At Stake in this Election:       

• All 230 seats of the Assembly of the Republic

Government Structure:

• Chief of State: President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (since 9 March 2016)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister António Costa (since 26 November 2015)
• Assembly: Portugal has a unicameral Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República) with 230 seats.

Electoral System:

• In the Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República), 226 members are directly elected by closed-list proportional representation in 20 multi-member constituencies. A further four members are elected in 2 constituencies representing Portuguese living abroad in Europe and the rest of the world. These members are elected by proportional representation.[1] Seats are allocated using the d’Hondt Method.

Main Parties in this Election:

• Party:  Social Democratic Party* / Partido Social Democrata (PPD/PSD)
  • Leader: Rui RIO
  • Seats won in last election: 89
• Party:  CDS – People's Party* / Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular (CDS-PP)
  • Leader: Assunção CRISTAS
  • Seats won in last election: 18
• Party:  Socialist Party / Partido Socialista (PS)
  • Leader: António COSTA
  • Seats won in last election: 86
• Party:  Left Bloc / Bloco de Esquerda (BE)
  • Leader: Catarina MARTINS
  • Seats won in last election: 19
• Party:  Portuguese Communist Party / Partido Comunista Português (PCP)
  • Leader: Jerónimo de SOUSA
  • Seats won in last election: 15
• Party:  Ecologist Party "The Greens" / Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" (PEV)
  • Leader: Heloísa APOLÓNIA
  • Seats won in last election: 2
• Party:    People-Animals-Nature / Pessoas-Animais-Natureza (PAN)
  • Leader: André Lourenço e SILVA
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Independent
  • Seats won in last election: 1 (Paulo Trigo PEREIRA, left the PS caucus[2])

* The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested the 2015 election in a coalition called Portugal Ahead (PàF) and won a combined 38.6% of the vote and elected 107 MP's to parliament.

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 10,355,493 (July 2018 est.)[3]
• Registered Voters: 9,344,479[4]    

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 5,444,053 0(July 2018 est.)[5]
• Is Portugal a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (since 24 April 1980)
• Has Portugal ratified CEDAW: Yes (since 30 July 1980)
• Gender Quota: Yes, candidate lists must include at least 33% representation for each gender[6].
• Female Candidates in this election: N/A
• Number of Female Legislators: 82 (36%)[7]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position[8]: 41
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very low, 11.2%[9]

Disability Data:

• Is Portugal a signatory to CRPD: Yes (since 30 March 2007)
• Has Portugal ratified CRPD: Yes (since 23 September 2009)
• Population with a disability: 1,623,796[10] (according to World Health Organization’s 15% estimate)