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Portugal Rotativismo
In 1851 Saldanha staged a revolt and, supported by the
garrison in Porto, gained control of the government and
sent
Costa Cabral into exile. Saldanha and his followers were
called
Regenerators because they recognized the need to modify
the
charter to make it more compatible with the social and
political
situation. These modifications appeared as amendments, the
first
of which was a new electoral law that made the franchise
more
acceptable to the Septemberists. Gradually, government
became
stabilized. The Septemberists began to be referred to as
Historicals and, later, Progressives.
The Regenerators and Progressives were not political
parties
in today's sense of the term. The electorate comprised
less than
1 percent of the population; therefore, the Regenerators
and
Progressives were essentially loose coalitions of
notables, or
leading citizens, based on personal loyalties and local
interests. Elections were held after a change in governing
factions to provide the new faction with a majority in the
legislature. By tacit agreement, one faction would govern
as long
as it was able and then turn over power to the other.
After 1856
this practice of alternating factions at regular
intervals,
called rotativismo, was all but institutionalized
and
produced relatively stable government until the end of the
nineteenth century.
Data as of January 1993
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