- Democratic Unity Coalition
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Democratic Unity Coalition
Coligação Democrática UnitáriaLeader Jerónimo de Sousa Founded 1987 Headquarters Rue Soeiro Pereira Gomes 3, Lisbon Youth wing Juventude CDU Membership 58,928 (PCP)
6,000 (PEV)Political position Left-wing National affiliation Portuguese Communist Party,
Ecologist Party "The Greens",
Democratic InterventionOfficial colours Red Local
Government174 / 2,078Regional Parliaments 2 / 104Assembly of the Republic 16 / 230European Parliament 2 / 22Website www.cdu.pt Politics of Portugal
Political parties
ElectionsThe Democratic Unity Coalition (Portuguese: Coligação Democrática Unitária or CDU) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (Portuguese: Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (Portuguese: Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" or PEV). The coalition also integrates the political movement Democratic Intervention (Portuguese: Intervenção Democrática or ID).
The coalition was formed for the first time in 1987 in order to run to the simultaneous legislative election and European Parliament election that were held on July 19 of that year.
Since the beginning of the coalition, the member parties have never participated separately in any election. The Communist Party is the major force inside it and has the majority of places in the electoral lists, however, the Greens also have an important presence and elected 2 Members of parliament among the 14 elected by the coalition in the last legislative election. Each party has its own parliamentary group and counts as a separate party in official issues.
At a local level, the coalition usually presents lists in almost every municipality and both Communists and Green may occupy first place on the lists. As the Greens have a smaller structure, the offices of the Communist Party are used as offices of the coalition.
Contents
Symbol
The present symbol of CDU shows the PCP's symbol and the PEV's symbol, an hammer and sickle and a sunflower, respectively, with the respective names below. That symbol replaced a former one that featured three hexagons with the inscription: CDU and was often used with a beehive. That was sometimes said to mean that CDU worked just like a bee (collectively and every day) and the hexagons were meant to represent the cell-based Leninist organization of the PCP.
Youth organization
The coalition has a youth wing, called Juventude CDU, that develops political work in youth related subjects, along with youth oriented activities, mainly during the electoral campaigns. The Juventude CDU is mainly composed by members of the youth wings of the parties that compose the CDU, the Portuguese Communist Youth and the Ecolojovem.
Electoral results achieved by CDU
Results in parliamentary elections
Results in Parliamentary Elections
(year links to election page)Year Type of Election Voting % Mandates 1987 Portuguese Parliament 685,109 12.2% 31 1991 Portuguese Parliament 501,840 8.8% 17 1995 Portuguese Parliament 504,007 8.6% 15 1999 Portuguese Parliament 483,716 9.0% 17 2002 Portuguese Parliament 379,870 6.9% 12 2005 Portuguese Parliament 433,369 7.5% 14 2009 Portuguese Parliament 446,174 7.9% 15 2011 Portuguese Parliament 440,850 7.9% 16 (source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)
Note:
- In 1991 the overall number of MPs changed from the original 250 to 230.
Results in local elections
Results in Local Elections
(year links to election page)Year Type of Election Voting % Mandates 1989 Local 633,682 12.8% 252 1993 Local 689,928 12.8% 246 1997 Local 643,956 12.0% 236 2001 Local 557,481 10.6% 202 2005 Local 590,496 11.0% 203 2009 Local 537,329 9.7% 174 (source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)
Results in European Parliament elections
Results in European Elections
(year links to election page)Year Type of Election Voting % Mandates 1987 European Parliament 646,640 11.5% 3 1989 European Parliament 594,961 14.4% 4 1994 European Parliament 339,283 11.2% 3 1999 European Parliament 357,575 10.3% 2 2004 European Parliament 309,406 9.1% 2 2009 European Parliament 379,787 10.6% 2 (source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)
Note:
- In 2004, after the enlargement of the European Union, the number of MEPs elected by Portugal decreased from the original 25 to 24.
External links
Political parties in Portugal Parties represented in the
Assembly of the Republic (230)Social Democratic Party (108) · Socialist Party (74) · Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party (24) · Democratic Unity Coalition (16: Portuguese Communist Party 14 - Ecologist Party "The Greens" 2) · Left Bloc (8)Legislative Assembly of the
Azores Autonomous Region (57)Socialist Party (30) · Social Democratic Party (18) · Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party (5) · Left Bloc (2) · Democratic Unity Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party - Ecologist Party "The Greens") (1) · People's Monarchist Party (1)Legislative Assembly of the
Madeira Autonomous Region (47)Social Democratic Party (25) · Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party (9) · Socialist Party (6) · Portuguese Labour Party (3) · Democratic Unitarian Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party · Ecologist Party "The Greens") (1) · New Democracy Party (1) · Party for Animals and Nature (1) · Earth Party (1)Non-parliamentary parties Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of PortugalCategories:- Political parties in Portugal
- Portuguese Communist Party
- Coalition of parties
- Political parties established in 1987
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