On this day, a hundred years ago, on 8 November 1925, Portugal held its last democratic parliamentary elections of the First Republic, before the military coup in May 1926. The First Republic, which existed from 1910 to 1926, was marked by deep instability, with 45 governments and eight presidents over 16 years.
In the 1925 election, the Portuguese Republican Party, also known as the Democratic Party, secured 83 of 163 parliamentary seats, enough for a simple majority. Regardless of the narrow victory, the party’s authority was weak and fiercely contested. The elections unfolded amid corruption scandals and political turmoil, as the PRP, Portugal’s most popular party, faced internal divisions and growing fragmentation.
In the following months, continued infighting within the PRP and the lack of stability in parliament created a fertile ground for the coup d’état. The armed forces, already alienated by the PRP’s wartime policies, namely the decision to intervene in the First World War, saw widespread support for the military takeover among officers and loyal army units. Ultimately, on 28 May 1926, the military seized power, inaugurating the period of Ditadura Nacional, which soon evolved into the Estado Novo authoritarian regime.