The proposal for an electoral system change, previously presented by the liberal party, returns after the legislative elections, which the Iniciativa Liberal (IL) describes as another instance of injustice in the Portuguese electoral system.
The IL argues in its rationale for the proposal that the “Portuguese electoral system needs to change” to “ensure the most proportional representation possible between the country and the parliament,” addressing a system that has created a “representative gap between the interior and the coast” and has promoted “tactical voting.”
IL believes that the current electoral model creates an impression that some votes are more valuable than others because it does not fully respect the proportionality needs of the system. This situation compels voters in smaller constituencies to “opt for the lesser evil among the major political forces, risking not electing any deputy otherwise.”
The phenomenon of ‘tactical voting,’ typical of single-member systems without compensatory circles, as seen in the United Kingdom and the United States, manifests in Portugal, encouraging many voters to deviate from their first-choice candidates, contrary to the principles of proportional representation, IL asserts.
IL emphasizes that the Portuguese Constitution already allows for introducing a compensatory circle and that there is room to adapt the Portuguese system to changes throughout democracy without diminishing the constituent vision or compromising proportional representation.
Under the liberals’ proposed model, voters would continue to vote in their district, but the “final allocation of seats in the Assembly of the Republic would have a result approximately proportional to the national vote,” with candidates from districts elected first, followed by those from the compensatory circle.
The party explains that selecting 30 deputies as the appropriate number for this circle results from several simulations with elections over the century, concluding that this number ensures proportionality in electoral moments.
“It is necessary to implement measures that withstand different parliamentary and electoral configurations, ensuring continuous and reliable representation,” they stress.
A study shows that about 1.2 million votes in the last legislative elections were “wasted,” failing to elect any deputies, corresponding to 20.4% of the total, particularly disadvantaging interior territories.
In May 2024, motions by Iniciativa Liberal, Livre, and Bloco de Esquerda to create a compensation electoral circle for Assembly elections were directly sent to a specialized committee without a general vote.
However, during the plenary debate preceding the vote, the three projects faced criticism from PS, PSD, and Chega, with additional comments from PCP.
