Commission launches online exhibition on first presidential in democracy

“ ANDamong the various messages to be highlighted in the dossier, I would say that the 1976 presidential elections were much more than the mere choice of a President. They were a decisive moment in defining the direction of Portuguese democracy and its institutional consolidation,” said the Executive Commissioner for the 50th anniversary of April 25, Maria Inácia Rezola, in statements to the Lusa agency.

The online exhibition offers texts, archive documentation, photographs, propaganda material, press of the time and audiovisual records that will allow “to know better” the history of the first presidential post April 25, highlighted Maria Inácia Rezola.

The first presidential elections of Portuguese democracy took place two years after the Carnation Revolution, already with the first democratic constitution approved. In mid-summer, many Portuguese took advantage to go to the beach. However, as RTP reported at the time, this did not prevent strong electoral participation, which ran 75%.

General António Ramalho Eanes was elected by a large margin, with 61.59% of the votes, but there was “an intense campaign”, as described in the exhibition, in a country that was still learning to live in democracy.

In the exhibition, divided by chapters, the pre-candidature period is reported, with “months of negotiation and uncertainty”, and also the campaign that followed, which recorded confrontations and incidents, sometimes violent.

One of the episodes presented is the “unexpected shock” of June 23, when Pinheiro de Azevedo was hospitalized following a heart attack, which led to a moderation of the tone of the campaign. Another of the most striking moments of this period was when Ramalho Eanes' caravan was shot, but the general, contrary to security advice, stood in a convertible car, challenging those who wanted to disperse his supporters.

There were four candidates who voted: Ramalho Eanes, supported by PS, PPD and CDS, central figure of the military operation of November 25, subscriber of the Document of the Nine, which became the candidate for “democratic stability”.

Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, the main responsible for the operational coordination of the Carnation revolution, supported by various parties and movements of the revolutionary left, such as the Socialist Left Movement (MES), the People's Democratic Union (UDP), the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat (PRP), the People's Socialist Front (FSP) and others, was in second place, with 16.46% of the votes.

José Pinheiro de Azevedo, “the Admiral without fear”, who was Prime Minister of the last Provisional Government in the period after 25 April 1974, obtained 14.37% of the votes; and Octavio Pato, supported by the PCP, who obtained 7.59%.

If the victory at the first round of Eanes was not a surprise, because it was supported by the biggest parties, it was not the second place of Othello, who was ahead of the candidate supported by the CFP.

Maria Inácia Rezola states that the Presidentials of 1976 are “a moment less known to the general public, much less than April 25 or that the elections to the Constituent Assembly”. However, it was an election “absolutely decisive to understand what institutionalization was and then the consolidation of the new democratic regime and how the Portuguese chose the first President of the Republic within the framework of the new Constitution”.

The objective of the exhibition, highlighted the historian, “is not only to tell who won the elections” but also to “reconstitute the political environment of the time”.

Maria Inácia Rezola said that the availability of these materials online allows a greater number of people to access these contents, compared to physical events held in large urban centers, but also facilitates the work of teachers and students.

“ I think it is an appealing way, without being simplistic, of bringing complex content to wider publics”, he stressed.

The exhibition is available at: 50 years25abril.pt/history/first-elects-presidential-of-Portuguese democracy/