Compliance with electoral programmes in Portugal

Trends, policy reforms, and the role of veto players (1995-2019)

Abstract

To what extent Portuguese parties fulfil their electoral pledges? And does this fulfilment imply short or long-term reforms? More: to what extent do veto players constrain the fulfilment of government mandates? This article focuses on these questions, analysing seven legislatures, from 1995 to 2919 and a total of 6367 pledges. The results show that the rate of fulfilment is consistently high, that short-term pledges, albeit the majority, hold a fulfilment rate equal to those of long-term, and that veto players can significatively constrain the executive’s capacity to carry out its mandate.