{"id":9154,"date":"2026-03-23T14:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T14:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/?p=9154"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:12:24","slug":"the-electoral-reform-portugal-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/the-electoral-reform-portugal-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"The electoral reform Portugal needs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Paulo Trigo Pereira, Professor of Economics, University of Lisbon (ISEG) and President of Institute of Public Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Portugal is often seen as a stable democracy. Since the peaceful Carnation Revolution of 1974, the country has consolidated democratic institutions, joined the European Union, and experienced decades of political stability.<\/p>\n

Nearly fifty years after the transition to democracy, Portugal\u2019s electoral system for its national parliament (the Assembleia da Rep\u00fablica<\/em>) has changed very little. What once helped ensure proportional representation now shows clear signs of strain. This is the starting point of the civic initiative \u201cReforming the Electoral System: Renewing Democracy\u201d<\/strong><\/a>, launched by the Lisbon-based think tank Institute of Public Policy (IPP). The project argues that democratic renewal in Portugal requires revisiting and reforming how representatives are elected.<\/p>\n

A System That Limits Voter Choice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Portugal uses Party List Proportional Representation<\/a> with closed party lists. Voters choose between parties, but they cannot express any preference for individual candidates. Party leaderships determine both who appears on electoral lists and the order in which candidates are elected.<\/p>\n

In comparative perspective, this is increasingly unusual. Portugal is one of only a handful of European Union countries where voters cannot influence the selection of candidates at all in legislative elections. In most proportional systems, voters can either choose between candidates directly, rank candidates within party lists, or cast separate votes for parties and individual representatives.<\/p>\n

The consequence is a weak accountability link between voters and elected representatives. Members of parliament depend primarily on party leadership for their political careers, rather than on citizens. Over time, this institutional feature contributes to political disengagement and a perception that elections offer limited real choice.<\/p>\n

Territorial Inequality, Discrimination and Political Fragmentation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A second major issue concerns territorial representation. Electoral districts in mainland Portugal coincide with the eighteen administrative districts whose populations differ sharply. This produces large differences in district magnitude \u2013 the number of seats allocated per district.<\/p>\n

In smaller, less populated districts, particularly in the interior of the country, voters face a structural disadvantage. Only a small number of seats are available (e.g Portalegre with just two), which effectively restricts competition to the largest parties. Voters who support smaller parties often know in advance that their vote is unlikely to translate into representation. As a result, many feel pressured to cast a \u201cuseful vote\u201d or abstain altogether.<\/p>\n

The opposite happens in large urban districts such as Lisbon (48 MPs) or Porto (40 MPs), where many seats are allocated and proportionality is dramatically higher. Such larger districts promote excessive political fragmentation since in these districts political representation can be achieved with a very low percentage of votes. Effective electoral thresholds are extremely low in these districts. The outcome is unequal representation based solely on geography \u2013 an issue with significant implications for political inclusion, territorial cohesion and parliamentary fragmentation.<\/p>\n

A Civic and Participatory Approach to Reform<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What distinguishes the IPP initiative is not only its diagnosis, but also its approach. The project is explicitly non-partisan and citizen-led. Rather than advocating a single technical solution from the outset, it frames electoral reform as a democratic process that must combine public deliberation, academic expertise, and institutional feasibility.<\/p>\n

The project began with the public launch of a Manifesto for Electoral Reform<\/a>, and a crowdfunding campaign, reflecting its independence from political parties and public funding. Its premise is that meaningful reform must be grounded in civic legitimacy, not elite negotiation alone.<\/p>\n

Over the course of a year, the project promotes public consultation through focus groups and seminars held across the country, with particular attention to regions disadvantaged by the current system. These discussions aim to incorporate citizens\u2019 perspectives and experiences into the reform debate.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the project invests in electoral literacy. A dedicated website (in Portuguese here<\/a>) provides accessible explanations of electoral systems, comparative research, and frequently asked questions. This reflects a key assumption: informed citizens are essential to meaningful institutional reform.<\/p>\n

From Debate to Institutional Change<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The initiative is not limited to discussion. Its explicit goal is to launch a Citizens\u2019 Legislative Initiative in parliament, backed by twenty thousand signatures. This mechanism allows citizens to formally place legislative proposals on the parliamentary agenda.<\/p>\n

In doing so, the project seeks to strengthen democratic participation not only through the content of reform, but through the process itself. Electoral reform becomes both a means and an end of democratic renewal.<\/p>\n

The Portuguese case illustrates a broader challenge facing many established democracies: how to redesign political institutions created decades ago to societies that are more educated, more connected, and more demanding of political accountability.<\/p>\n

Find out more about the work of Lisbon\u2019s Institute of Public Policy.<\/h4>\n

Find out more<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly fifty years after the transition to democracy, Portugal\u2019s electoral system for its national parliament (the Assembleia da Rep\u00fablica) has changed very little.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":9155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[789,593],"class_list":["post-9154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electoral-reform","tag-closed-list-proportional-representation","tag-portugal","feature-category-around-the-world"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}