The Unitary Democratic Coalition (, CDU) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party () and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (Portuguese: Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" or PEV). The coalition also integrates the political movement Democratic Intervention ().

The coalition was formed in 1987 in order to run to the simultaneous legislative election and European Parliament election that were held on July 19 of that year. It achieved its best result in the 1987 elections both nationally and locally. From 1991 until 2019, the party consistently won between six and ten percent of the national vote in elections to the Assembly of the Republic until 2022 and 2024, in which the coalition dropped below 5% nationally for the first time. The coalition supported the minority Socialist Costa Government from 2015 until 2019 with a confidence and supply agreement.

History Since the beginning of the coalition, the member parties have never participated separately in any election. The Communist Party is the major force of the coalition and has the majority of places in the electoral lists while the Greens are a smaller party. For example, the Greens were responsible for 2 members of parliament among the 17 elected by the coalition in the 2015 legislative election. Each party has its own parliamentary group and counts as a separate party in official issues.

Along with the Left Bloc, the coalition supported the minority Socialist Costa Government from 2015 until 2019 under a confidence and supply agreement. This was known as the "Geringonça" (Contraption) deal, a setup that Prime minister António Costa decided to end following the 2019 elections.

In the 2022 election, the CDU won six seats while the Greens achieved zero seats. In the 2024 election, the CDU won four seats and the Greens zero, with the coalition achieving just 3.3 percent of the votes. In 2024, the coalition lost their historic seat in the Beja district and for the first time lost all MPs in the Alentejo region.

Symbol 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.

Election results

Assembly of the Republic

Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/- Government 1987Álvaro Cunhal 689,137 12.1 (#3) 7 1991 504,583 8.8 (#3) 14 1995Carlos Carvalhas 506,157 8.6 (#4) 2 1999 487,058 9.0 (#3) 2 2002 379,870 6.9 (#4) 5 2005Jerónimo de Sousa 433,369 7.5 (#3) 2 2009 446,279 7.9 (#5) 1 2011 441,147 7.9 (#4) 1 2015 445,901 8.3 (#4)1 2019 332,018 6.3 (#4) 5 2022 238,920 4.3 (#5) 6 2024Paulo Raimundo 205,551 3.2 (#6) 2 2025 183,686 2.9 (#6) 1

Presidential Election Candidate Votes % Result 1991Carlos Carvalhas 635,867 12.9 (#3) 1996Jerónimo de SousaWithdrew 2001António Simões de Abreu 221,886 5.1 (#3) 2006Jerónimo de Sousa 466,428 8.6 (#4) 2011Francisco Lopes 300,921 7.1 (#4) 2016Edgar Silva 183,051 3.9 (#5) 2021João Ferreira 180,518 4.3 (#4)2026António Filipe92,6441.6 (#7)

European Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group 1987 Ângelo Veloso 648,700 11.5 (#4) COM 1989 Carlos Carvalhas 597,759 14.4 (#3) 1EUL / G 1994Luis Sá 340,725 11.2 (#4) 1 GUE/NGL 1999 Ilda Figueiredo 357,671 10.3 (#3) 1 2004 309,401 9.1 (#3) 0 2009 379,787 10.6 (#4) 0 2014 João Ferreira 416,925 12.7 (#3) 1 2019 228,045 6.9 (#4) 1 The Left 2024João Oliveira 162,630 4.1 (#6) 1

Regional Assemblies Region Election Leader Votes % Seats +/- GovernmentAzores2024Marco Varela1,8231.6 (#7)0 Madeira 2025Edgar Silva 2,543 1.8 (#7) 0

Local elections Election Leader Votes % Councillors +/- Mayors +/- 1989Álvaro Cunhal 633,682 12.8 (#3) 1993Carlos Carvalhas 689,928 12.8 (#3) 7 1 1997 643,956 12.0 (#3) 10 8 2001 557,481 10.6 (#3) 34 13 2005Jerónimo de Sousa 590,598 11.0 (#3) 1 4 2009 537,329 9.7 (#3) 29 4 2013 552,506 11.1 (#3) 39 6 2017 489,189 9.5 (#3) 42 10 2021 410,666 8.2 (#3) 23 5 2025Paulo Raimundo 316,273 5.7 (#4) 55 7

Notes

References

External links CDU Official Site Portuguese Communist Party Official Site "The Greens" Official Site