Unitary Democratic Coalition

Unitary Democratic Coalition Coligação Democrática Unitária

Abbreviation	PCP-PEV or CDU
Leader	Jerónimo de Sousa
Founded	1987
Preceded by	United People Alliance
Headquarters	Rua Soeiro Pereira Gomes, 3 Lisbon
Youth wing	Juventude CDU
Membership	60,484 (PCP) ca. 6,000 (PEV)
Ideology	Communism, Eco-socialism
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens", Democratic Intervention
Colours	Red
Assembly of the Republic	17 / 230
European Parliament	3 / 21
Regional Parliaments	3 / 104
Local Government	213 / 2,086
Website
www.cdu.pt
Politics of Portugal Political parties Elections

The Unitary Democratic Coalition^[1] (Portuguese: Coligação Democrática Unitária or CDU) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (Portuguese: Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (Portuguese: Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" or PEV). The coalition also integrates the political movement Democratic Intervention (Portuguese: Intervenção Democrática or ID).

The coalition was formed for the first time in 1987 in order to run to the simultaneous legislative election and European Parliament election that were held on July 19 of that year.

Since the beginning of the coalition, the member parties have never participated separately in any election. The Communist Party is the major force inside it and has the majority of places in the electoral lists, however, the Greens also have an important presence and elected 2 members of parliament among the 17 elected by the coalition in the last legislative election. Each party has its own parliamentary group and counts as a separate party in official issues.

At a local level, the coalition usually presents lists in almost every municipality and both Communists and Greens may occupy first place on the lists. As the Greens have a smaller structure, the offices of the Communist Party are used as offices of the coalition.

Symbol

Old symbol of CDU

The present symbol of CDU shows the PCP's symbol and the PEV's symbol, a hammer and sickle and a sunflower, respectively, with the respective names below. That symbol replaced a former one that featured three hexagons with the inscription: CDU and was often used with a beehive. That was sometimes said to mean that CDU worked just like a bee (collectively and every day) and the hexagons were meant to represent the cell-based Leninist organization of the PCP.

Youth organization

The coalition has a youth wing, called Juventude CDU, that develops political work in youth related subjects, along with youth-oriented activities, mainly during the electoral campaigns. The Juventude CDU is mainly composed by members of the youth wings of the parties that compose the CDU, the Portuguese Communist Youth and the Ecolojovem.

Electoral results achieved by CDU

Assembly of the Republic

CDU sticker: Schedule and alert your friends: on 13 June, Vote CDU to the European Parliament

CDU results in the local election of 2005. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-
1987	685,109	12.2 (#3)	31 / 250
1991	501,840	8.8 (#3)	17 / 230	14
1995	504,007	8.6 (#4)	15 / 230	2
1999	483,716	9.0 (#3)	17 / 230	2
2002	379,870	6.9 (#4)	12 / 230	5
2005	433,369	7.5 (#3)	14 / 230	2
2009	446,174	7.9 (#5)	15 / 230	1
2011	440,850	7.9 (#4)	16 / 230	1
2015	445,901	8.3 (#4)	17 / 230	1

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)

Note:

In 1991 the overall number of MPs changed from the original 250 to 230.

Local elections

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall councillors won	+/-	# of overall mayors elected	+/-
1989	633,682	12.8 (#3)	253 / 1,997		50 / 305
1993	689,928	12.8 (#3)	246 / 2,015	7	49 / 305	1
1997	643,956	12.0 (#3)	236 / 2,021	10	41 / 305	8
2001	557,481	10.6 (#3)	202 / 2,044	34	28 / 308	13
2005	590,598	11.0 (#3)	203 / 2,046	1	32 / 308	4
2009	537,329	9.7 (#3)	174 / 2,078	29	28 / 308	4
2013	552,506	11.1 (#3)	213 / 2,086	39	34 / 308	6

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-
1987	646,640	11.50 (#4)	3 / 24
1989	594,961	14.41 (#3)	4 / 24	1
1994	339,283	11.19 (#4)	3 / 25	1
1999	357,575	10.32 (#3)	2 / 25	1
2004	309,406	9.09 (#3)	2 / 24	0
2009	379,787	10.64 (#4)	2 / 22	0
2014	416,925	12.69 (#3)	3 / 21	1

(source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)

References

↑ "Elections for the National Parliament, 4th October 2015". 28 September 2015.

External links

Political parties in Portugal

Parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic (230)	Social Democratic Party (89) Socialist Party (86) Left Bloc (19) CDS – People's Party (18) Unitary Democratic Coalition (17: Portuguese Communist Party, 15 — Ecologist Party "The Greens", 2) People–Animals–Nature (1)

Legislative Assembly of the Azores Autonomous Region (57)	Socialist Party (31) Social Democratic Party (20) CDS – People's Party (3) Left Bloc (1) Unitary Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party — Ecologist Party "The Greens") (1) People's Monarchist Party (1)

Legislative Assembly of the Madeira Autonomous Region (47)	Social Democratic Party (24) CDS – People's Party (7) Change Coalition (Socialist Party — Portuguese Labour Party — People–Animals–Nature – Earth Party) (6) Together for the People (5) Unitary Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party — Ecologist Party "The Greens") (2) Left Bloc (2) Independent (elected for the, now extinct, New Democracy Party) (1)

European Parliament (21)	Socialist Party (8) Social Democratic Party (6) Unitary Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party — Ecologist Party "The Greens") (3) Democratic Republican Party (1) Earth Party (1) CDS – People's Party (1) Left Bloc (1)

Non-parliamentary parties	Portuguese Workers' Communist Party LIVRE/Tempo de Avançar National Renovator Party Socialist Alternative Movement We, the Citizens! United Party of Retirees and Pensioners Christian Democratic and Citizenship Party Liberal Democratic Party Workers Party of Socialist Unity

Portal:Politics List of political parties Politics of Portugal

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