2004 European Parliament election in Portugal


The European Parliament election of 2004 in Portugal was the election of MEPs representing Portugal for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2004 European election. In Portugal the election was held on 13 June.
The Socialist Party was the big winner of the elections, achieving their best result in a European election ever. The party won 44.5% of the votes, an increase of 1.5%, 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 and the People's Party contested the election in a coalition called "Forward Portugal". The coalition had a very weak performance, winning just 33% of the votes, a big drop compared with the combined total of 39% the PSD+CDS had in 1999. The PSD lost two seats, while CDS–PP held on to their two seats.
The Democratic Unity Coalition dropped 1% and fell below 10% 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 gained a seat for the EU parliament for the first time, and saw its share of vote increase to almost 5%, an increase of more than 3% compared with 1999.
Turnout dropped compared with 1999, with 38.6% 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:

National summary of votes and seats

Distribution by European group

Maps