 European elections tried to gather the ideas of all factions.
- Centrists: not to be confused with overlapers. Still indecisive between (traditional or Portuguese) social democracy, social liberalism or any other kind of centrism. They are closer to the centre-left origins of the party and proud of them[42]. The main representative of this faction is Pedro Passos Coelho, who already stated he is neither left nor right but the real issues are between old and new[43], though his opponents identified him as a liberal (in the conservative-liberal or neo-liberal European senses) since the 2008 party election, though he recalled the many meanings of liberal and recalled the Left liberalism of the United States Democratic Party[44], being even called "PSD's Obama" by supporters. The main centrist group inside the party is the think tank Construir Ideias (Building Ideas), which Passos Coelho founded and leads[37]. They mix calls to privatization with others to more social justice, government regulation and arbitration and strategic governmental involvement in the economy. This faction is in constant rift with the more right-wing ones, who have been leading the party for a long time, and refuse the hybridness of the overlappers, over the future of the party and its future ideological and philosophical alignments.
Election results, Portuguese parliamentary elections 1976-2009
| Year | Party Leader | Number of votes | Percentage of votes | Number of members in the Assembly of the Republic |
Position in Parliament |
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| 1976 |
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| 1979 |
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| 1980 |
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| 1983 |
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| 1985 |
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| 1987 |
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| 1991 |
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| 1995 |
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| 1999 |
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| 2002 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2009 |
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List of leaders
- Francisco Sá Carneiro : 1974–1978 (Emídio Guerreiro temporaraly replaced Sá Carneiro in 1975 due to health motives)
- António de Sousa Franco : 1978
- José Menéres Pimentel : 1978
- Francisco Sá Carneiro : 1978–1980 (again)
- Francisco Pinto Balsemão : 1981–1983
- Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos : 1983–1984
- Carlos Mota Pinto : 1984–1985
- Aníbal Cavaco Silva : 1985–1995
- Fernando Nogueira : 1995–1996
- Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa : 1996–1999
- José Manuel Durão Barroso : 1999–2004
- Pedro Santana Lopes : 2004–2005
- Luís Marques Mendes : 2005–2007
- Luís Filipe Menezes : 2007–2008
- Manuela Ferreira Leite : 2008 - 2010
- Pedro Passos Coelho : 2010 -
Prime ministers
- Francisco Sá Carneiro : 1979 - 1980
- Francisco Pinto Balsemão : 1981 - 1983
- Aníbal Cavaco Silva : 1985 - 1995
- José Manuel Durão Barroso : 2002 - 2004
- Pedro Santana Lopes : 2004 - 2005
Presidents of the Republic
- Aníbal Cavaco Silva : 2006 -
See also
- Politics of Portugal
- List of political parties in Portugal
References
- ↑ Parties and Elections Europe: Portugal
- ↑ "O Populismo Laranja (The Orange Populism)". http://oam0907.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/o-populismo-laranja. (Portuguese), o António Maria website, a Word Press blog, third paragraph: «Em primeiro lugar, porque a matriz ideológica e social do PPD-PSD é geneticamente populista, na modulação muito própria que lhe foi dada desde o início por Francisco Sá Carneiro» («In the first place, because the ideological and social matrix of the PDP-SDP is geneticaly populist, in the very specific modulation that was given to it since the beginning by Francisco Sá Carneiro»)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ideologia do PSD: entre Nacionalistas Croatas e Camponeses da Lituânia
- ↑ O PSD no seu labirinto, A Mão Invisível
- ↑ http://atlantico.blogs.sapo.pt/791145.html O partido da esquerda democrática
- ↑ Luís Filipe Menezes: "Tenho capacidade para penetrar em sectores que tradicionalmente não votam PSD"
- ↑ PSD assume-se como partido liberal: só falta ser coerente e mudar o nome, August 31, 2009, Câmara dos Comuns. Retrieved 15 June 2010
- ↑ Povo Livre, first issue
- ↑ Opções Inadiáveis
- ↑ Associação Social Democrata Independente
- ↑ Movimento Social Democrata
- ↑ Pedro Lains: As duas Europas
- ↑ Partido Popular Democrático Partido Social Democrático. «uma ala rural, liderada por Sá carneiro (sic), e uma ala urbana, mais moderada e verdadeiramente social-democrata, próxima das posições de Helmut Schmidt.»
- ↑ the only exception of a self proclaimed "Party of the Portuguese Right" (until 1979 the Movement for the Independence and National Reconstruction (Movimento para a Independência e Reconstrução Nacional, MIRN), a far right and clearly pro-salazarist party led by Kaúlza de Arriaga. see [1] and [2]
- ↑ As ameaças ao modelo social europeu vs. a incapacidade dos partidos liberais venceram eleições: o dilema do PSD (portuguese)
- ↑ Partido Liberal 1974
- ↑ Sociais Democratas & Liberais: o PSD impossível
- ↑ Liberais vs. conservadores
- ↑ Europa dos Governos e dos Estados ... A Europa de Sócrates & Barroso
- ↑ O PSD e o Futuro, 2008-04-28 - Mário Duarte
- ↑ PSD - Alexandre Relvas apela a Paulo Rangel e Aguiar-Branco para candidatura única, 14 February 2010, Destak paper]
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Afinal como é que é?, 29 January 2010, last comment
- ↑ Folha laranja, Juventude Social Democrata, Alges
- ↑ Mais outro liberal que está perdido
- ↑ PPD vs PSD
- ↑ Paulo Rangel. "Não se deve excluir uma maioria absoluta do PSD", Maria João Avillez, March 13th 2010, i newspaper
- ↑ compare with Santana Lopes' description of his recruting in Lisbon University by Sá Carneiro on late night talk show 5 Para a Meia-Noite, RTP 2, September 2, 2009
- ↑ Menezes candidato para fazer renovação, 23 FEV 05
- ↑ O jogral dos tempos que correm
- ↑ renas e veados: Alinhamentos neo-conservadores
- ↑ Vanunu
- ↑ Manifesto Nem Pacheco, Nem Soares
- ↑ A tradução de Pacheco Pereira do discurso suicida de Cavaco
- ↑ As ameaças ao modelo social europeu vs. a incapacidade dos partidos liberais venceram eleições: o dilema do PSD
- ↑ Direita Neoliberal ou Conservadora, jornal I online
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Correio da Manhã
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 PSD: Cinco grupos a elaborar programas. Qual o aquele em que o país deve acreditar?, Quarta-feira, 27 de Maio de 2009, O valor das ideias
- ↑ É tão bom ter um Cavaco em Belém, Paulo Gaião, 2008-10-24 01:36, Semanário
- ↑ EXP-TC não dá razão a Cavaco, Agosto 31, 2009, Autor: Filipe Santos Costa
- ↑ 1962, José Adelino Maltez, História do Presente, 2006
- ↑ late night talk show 5 Para a Meia-Noite, RTP 2, July 28th 2009
- ↑ during his interview with Mário Crespo, the main centrist, Passos Coelho, referred the return to social democratic party roots as essential.
- ↑ (2732) O COMPLEXO DE ESQUERDA, TOMAR PARTIDO Sexta-feira, 2 de Maio de 2008
- ↑ PSD: Liberalismo de Passos Coelho e impostos no centro do debate da TVI
External links
- Social Democratic Party official site (in Portuguese)
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