ABSTRACT
With the surrender of Germany in 1945, no one admitted that Salazar could withstand the downfall of Nazi fascism. The population believed in the beginning of a new era: one of freedom. Feeling the winds of change and democracy that blew across Europe, the Portuguese dictatorial regime adapted. The electoral law was modified after the approval of the constitutional amendments regarding the national assembly, and on 7 October, Salazar announced the holding of elections ‘as free as in free England’.
In the Portuguese State of India, using the advantage at a time when they thought change was possible, four opposition lists were submitted for the national assembly election of 1945, in addition to the list of the regime, the national union.
With censorship and strong propaganda controlling and manipulating the public opinion, this study aims to analyse the role of the colonial press in the Portuguese State of India during the 1945 election, through the pages of the Portuguese edition of the newspaper Bharat.
Without deviating from its editorial line, and given the political changes in British India, the Bharat intended to inform and clarify Goans, promoting the political debate on the future of the Portuguese State of India.
