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Portugal Other Parties
Portugal had a number of other, largely personalistic
parties
that rallied around a single leading personality rather
than an
issue or program. Most of these were small parties,
frequently
rising and falling quickly, and they commanded little
electoral
strength. These personalistic parties were often used as
bargaining chips in the larger political arena, where
their
modest support might be traded for a cabinet post or other
position. An exception to some of these rules was the
Party of
Democratic Renovation (Partido Renovador
Democrático--PRD), made
up of supporters of President Eanes. In the national
elections of
1985, the PRD received 17.9 percent of the vote and seemed
poised
to emerge as a major electoral contender. In the national
elections of 1987, however, it got just under 5 percent of
the
vote. After Eanes himself withdrew from politics, the
party faded
away, winning only 0.6 percent of the vote in the 1991
elections.
Data as of January 1993
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