PORTUGUESE NATIONAL ELECTIONS ON 12 NOVEMBER 1961

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79S00427A000500020019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 23, 2004
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: October 10, 1961
• Content Type: IM

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
10 October 1961
OCI No.
0181
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: Portuguese National Elections on 12 Novem-
ber 1961
1. Offices to be filled: All 130 seats in the
National Assembly. Ten seats have been added since
the last election to give increased representation
to the "overseas provinces."
2. Background: Under the Salazar dictatorship,
elections are little more than a formality. Although
its legislative powers are guaranteed by the Portu-
guese constitution and on occasion its members
engaged in heated debate, the assembly is controlled
by Salazar and functions almost entirely as a "rub-
ber stamp." During the seven or eight months of the
year when the assembly is not in session, the gov-
ernment legislates by decree.
A wide variety of controls ensures a contin-
ued monopoly of seats by the regime. These controls
include the withholding of the lists of registered
voters from the opposition until a day or two before
elections, restrictions on public opposition meet-
ings, imprisonment of candidates, and, invalidation
of opposition lists.
During the 30-day period before elections,
oppositionists are granted some latitude in express-
ing their views and promoting their candidates.
Most opposition candidates usually withdraw the last
few days before the vote, however, charging that
government control over the electoral.-process makes
their position intolerable.
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3. Parties participating: The National Union,is
the only polit al movement allowed to operate free-
ly. Salazar has held the positions of President
and chairman of the central, committee since he or-
ganized the party in 1930; it adheres completely
to his conservative, corporative, and authoritarian
policies.
Although they are legally prevented from
forming parties, Socialists, Republicans, Christian
Democrats, and Monarchists are represented in a
loose grouping called the "moderate opposition'."
Most are professional people with little political
experience. They are expected to present lists in
Lisbon and Oporto and in three or four other of
Portugal'? 30 electoral districts.
There have been indications that lists may
be filed by "independent" Monarchists and by a Com-
munist-front group, the Junta Patriotica, but it
seems unlikely that the government will consider them
acceptable.
25X1
4. Present party strengths: In the last elec-
tion for deputies--in ovem er 957--the National
Union won all 120 seats. In Braga, the only district
where its candidates were still running on election
day, the opposition won some 5,000 of the 60,000 votes
cast. In the 1958 presidential election, the opposi-
tion polled about 25 percent of the vote and would
have secured a considerably larger percentage in a
free election.
5. Principal issues: The National Union may
be expect~ed to cite t e regime's record of economic
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stability and call for national unity in the face of
current difficulties in Africa and in'the UN. The
opposition, according to a program outlined last May,
wants to _"restore democratic liberties," including
the abolition of press censorship and of the state
security police. It asks amnesty for political
prisoners, the right to form political parties, elec-
toral reforms, and an end to the state corporative
system.
6. Significance for the US: Since the govern-
ment's continued control of the assembly is a fore-
gone conclusion, the elections will have no effect
on Portuguese policies affecting NATO or US base
rights in the Azores. They may, however, give some
limited indication--through opposition campaigning
and possibly even afew:opposition victories--of the
regime's popular standing. 25X1
HUNTINGTON D. SHELDON
Assistant Director
Current Intelligence
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