Electoral behaviour in Lisbon (1878- 1910)

Abstract

The elections of the monarchic constitutionalism have not yet been studied in a systematic and global way; thus they are a relatively unexplored subject. The present article belongs to a broader theme to be developed on the monarchic elections and is focused only on the elections in Lisbon (since 1878 till 1910), an urban centre of unique political importance. The temporal limits of this research were established according to two reasons: on one side, to study those elections from the time when republicans presented themselves as an organized force (1878); on the other side, to analyse the impact of the electoral law of the 8^th March 1878 on the evolution of the electorate. The evolution of party votes gives two essential indications: a) the vote distribution between the rotative parties changes in general according to their position, in government or in the opposition; b) the Republican Party, having a large nucleus of electors more defined sociologically, lives two phases of expansion: in the beginning of the 1890-1899 period and, mainly, after 1905.