Political parties, civic movements and referenda in Portugal: an analysis of the abortion and regionalization referendums, 1998

Abstract

According to numerous recent cross-national studies, citizens of both well established and the newer democracies continue to share a strong commitment to the ideals of representative democracy. Paradoxically, these same citizens are increasingly «critical» of and «dissatisfied» with the performance of their political institutions. One response has been to call for the «reinvention of government», namely through the use of referendums and ballot initiatives.

Our paper explores what happens when the national referendum was introduced in democratic Portugal in 1998, namely in terms of the electoral campaign and voting behavior. The main goals are to explain both abstention and vote choice in the 1998 Portuguese referendums, analyzing the role of political parties and civic movements in both phenomena.