The political-party system during the Portuguese First Republic (1910-1926)

di Manuel Baioa
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 47 (2014), p. 115

The Portuguese Republican Party became the dominant party in the political system of the Portuguese First Republic (1910-1926) due to historical, organizational, clientelist, violent and constitutional causes. The opposition felt it could hardly manage alternation via elections therefore resorted to violent and unconstitutional practices to reach the government. The Portuguese political parties modernized themselves in this period, but didn’t turn into mass parties. In major cities they acted as cadre party and in the rural area as a party of notables. During the First Republic they did not take consistent steps to democratize the political system. Portugal remained tied to the liberal and elitist tradition of the nineteenth century, although in a republican and revolutionary version. Keywords: Portugal, Portuguese First Republic, Portuguese Republican Party, Party of notables, Cadre party, Mass party