European election : Portugal

1. Austria 2. Belgium 3. Cyprus 4. Czech Rep. 5. Denmark 6. Estonia 7. Finland 8. France 9. Germany 10. Greece 11. Hungary 12. Italy 13. Ireland

14. Latvia 15. Lithuania 16. L'bourg 17. Malta 18. N'lands 19. Poland 20. Portugal 21. Slovak Rep. 22. Slovenia 23. Spain 24. Sweden 25. UK

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European election result: Portugal (Full)

SEATS: 24

ELECTORATE: 8670378

RESULTS

		MEPs
	PARTY	+/-	TOTAL
	Partido Socialista	1	12
	Partido Social Democrata + Centro Democratico Social (Partido Popular)	-2	9
	Coligaçao Democrática Unitária: Partido Comunista Portugês & Partido Ecologista Os Verdes	0	2
	Bloco de Esquerda	1	1
	Nova Democracia	0	0
	Others (Portugal)	0	0

DESCRIPTION: Portugal

The opposition Socialists crushed the governing Social Democrats in Portugal, picking up the biggest Socialist victory in the EU in the process. In an outcome that Socialist party leader Antonio Costa hailed as "a historic day", the Socialists gained a seat, while the Social Democrats lost two. The results reflected Portuguese concern at the economy and Lisbon's support for the war in Iraq. The death of the leading Socialist candidate, former finance minister Antonio Sousa Franco, four days before the polls may also have boosted the Socialists' fortunes. Portugal will have 24 seats in the new European parliament, down from 25. Turnout was just under 39%, largely unchanged from 40% in 1999.

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Portugal's results from the BBC's Vote 1999 website