Unitary Democratic Coalition

The Unitary Democratic Coalition[2] (Portuguese: CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP–PEV) 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).

Unitary Democratic Coalition

Coligação Democrática Unitária
AbbreviationPCP–PEV
CDU (historical)
LeaderJerónimo de Sousa
Founded1987
Preceded byUnited People Alliance
HeadquartersRua Soeiro Pereira Gomes 3, 1600-019 Lisboa
Youth wingJuventude CDU
Membership60,484 (PCP)
c. 6,000 (PEV)
IdeologyCommunism[1]
Eco-socialism[1]
Political positionLeft-wing to far-left
European Parliament groupEuropean United Left–Nordic Green Left (PCP)
Greens–European Free Alliance (PEV)
ColoursRed, Green, Blue, White
Member partiesPCP
PEV
ID
Assembly of the Republic
12 / 230
European Parliament
3 / 21
Regional Parliaments
3 / 104
Local
Government
171 / 2,074
Website
www.cdu.pt

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 17 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 Greens 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.

The coalition supported the minority Socialist Costa Government (2015–2019) with a confidence and supply agreement.

Symbol
Old symbol of CDU

The present symbol of CDU shows the PCP's symbol and the PEV's symbol, a 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

Assembly of the Republic
CDU sticker: Schedule and alert your friends: on 13 June (1999), Vote CDU to the European Parliament
CDU results in the local election of 2005. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
Election year # of overall
votes		 % of overall
vote		 # of overall
seats won		 +/- Notes
1987 685,109 12.2 (#3)
31 / 250
1991 501,840 8.8 (#3)
17 / 230
 14
1995 504,007 8.6 (#4)
15 / 230
 2
1999 483,716 9.0 (#3)
17 / 230
 2
2002 379,870 6.9 (#4)
12 / 230
 5
2005 433,369 7.5 (#3)
14 / 230
 2
2009 446,174 7.9 (#5)
15 / 230
 1
2011 440,850 7.9 (#4)
16 / 230
 1
2015 445,901 8.3 (#4)
17 / 230
 1
2019 332,018 6.3 (#4)
12 / 230
 5

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)

Note:

  • In 1991 the overall number of MPs changed from the original 250 to 230.

Local elections
Election year # of overall
votes		 % of overall
vote		 # of overall
councillors won		 +/- # of overall
mayors elected		 +/- Notes
1989 633,682 12.8 (#3)
253 / 1,997
50 / 305
1993 689,928 12.8 (#3)
246 / 2,015
 7
49 / 305
 1
1997 643,956 12.0 (#3)
236 / 2,021
 10
41 / 305
 8
2001 557,481 10.6 (#3)
202 / 2,044
 34
28 / 308
 13
2005 590,598 11.0 (#3)
203 / 2,046
 1
32 / 308
 4
2009 537,329 9.7 (#3)
174 / 2,078
 29
28 / 308
 4
2013 552,506 11.1 (#3)
213 / 2,086
 39
34 / 308
 6
2017 489,189 9.5 (#3)
171 / 2,074
 42
24 / 308
 10

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)

European Parliament
Election year # of overall
votes		 % of overall
vote		 # of overall
seats won		 +/- Notes
1987 646,640 11.50 (#4)
3 / 24
1989 594,961 14.41 (#3)
4 / 24
 1
1994 339,283 11.19 (#4)
3 / 25
 1
1999 357,575 10.32 (#3)
2 / 25
 1
2004 309,406 9.09 (#3)
2 / 24
 0
2009 379,787 10.64 (#4)
2 / 22
 0
2014 416,925 12.69 (#3)
3 / 21
 1
2019 228,156 6.88 (#4)
2 / 21
 1

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)

References
  1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Portugal". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  2. "Elections for the National Parliament, 4th October 2015". 28 September 2015.
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