ABSTRACT
The Partido Socialista Portugues (Portuguese Socialist Party, PS) played an important role in the transition and consolidation of Portuguese democracy. After the 197 4 military coup, the PS emerged as the leading party in the 1975 elections for the constituent assembly and in the first legislative elections held in 1976. From the earliest days of the new democratic regime the PS participated in minority or coalitional governments, giving priority to the building of the new democratic institutions rather than to the implementation of socialist policies. In the 1980s, the PS spent a very short period in office (1983-85) taking part in the Bloco Central (Central Bloc), a coalition between the PS and the centre-right Partido Social Democrata (Social Democratic Party, PSD). The rise of the Partido Renovador Democratico (Party of Democratic Renewal, PRD) in 1985-supported by President Rarnalbo Banes-led to a huge electoral defeat for the PS, opening an entire decade in opposition which was marked by two absolute majorities of the PSD (1987-95). Yet, since the period of 'military tutelage', the socialists have been able to secure the presidential office first with Mario Soares (1986-96) and then with Jorge Sampaio, who was elected for the first time in 1996 and then re-elected with a strong majority in 2001. Since 1995, the PS has begun a new cycle of relative or absolute parliamentary majorities, broken only by a two-year
period of centre-right coalitional government. After the two minority governments led by Antonio Guterres (1995-2002), in February 2005 the PS gained its first absolute majority since Portuguese democratization under the leadership of Jose Socrates.
