Movement of Socialist Left

The Movement of Socialist Left (Portuguese: Movimento de Esquerda Socialista or MES) was a Portuguese socialist party, founded shortly after the democratic Carnation Revolution.

The party has its roots in a group of Progressive Christians and Radical Socialists that abandoned the Portuguese Democratic Movement/Democratic Electoral Commissions in 1970, still during the dictatorial regime led by Marcello Caetano. In 1974, the initial group was joined by a group dissidents from the Socialist Party.

The party only participated in two elections, both parliamentary elections, in 1975 and 1976, gathering 1.0% and 0.6% in each election, respectively.

Among the Party's top figures were César Oliveira, Jorge Sampaio, João Cravinho, Ferro Rodrigues and Augusto Mateus. The majority of the Party's members would later join the Socialist Party, Jorge Sampaio would become the President of Portugal in 1996 and Ferro Rodrigues would become the leader of the Socialist Party.

During its short existence the MES published several newspapers and magazines, such as: Esquerda Socialista, Poder Popular, Acção Sindical, Informação Militante and A Luta Continua.

Electoral Results

Results in Parliamentary Elections (year links to election article)
Year	Coalition	Type of Election	Voting	%	Mandates
1975	none	Constituent Assembly	58,248	01.0%	0
1976	none	Portuguese Parliament	31,332	00.6%	0

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)