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99-791: In 1973 the MDP took part in the Democratic Congress of Aveiro, the largest meeting of democratic militants during the dictatorship. After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, it was made part of every provisional government, with exception of the 6th and in 1979 it ran in coalition with the Portuguese Communist Party in the FEPU and later in APU , achieving important electoral results. In 1986, disagreements with

198-437: A Condorcet method ; these methods are also gaining popularity for lesser elections in some countries where more important elections still use more traditional counting methods. While openness and accountability are usually considered cornerstones of a democratic system, the act of casting a vote and the content of a voter's ballot are usually an important exception. The secret ballot is a relatively modern development, but it

297-534: A UN member state as Guinea-Bissau . This was followed in 1975 by the independence of Cape Verde , Mozambique , São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola in Africa and the declaration of independence of East Timor in Southeast Asia . These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million Portuguese "returned" –

396-581: A decades-long civil war which involved the Soviet Union , Cuba, South Africa, and the United States. Millions of Angolans died in the aftermath of independence due to armed conflict, malnutrition and disease. After a brief period of stability, Mozambique became embroiled in a civil war which left it one of the poorest nations in the world. The country's situation improved after the 1990s, and multi-party elections have been held. East Timor

495-572: A direct democracy , one type of non-partisan democracy , any eligible person can be nominated. Although elections were used in ancient Athens, in Rome, and in the selection of popes and Holy Roman emperors, the origins of elections in the contemporary world lie in the gradual emergence of representative government in Europe and North America beginning in the 17th century. In some systems no nominations take place at all, with voters free to choose any person at

594-461: A motion of no-confidence ). This calculation depends on a number of variables, such as its performance in opinion polls and the size of its majority. Rolling elections are elections in which all representatives in a body are elected, but these elections are spread over a period of time rather than all at once. Examples are the presidential primaries in the United States , Elections to

693-457: A brief training course and had served in the colonies' defensive campaigns at the same rank as academy graduates. In February 1974, Caetano decided to remove General António de Spínola from the command of Portuguese forces in Guinea in the face of Spínola's increasing disagreement with the promotion of military officers and the direction of Portuguese colonial policy. This occurred shortly after

792-404: A first time offender failing to vote is a $ 20.00 fine, which increases to $ 50.00 if the offender refused to vote prior. Historically the size of eligible voters, the electorate, was small having the size of groups or communities of privileged men like aristocrats and men of a city ( citizens ). With the growth of the number of people with bourgeois citizen rights outside of cities, expanding

891-578: A growing economy sparked new technical and organisational challenges. On 13 November 1972, Fundo do Ultramar (The Overseas Fund, a sovereign wealth fund ) was enacted with Decreto-Lei n.º 448/ /72 and the Ministry of Defence ordinance Portaria 696/72 to finance the war. The increasing burden of the war effort meant that the government had to find continuous sources of financing. Decreto-Lei n.º 353, of 13 July 1973 and Decreto-Lei n.º 409 of 20 August 1973 were enforced to reduce military expenses and increase

990-429: A mechanism for selecting rulers. On the other hand, elections began to be seen as a way for the masses to express popular consent repeatedly, resulting in the triumph of the electoral process until the present day. This conceptual misunderstanding of elections as open and egalitarian when they are not innately so may thus be a root cause of the problems in contemporary governance . Those in favor of this view argue that

1089-531: A profound impact on the country. The revolutionary Armed Forces Movement (MFA) began as an attempt to liberate Portugal from the Estado Novo regime and challenge new military laws which were coming into force . The laws would reduce the military budget and reformulate the Portuguese military. Younger military-academy graduates resented Caetano's programme of commissioning militia officers who completed

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1188-562: A turbulent period, known as the Processo Revolucionário Em Curso (Ongoing Revolutionary Process). The conservative forces surrounding Spinola and the MFA radicals initially confronted each other covertly or overtly, and Spinola was forced to appoint key MFA figures to senior security positions. Right-wing military figures attempted an unsuccessful counter-coup , leading to Spinola's removal from office. Unrest within

1287-402: A variety of political, organizational, and corporate settings. Many countries hold elections to select people to serve in their governments, but other types of organizations hold elections as well. For example, many corporations hold elections among shareholders to select a board of directors , and these elections may be mandated by corporate law . In many places, an election to the government

1386-522: Is a national holiday ( Portuguese : Dia da Liberdade , Freedom Day) that commemorates the revolution. By the 1970s, nearly a half-century of authoritarian rule weighed on Portugal. The 28 May 1926 coup d'état implemented an authoritarian regime incorporating social Catholicism and integralism . In 1933, the regime was renamed the Estado Novo (New State). António de Oliveira Salazar served as Prime Minister until 1968. In sham elections

1485-486: Is a variety of schedules, for example, presidents: the President of Ireland is elected every seven years, the President of Russia and the President of Finland every six years, the President of France every five years, President of the United States every four years. Predetermined or fixed election dates have the advantage of fairness and predictability. They tend to greatly lengthen campaigns, and make dissolving

1584-534: Is also used in many other private and business organisations, from clubs to voluntary associations and corporations . The global use of elections as a tool for selecting representatives in modern representative democracies is in contrast with the practice in the democratic archetype , ancient Athens , where the elections were considered an oligarchic institution and most political offices were filled using sortition , also known as allotment, by which officeholders were chosen by lot. Electoral reform describes

1683-408: Is an election that is held purely for show; that is, without any significant political choice or real impact on the results of the election. Sham elections are a common event in dictatorial regimes that feel the need to feign the appearance of public legitimacy . Published results usually show nearly 100% voter turnout and high support (typically at least 80%, and close to 100% in many cases) for

1782-460: Is common for political scientists to attempt to predict elections via political forecasting methods. The most expensive election campaign included US$ 7 billion spent on the 2012 United States presidential election and is followed by the US$ 5 billion spent on the 2014 Indian general election . The nature of democracy is that elected officials are accountable to the people, and they must return to

1881-470: Is interference from the incumbent government. Dictators may use the powers of the executive (police, martial law, censorship, physical implementation of the election mechanism, etc.) to remain in power despite popular opinion in favour of removal. Members of a particular faction in a legislature may use the power of the majority or supermajority (passing criminal laws, and defining the electoral mechanisms including eligibility and district boundaries) to prevent

1980-411: Is now considered crucial in most free and fair elections, as it limits the effectiveness of intimidation. When elections are called, politicians and their supporters attempt to influence policy by competing directly for the votes of constituents in what are called campaigns. Supporters for a campaign can be either formally organized or loosely affiliated, and frequently utilize campaign advertising . It

2079-433: Is usually a competition among people who have already won a primary election within a political party . Elections within corporations and other organizations often use procedures and rules that are similar to those of governmental elections. The question of who may vote is a central issue in elections. The electorate does not generally include the entire population; for example, many countries prohibit those who are under

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2178-401: The retornados . The Carnation Revolution got its name from the fact that almost no shots were fired, and from restaurant worker Celeste Caeiro who offered carnations to soldiers when the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship. Other demonstrators followed suit and placed carnations in the muzzles of guns and on soldiers' uniforms. In Portugal, 25 April

2277-572: The 1995 and 2002 presidential referendums in Saddam Hussein's Iraq . In Mexico , all of the presidential elections from 1929 to 1982 are considered to be sham elections, as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its predecessors governed the country in a de facto single-party system without serious opposition, and they won all of the presidential elections in that period with more than 70% of

2376-662: The 2014 Crimean status referendum , as well as the 2014 Donbass status referendums and the 2022 annexation referendum in Russian-occupied Ukraine ), the 2018 and 2024 Venezuelan presidential election , the 1928 , 1935 , 1942 , 1949 , 1951 and 1958 elections in Portugal, those in Indonesia during New Order regime, the 1991 and 2019 Kazakh presidential elections , those in North Korea ,

2475-575: The 25 April (Portuguese: 25 de Abril ), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Lisbon, producing major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in Portugal and its overseas colonies through the Processo Revolucionário Em Curso . It resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and

2574-673: The 25 de Abril Bridge began on 5 November 1962. It opened on 6 August 1966 as the Salazar Bridge, named after Estado Novo leader António de Oliveira Salazar . Soon after the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the bridge was renamed the 25 de Abril Bridge to commemorate the revolution. Citizens who removed the large, brass "Salazar" sign from a main pillar of the bridge and painted a provisional "25 de Abril" in its place were recorded on film. Many Portuguese streets and squares are named vinte e cinco de Abril (25 April), for

2673-570: The Ephors of Sparta in 754 BC, under the mixed government of the Spartan Constitution . Athenian democratic elections, where all citizens could hold public office, were not introduced for another 247 years, until the reforms of Cleisthenes . Under the earlier Solonian Constitution ( c.  574 BC ), all Athenian citizens were eligible to vote in the popular assemblies, on matters of law and policy, and as jurors, but only

2772-584: The United States . Elections were used as early in history as ancient Greece and ancient Rome , and throughout the Medieval period to select rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperor (see imperial election ) and the pope (see papal election ). The Pala King Gopala (ruled c.  750s  – 770s CE) in early medieval Bengal was elected by a group of feudal chieftains. Such elections were quite common in contemporary societies of

2871-485: The 18th century, some societies in Western Europe used sortition as a means to select rulers, a method which allowed regular citizens to exercise power, in keeping with understandings of democracy at the time. The idea of what constituted a legitimate government shifted in the 18th century to include consent , especially with the rise of the enlightenment . From this point onward, sortition fell out of favor as

2970-511: The 1960s, the outbreak of colonial wars in Africa set off significant social changes, among them the rapid incorporation of women into the labour market. Independence movements began in the African colonies of Portuguese Mozambique , Portuguese Congo , Portuguese Angola , and Portuguese Guinea . The Salazar and Caetano regimes responded with diverting more and more of Portugal's budget to colonial administration and military expenditure , and

3069-409: The 1961–1974 Portuguese Colonial War . Salazar had a stroke in 1968, and was replaced as prime minister by Marcelo Caetano , who adopted a slogan of "continuous evolution", suggesting reforms, such as a monthly pension to rural workers who had never contributed to Portugal's social security . Caetano's Primavera Marcelista (Marcelist Spring) included greater political tolerance and freedom of

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3168-519: The EEC average, slightly exceeding the level at the height of the revolutionary period. A January 2011 story in the Diário de Notícias (a Portuguese tabloid format newspaper) reported that the government of Portugal encouraged overspending and investment bubbles in public-private partnerships between 1974 and 2010, and the economy has been damaged by risky credit , public debt creation, overstaffing in

3267-525: The EEC average. Due to revolutionary economic policies, oil shocks, recession in Europe and the return of hundreds of thousands of overseas Portuguese from its former colonies, Portugal began an economic crisis in 1974–1975. Real gross domestic product growth resumed as a result of Portugal's economic resurgence since 1985 and adhesion to the European Economic Community (EEC). The country's 1991 per-capita GDP reached 54.9 percent of

3366-664: The European Parliament (where, due to differing election laws in each member state, elections are held on different days of the same week) and, due to logistics, general elections in Lebanon and India . The voting procedure in the Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic are also a classical example. In rolling elections, voters have information about previous voters' choices. While in

3465-465: The European Union. The constitution of 1976 guarantees all religions the right to practise, and non-Catholic groups are recognised as legal entities with the right to assemble . Non-Catholic conscientious objectors have the right to apply for alternative military service. The Catholic Church , however, still sought to impede other missionary activity. Construction of what is now called

3564-724: The Land Reform Review Law the following year. Restoration of illegally occupied land began in 1978. In 1960, Portugal's per-capita GDP was 38 percent of the European Economic Community average. By the end of the Salazar period in 1968 it had risen to 48 percent, and in 1973 it had reached 56.4 percent; the percentages were affected by the 40 percent of the budget which underwrote the African wars. In 1975 (the year of greatest revolutionary turmoil), Portugal's per-capita GDP declined to 52.3 percent of

3663-580: The MFA between leftist forces often close to the Communist Party , and more moderate groups often allied with the Socialists eventually led to the group's splintering and dissolution. This stage of the PREC lasted until the coup of 25 November 1975 , led by a group of far-left officers, specifically Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho. It was said to be a Communist plot to seize power, in order to discredit

3762-701: The PCP arose, the coalition was dissolved and the MDP was later disbanded. A fraction formed the political association Democratic Intervention (Portuguese: Intervenção Democrática) and another group formed a new party, the Politics XXI (Portuguese: Política XXI) that now is part of the Left Bloc . This article about a Portuguese political party is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( Portuguese : Revolução dos Cravos ), also known as

3861-479: The PVDE, Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa do Estado), persecuted opponents of the regime, who were often tortured, imprisoned or killed. In 1958, General Humberto Delgado , a former member of the regime, stood against the regime's presidential candidate, Américo Tomás , and refused to allow his name to be withdrawn. Tomás won the election amidst claims of widespread electoral fraud, and the Salazar government abandoned

3960-471: The Portuguese Army had retreated. A consequence of the Carnation Revolution was the sudden withdrawal of Portuguese administrative and military personnel from its overseas colonies. Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese Africans returned to Portugal, becoming known as the retornados . These people—workers, small business people, and farmers—often had deep roots in the former colonies. Angola began

4059-556: The United States . At the same time the Kingdom of Great Britain had in 1780 about 214,000 eligible voters, 3% of the whole population. Naturalization can reshape the electorate of a country. A representative democracy requires a procedure to govern nomination for political office. In many cases, nomination for office is mediated through preselection processes in organized political parties. Non-partisan systems tend to be different from partisan systems as concerns nominations. In

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4158-993: The United States interfering between 1946 and 2000 in 81 elections and Russia or the Soviet Union in 36. In 2018 the most intense interventions, utilizing false information, were by China in Taiwan and by Russia in Latvia ; the next highest levels were in Bahrain, Qatar and Hungary. This can include falsifying voter instructions, violation of the secret ballot , ballot stuffing , tampering with voting machines, destruction of legitimately cast ballots, voter suppression , voter registration fraud, failure to validate voter residency, fraudulent tabulation of results, and use of physical force or verbal intimation at polling places. Other examples include persuading candidates not to run, such as through blackmailing, bribery, intimidation or physical violence. A sham election , or show election ,

4257-402: The age of majority from voting. All jurisdictions require a minimum age for voting. In Australia, Aboriginal people were not given the right to vote until 1962 (see 1967 referendum entry ) and in 2010 the federal government removed the rights of prisoners serving for three years or more to vote (a large proportion of whom were Aboriginal Australians). Suffrage is typically only for citizens of

4356-573: The balance of power in the body from shifting to a rival faction due to an election. Non-governmental entities can also interfere with elections, through physical force, verbal intimidation, or fraud, which can result in improper casting or counting of votes. Monitoring for and minimizing electoral fraud is also an ongoing task in countries with strong traditions of free and fair elections. Problems that prevent an election from being "free and fair" take various forms. The electorate may be poorly informed about issues or candidates due to lack of freedom of

4455-414: The costs (barriers to entry) associated with raising one's political profile. Ultimately, the result is the election of candidates who are superior (whether in actuality or as perceived within a cultural context) and objectively unlike the voters they are supposed to represent. Evidence suggests that the concept of electing representatives was originally conceived to be different from democracy . Prior to

4554-400: The country became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, facing increasing internal dissent, arms embargoes and other international sanctions . By the early-1970s, the Portuguese military was overstretched and there was no political solution in sight. Although the number of casualties was relatively small, the war had entered its second decade; Portugal faced criticism from

4653-510: The country became increasingly polarised. Thousands of left-wing students and anti-war activists avoided conscription by emigrating illegally , primarily to France and the United States . Meanwhile three generations of right-wing militants in Portuguese schools were guided by a revolutionary nationalism partially influenced by European neo-fascism , and supported the Portuguese Empire and an authoritarian regime. The war had

4752-405: The country, though further limits may be imposed. In the European Union, one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; the nationality of the country of residence is not required. In some countries, voting is required by law. Eligible voters may be subject to punitive measures such as a fine for not casting a vote. In Western Australia, the penalty for

4851-424: The day of the revolution. The Portuguese Mint chose the 40th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution for its 2014 2 euro commemorative coin . Freedom Day (25 April) is a national holiday , with state-sponsored and spontaneous commemorations of the civil liberties and political freedoms achieved after the revolution. It commemorates the 25 April 1974 revolution and Portugal's first free elections on that date

4950-400: The decolonisation period, and established multi-party political systems by the early 1990s. By a treaty signed in 1974, Portugal recognised the incorporation of former Portuguese India into India . The 1961 annexation of the tiny Portuguese colony of Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá by Benin was also recognised by Portugal in 1975. A 1978 Portuguese offer to return Macau to China

5049-571: The disc jockey at Emissores Associados de Lisboa gave the time signal Falta cinco minutos às vinte e três at 10:55 p.m. on 24 April before turntabling Paulo de Carvalho 's " E Depois do Adeus " (Portugal's entry in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest ). This alerted rebel captains and soldiers to begin the coup. The second signal came at 12:20 a.m. on 25 April, when Rádio Renascença broadcast " Grândola, Vila Morena " (a song by Zeca Afonso , an influential political folk musician and singer, many of whose songs were banned from Portuguese radio at

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5148-641: The dos Santos family ( Jerónimo Martins ). One of the largest was the Companhia União Fabril (CUF), with a wide range of interests including cement, petro and agro chemicals, textiles, beverages, naval and electrical engineering, insurance , banking, paper, tourism and mining, with branches, plants and projects throughout the Portuguese Empire. Other medium-sized family companies specialised in textiles (such as those in Covilhã and

5247-442: The early-1970s. Rural families engaged in agriculture and forestry. Income from the colonies came from resource extraction, of oil, coffee, cotton, cashews, coconuts, timber, minerals (including diamonds), metals (such as iron and aluminium), bananas, citrus, tea, sisal, beer, cement, fish and other seafood, beef and textiles. Labour unions were subject to severe restrictions, and minimum wage laws were not enforced. Starting in

5346-420: The elected delegates). Electoral systems are the detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems that convert the vote into a political decision. The first step is for voters to cast the ballots , which may be simple single-choice ballots, but other types, such as multiple choice or ranked ballots may also be used. Then the votes are tallied, for which various vote counting systems may be used. and

5445-413: The election to prevent them from running. Ballots may contain only one "yes" option, or in the case of a simple "yes or no" question, security forces often persecute people who pick "no", thus encouraging them to pick the "yes" option. In other cases, those who vote receive stamps in their passport for doing so, while those who did not vote (and thus do not receive stamps) are persecuted as enemies of

5544-607: The end of the Portuguese Colonial War . The revolution began as a coup organised by the Armed Forces Movement (Portuguese: Movimento das Forças Armadas , MFA), composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but it was soon coupled with an unanticipated popular civil resistance campaign. Negotiations with African independence movements began, and by the end of 1974, Portuguese troops were withdrawn from Portuguese Guinea , which became

5643-471: The first constitutional government, led by centre-left socialist Mário Soares , took office. Before April 1974, the intractable Portuguese colonial war in Africa consumed up to 40 percent of the Portuguese budget. Although part of Guinea-Bissau became independent de facto in 1973, Bissau (its capital) and the large towns were still under Portuguese control. In Angola and Mozambique independence movements were active in more remote rural areas from which

5742-476: The first elections, there may be plenty of hopeful candidates, in the last rounds consensus on one winner is generally achieved. In today's context of rapid communication, candidates can put disproportionate resources into competing strongly in the first few stages, because those stages affect the reaction of latter stages. In many of the countries with weak rule of law , the most common reason why elections do not meet international standards of being "free and fair"

5841-472: The following year. Sham election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office . Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature , sometimes in the executive and judiciary , and for regional and local government . This process

5940-414: The formation of large conglomerates . The regime maintained a policy of corporatism which resulted in the placement of much of the economy in the hands of conglomerates including those founded by the families of António Champalimaud ( Banco Totta & Açores , Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor , Secil , Cimpor ), José Manuel de Mello ( Companhia União Fabril ), Américo Amorim ( Corticeira Amorim ) and

6039-578: The government (and the opposition) were planning the succession of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco . Franco died a year and a half later, in 1975. Four civilians were shot dead by government forces under the Directorate General of Security, whose personnel involved were later arrested by the MFA for their murders. After the coup, power was held by the National Salvation Junta (a military junta). Portugal experienced

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6138-502: The government candidate usually ran unopposed, while the opposition used the limited political freedoms allowed during the brief election period to protest, withdrawing their candidates before the election to deny the regime political legitimacy . The Estado Novo's political police, the PIDE (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado, later the DGS, Direcção-Geral de Segurança and originally

6237-793: The history of elections. Males, the dominant cultural group in North America and Europe, often dominated the electorate and continue to do so in many countries. Early elections in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States were dominated by landed or ruling class males. By 1920 all Western European and North American democracies had universal adult male suffrage (except Switzerland) and many countries began to consider women's suffrage . Despite legally mandated universal suffrage for adult males, political barriers were sometimes erected to prevent fair access to elections (see civil rights movement ). Elections are held in

6336-537: The international community, and was becoming increasingly isolated. In 1973 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Portugal's immediate withdrawal from Guinea. Atrocities such as the Wiriyamu Massacre undermined the war's popularity and the government's diplomatic position, although details of the massacre are still disputed. The war became unpopular in Portugal, and

6435-525: The legislature (parliamentary system) more problematic if the date should happen to fall at a time when dissolution is inconvenient (e.g. when war breaks out). Other states (e.g., the United Kingdom ) only set maximum time in office, and the executive decides exactly when within that limit it will actually go to the polls. In practice, this means the government remains in power for close to its full term, and chooses an election date it calculates to be in its best interests (unless something special happens, such as

6534-548: The main headquarters of the Lisbon military police, the National Republican Guard , at the Largo do Carmo. This building was surrounded by the MFA, which pressured him to cede power to General Spínola. Caetano and President Américo Tomás were sent to Brazil; Caetano spent the rest of his life there, and Tomás returned to Portugal a few years later. The revolution was closely watched by neighbouring Spain, where

6633-465: The military coup into a popular revolution "led by radical army officers, soldiers, workers and peasants that toppled the senile Salazar dictatorship, using the language of socialism and democracy. The attempt to radicalise the outcome", noted a contemporary observer of the time, "had little mass support and was easily suppressed by the Socialist Party and its allies." Caetano found refuge in

6732-406: The modern system of elections was never meant to give ordinary citizens the chance to exercise power - merely privileging their right to consent to those who rule. Therefore, the representatives that modern electoral systems select for are too disconnected, unresponsive, and elite-serving. To deal with this issue, various scholars have proposed alternative models of democracy, many of which include

6831-636: The northwest), ceramics, porcelain, glass and crystal (such as those in Alcobaça , Caldas da Rainha and Marinha Grande ), engineered wood (such as SONAE , near Porto ), canned fish ( Algarve and the northwest), fishing, food and beverages (liqueurs, beer and port wine ), tourism (in Estoril , Cascais , Sintra and the Algarve ) and agriculture (the Alentejo , known as the breadbasket of Portugal) by

6930-442: The number of officers by incorporating militia and military-academy officers as equals. According to government estimates, about 900,000 hectares (2,200,000 acres) of agricultural land were seized between April 1974 and December 1975 as part of land reform ; about 32 percent of the appropriations were ruled illegal. In January 1976, the government pledged to restore the illegally occupied land to its owners in 1976, and enacted

7029-428: The people . Sham elections can sometimes backfire against the party in power, especially if the regime believes they are popular enough to win without coercion, fraud or suppressing the opposition. The most famous example of this was the 1990 Myanmar general election , in which the government-sponsored National Unity Party suffered a landslide defeat by the opposition National League for Democracy and consequently,

7128-412: The powerful Communist Party. It was followed by a successful counter-coup by more centrist officers, and was marked by constant friction between liberal-democratic forces and leftist-communist political parties. Portugal's first free election was held on 25 April 1975 to write a new constitution replacing the 1933 constitution in force during the Estado Novo era. Another election was held in 1976, and

7227-551: The practice of popularly electing the president and gave the task to the National Assembly . Portugal's Estado Novo government remained neutral in the second world war, and was initially tolerated by its NATO post-war partners due to its anti-communist stance. As the Cold War developed, Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc states vied with each other in supporting guerrillas in the Portuguese colonies , leading to

7326-403: The predominance of elections in modern liberal democracies masks the fact that they are actually aristocratic selection mechanisms that deny each citizen an equal chance of holding public office. Such views were expressed as early as the time of Ancient Greece by Aristotle . According to French political scientist Bernard Manin, the inegalitarian nature of elections stems from four factors:

7425-452: The prescribed candidates or for the referendum choice that favours the political party in power. Dictatorial regimes can also organize sham elections with results simulating those that might be achieved in democratic countries. Sometimes, only one government-approved candidate is allowed to run in sham elections with no opposition candidates allowed, or opposition candidates are arrested on false charges (or even without any charges) before

7524-456: The press , and was seen as an opportunity for the opposition to gain concessions from the regime. In 1969, Caetano authorised the country's first democratic labour union movement since the 1920s. However, after the elections of 1969 and 1973 , hard-liners in the government and the military pushed back against Caetano, with political repression against communists and anti-colonialists . The Estado Novo regime's economic policy encouraged

7623-459: The press , lack of objectivity in the press due to state or corporate control, or lack of access to news and political media. Freedom of speech may be curtailed by the state, favouring certain viewpoints or state propaganda . Gerrymandering , exclusion of opposition candidates from eligibility for office, needlessly high restrictions on who may be a candidate, like ballot access rules, and manipulating thresholds for electoral success are some of

7722-489: The process of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place, or improving the fairness or effectiveness of existing systems. Psephology is the study of results and other statistics relating to elections (especially with a view to predicting future results). Election is the fact of electing, or being elected. To elect means "to select or make a decision", and so sometimes other forms of ballot such as referendums are referred to as elections, especially in

7821-498: The public sector, a rigid labour market and mismanaged European Union 's structural and cohesion funds for almost four decades. Prime Minister José Sócrates ' cabinet was unable to foresee or forestall this when symptoms first appeared in 2005, and could not ameliorate the situation when Portugal was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2011 and required financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund and

7920-722: The publication of Spínola's book, Portugal and the Future , which expressed his political and military views of the Portuguese Colonial War. Several military officers who opposed the war formed the MFA to overthrow the government in a military coup . The MFA was headed by Vítor Alves , Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho and Vasco Lourenço, and was joined later by Salgueiro Maia . The movement was aided by other Portuguese army officers who supported Spínola and democratic civil and military reform. The coup had two secret signals. First,

8019-446: The regime through suppression of the opposition, coercion of voters, vote rigging , reporting several votes received greater than the number of voters, outright lying, or some combination of these. In an extreme example, Charles D. B. King of Liberia was reported to have won by 234,000 votes in the 1927 general election , a "majority" that was over fifteen times larger than the number of eligible voters. Some scholars argue that

8118-756: The region. In the Chola Empire , around 920 CE, in Uthiramerur (in present-day Tamil Nadu ), palm leaves were used for selecting the village committee members. The leaves, with candidate names written on them, were put inside a mud pot. To select the committee members, a young boy was asked to take out as many leaves as the number of positions available. This was known as the Kudavolai system. The first recorded popular elections of officials to public office, by majority vote, where all citizens were eligible both to vote and to hold public office, date back to

8217-1092: The results were annulled. Examples of sham elections include: the presidential and parliamentary elections of the Islamic Republic of Iran , the 1929 and 1934 elections in Fascist Italy , the 1942 general election in Imperial Japan , those in Nazi Germany , East Germany , the 1940 elections of Stalinist "People's Parliaments" to legitimise the Soviet occupation of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , those in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser , Anwar Sadat , Hosni Mubarak , and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi , those in Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina , those in Russia under Vladimir Putin (including

8316-427: The revolution it was an underdeveloped country with poor infrastructure , inefficient agriculture and some of the worst health and education indicators in Europe. Pre-revolutionary Portugal had some social and economic achievements. After a long period of economic decline before 1914, the Portuguese economy recovered slightly until 1950. It began a period of economic growth in common with Western Europe, of which it

8415-425: The streets – mingling with, and supporting, the military insurgents. A central gathering point was the Lisbon flower market, then richly stocked with carnations (which were in season). Some of the insurgents put carnations in their gun barrels , an image broadcast on television worldwide which gave the revolution its name. Although no mass demonstrations preceded the coup, spontaneous civilian involvement turned

8514-532: The term citizen, the electorates grew to numbers beyond the thousands. Elections with an electorate in the hundred thousands appeared in the final decades of the Roman Republic , by extending voting rights to citizens outside of Rome with the Lex Julia of 90 BC , reaching an electorate of 910,000 and estimated voter turnout of maximum 10% in 70 BC, only again comparable in size to the first elections of

8613-577: The three highest classes of citizens could vote in elections. Nor were the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens (as defined by the extent of their wealth and property, rather than by birth) eligible to hold public office, through the reforms of Solon . The Spartan election of the Ephors, therefore, also predates the reforms of Solon in Athens by approximately 180 years. Questions of suffrage , especially suffrage for minority groups, have dominated

8712-431: The time of voting—with some possible exceptions such as through a minimum age requirement—in the jurisdiction. In such cases, it is not required (or even possible) that the members of the electorate be familiar with all of the eligible persons, though such systems may involve indirect elections at larger geographic levels to ensure that some first-hand familiarity among potential electees can exist at these levels (i.e., among

8811-552: The time). The MFA gave the signals to take over strategic points of power in the country. The content of the songs was largely uncontroversial—censorship would have prevented more inflammatory songs—their broadcasting was a signal, not a direct call to arms. Six hours later, the Caetano government relented. Despite repeated radio appeals from the "captains of April" (the MFA) advising civilians to stay home, thousands of Portuguese took to

8910-466: The unequal treatment of candidates by voters, the distinction of candidates required by choice, the cognitive advantage conferred by salience, and the costs of disseminating information. These four factors result in the evaluation of candidates based on voters' partial standards of quality and social saliency (for example, skin colour and good looks). This leads to self-selection biases in candidate pools due to unobjective standards of treatment by voters and

9009-456: The vote. The first seriously competitive presidential election in modern Mexican history was that of 1988 , in which for the first time the PRI candidate faced two strong opposition candidates, though it is believed that the government rigged the result. The first fair election was held in 1994 , though the opposition did not win until 2000 . A predetermined conclusion is permanently established by

9108-422: The voters at prescribed intervals to seek their mandate to continue in office. For that reason, most democratic constitutions provide that elections are held at fixed regular intervals. In the United States, elections for public offices are typically held between every two and six years in most states and at the federal level, with exceptions for elected judicial positions that may have longer terms of office. There

9207-422: The voting system then determines the result on the basis of the tally. Most systems can be categorized as either proportional , majoritarian or mixed . Among the proportional systems, the most commonly used are party-list proportional representation (list PR) systems, among majoritarian are first-past-the-post electoral system (single winner plurality voting ) and different methods of majority voting (such as

9306-410: The ways the structure of an election can be changed to favour a specific faction or candidate. Scheduling frequent elections can also lead to voter fatigue . Those in power may arrest or assassinate candidates, suppress or even criminalize campaigning, close campaign headquarters, harass or beat campaign workers, or intimidate voters with violence. Foreign electoral intervention can also occur, with

9405-408: The widely used two-round system ). Mixed systems combine elements of both proportional and majoritarian methods, with some typically producing results closer to the former ( mixed-member proportional ) or the other (e.g. parallel voting ). Many countries have growing electoral reform movements, which advocate systems such as approval voting , single transferable vote , instant runoff voting or

9504-532: Was invaded by Indonesia , and remained occupied until 1999 . There were an estimated 102,800 conflict-related deaths from 1974 to 1999 (about 18,600 killings and 84,200 deaths from hunger and illness), most of which were incurred during the Indonesian occupation. After a long period of one-party rule, Guinea-Bissau experienced a brief civil war and a difficult transition to civilian rule in 1998. Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe avoided civil war during

9603-454: Was characterised by robust annual growth in GDP (6.9 percent), industrial production (nine percent), consumption (6.5 percent), and gross fixed capital formation (7.8 percent). The revolutionary period experienced a slowly-growing economy, whose only impetus was its 1986 entrance into the European Economic Community . Although Portugal never regained its pre-revolution growth, at the time of

9702-602: Was refused, as the Chinese government did not want to risk jeopardising negotiations with the UK over returning Hong Kong. The territory remained a Portuguese colony until 1999, when it was transferred to China with a joint declaration , and enacted a " one country, two systems " policy similar to that of Hong Kong . The Portuguese economy changed significantly between 1961 and 1973. Total output (GDP at factory cost) had grown by 120 percent in real terms. The pre-revolutionary period

9801-400: Was the poorest country until the 1980s. Portuguese economic growth between 1960 and 1973 (under the Estado Novo regime) created an opportunity for integration with the developed economies of Western Europe despite the colonial war. Through emigration, trade, tourism and foreign investment, individuals and companies changed their patterns of production and consumption. The increasing complexity of

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