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2004 European Parliament election in Portugal
24 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	38.6% 1.3 pp

An election of MEPs representing Portugal for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 13 June 2004. It was part of the wider 2004 European election.

The Socialist Party (PS) was the big winner of the elections, achieving their best result in a European election ever. The party won 44.5 percent of the votes, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, and held on to the 12 seats won in 1999. However the Socialist victory, and the campaign overall, was overshadowed by the sudden death of the PS top candidate, António Sousa Franco. Sousa Franco died of a heart attack while campaigning in Matosinhos, just four days before election day. António Costa, number 2 on the list, became the Socialists' top candidate after Sousa Franco's death.

The Social Democrats (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested the election in a coalition called "Forward Portugal" (FP). The coalition had a very weak performance, winning just 33 percent of the votes, a big drop compared with the combined total of 39 percent the PSD+CDS had in 1999. The PSD lost two seats, while CDS–PP held on to their two seats.

The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) dropped one point and fell below 10 percent of the votes for the first time. CDU was still able to hold on to the two seats they had won in 1999. The Left Bloc (BE) gained a seat for the EU parliament for the first time, and saw its share of vote increase to almost 5 percent, an increase of more than 3 percentage points compared with 1999.

Turnout dropped compared with 1999, with 38.6 percent of voters casting a ballot.

Electoral system

The voting method used for the election of European members of parliament, is proportional representation using the d'Hondt method, which is known to benefit the largest parties slightly. In the 2004 EU elections, Portugal had 24 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

Parties and candidates

The major parties that partook in the election, and their EP list leaders, were:^[1]

Left Bloc (BE), Miguel Portas
Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), Ilda Figueiredo
Socialist Party (PS), António Costa^[2]
Social Democratic Party (PSD)/People's Party (CDS–PP) Força Portugal, João de Deus Pinheiro

Campaign period

Party slogans

	Original slogan	English translation	Refs
PS	« Queremos um Portugal melhor »	"We want a better Portugal"	^[3]
FP	« Força Portugal! »	"Forward Portugal!"	^[4]
CDU	« Outro caminho para a Europa e para Portugal »	"Another path for Europe and Portugal"	^[5]
BE	« Estás farto? »	"Had enough?"	^[6]

Candidates' debates

One last debate between the four main candidates was expected to be held on RTP on 10 June, but it was cancelled after the sudden death of the PS lead candidate António Sousa Franco on 9 June. Parties also cut short their campaigns.^[7]

2004 European Parliament election in Portugal debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P Present A Absent invitee N Non-invitee
			PS S. Franco	FP Pinheiro	CDU Figueiredo	BE Portas	Refs
							Refs
1 June	SIC Notícias	Clara de Sousa	P	P	P	P	^[8]
8 June	SIC Notícias	Clara de Sousa	P	P	N	N	^[9]

Opinion polling

Date Released	Polling Firm					Others	Lead
Date Released	Polling Firm					Others	Lead
13 June 2004	Election results	44.5 12 seats	33.3 9 seats	9.1 2 seats	4.9 1 seats	8.2 0 seats	11.2
13 June 2004	Exit Poll – RTP1 Universidade Católica	43.0–47.0 12 / 13	32.0–36.0 8 / 9	8.0–10.0 2 / 3	4.0–6.0 1	—	11.0
13 June 2004	Exit Poll – SIC Eurosondagem	44.1–47.9 12 / 13	29.7–33.5 8 / 9	10.1–11.9 2 / 3	5.1–6.9 1	—	14.4
13 June 2004	Exit Poll – TVI Intercampus	42.3–47.1 12 / 13	30.5–35.1 8 / 9	7.3–10.1 2	4.7–6.9 1	—	11.8 12.0
Exit polls
11 June 2004	Aximage	40.3	39.8	8.3	6.2	5.5	0.5
11 June 2004	Universidade Católica	44.0	37.0	8.0	5.0	6.0	7.0
11 June 2004	Eurosondagem	43.3	37.8	7.7	5.6	5.6	5.5
11 June 2004	Intercampus	42.4	27.5	12.6	6.7	10.9	14.9
9 June 2004	Marktest	49.2	37.4	6.3	5.0	2.1	11.8
5 June 2004	Aximage Seat projection	39.2 11 / 12	34.5 9 / 10	7.9 2	2.4 1	16.0 –	4.7
25 May 2004	Aximage	39.5	33.6	8.3	4.0	14.6	5.9
20 May 2004	TNS Euroteste	34.0	34.0	4.0	3.0	25.0	Tie
19 May 2004	Marktest^[a]	49.2	34.8	8.1	4.1	3.8	14.4
14 May 2004	Universidade Católica	44.3	40.7	5.4	5.2	4.4	3.6
7 May 2004	Aximage Seat projection	40.5 11	35.8 9	6.1 1	3.3 –	14.3 3	4.7
29 March 2004	Marktest	54.7	34.5	5.5	2.4	3.0	20.2
19 March 2004	Eurosondagem Seat projection	37.0 11	37.6 11	5.8 1	4.3 1	15.3 –	0.6
7 March 2004	Aximage Seat projection	39.2 10	39.7 11	7.0 2	3.7 1	10.4 –	0.5
13 June 1999	Election results	43.1 12 seats	39.3¹ 11 seats	10.3 2 seats	1.8 0 seats	5.6 0 seats	3.8
¹ Sum of votes and seats of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and of the People's Party (CDS–PP).

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the results of Portugal's 13 June 2004 election to the European Parliament
National party		European party	Main candidate	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Socialist Party (PS)	PES	António Costa	1,516,001	44.52	1.45	12	0
	Forward Portugal (FP) • Social Democratic Party (PSD) • People's Party (CDS–PP)	EPP	João de Deus Pinheiro	1,132,769	33.27	^[10]	9 7 2	2 0
	Democratic Unitarian Coalition (CDU) • Communist Party (PCP) • Ecologist Party (PEV)	GUE/NGL	Ilda Figueiredo	309,401	9.09	1.23	2 2 0	0 0
	Left Bloc (BE)	EACL	Miguel Portas	167,313	4.91	3.12	1	1
	Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP)	None	António Garcia Pereira	36,294	1.07	0.19	0	0
	New Democracy Party (PND)	None	Manuel Monteiro	33,833	0.99	new	0	new
	People's Monarchist Party (PPM)	ECPM	Gonçalo da Câmara Pereira	15,454	0.45	0.02	0	0
	Movement for the Sick (MD)	None	Vitorino Brandão	13,840	0.41	new	0	new
	Earth Party (MPT)	ALDE	Luís Filipe Marques	13,671	0.40	0.00	0	0
	Humanist Party (PH)	None	-	13,272	0.39	new	0	new
	National Renovator Party (P.N.R.)	None	Paulo Rodrigues	8,405	0.25	new	0	new
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic (PDA)	None	José Soares	5,588	0.16	0.01	0	0
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity (POUS)	None	Carmelinda Pereira	4,275	0.13	0.03	0	0
Valid votes				3,270,116	96.04
Blank and invalid votes				134,666	3.96
Totals				3,404,782	100.00	—	24	1
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout				8,821,456	38.60	1.33
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine

Vote share

PS			44.52%
FP			33.27%
CDU			9.09%
BE			4.91%
PCTP/MRPP			1.07%
PND			0.99%
Others			2.19%
Blank/Invalid			3.96%

Seats

PS			50.00%
FP			37.50%
CDU			8.33%
BE			4.17%

Distribution by European group

Summary of political group distribution in the 6th European Parliament (2004–2009) ^[11]
Groups		Parties	Seats	Total	%
	Party of European Socialists (PES)	Socialist Party (PS)	12	12	50.00
	European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED)	Social Democratic Party (PSD) People's Party (CDS–PP)	7 2	9	37.50
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)	Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Left Bloc (BE)	2 1	3	12.50

Total			24	24	100.00

Maps

Most voted political force by district. (Azores and Madeira not shown)
Strongest party by municipality. Pink: PS; Darkblue: PSD-CDS; Red: CDU

Notes

^ Results presented here exclude undecideds (34.7%) and abstainers (14.0%). With their inclusion results are: PS: 26.2%; PSD/CDS-PP: 18.5%; CDU: 4.3%; BE: 2,2%; Blank: 2.0%.