2004 European Parliament election in Portugal

An election of MEPs representing Portugal for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 13 June 2004. It was part of the wider 2004 European election.

The Socialist Party (PS) was the big winner of the elections, achieving their best result in a European election ever. The party won 44.5 percent of the votes, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, and held on to the 12 seats won in 1999. However the Socialist victory, and the campaign overall, was overshadowed by the sudden death of the PS top candidate, António Sousa Franco. Sousa Franco died of a heart attack while campaigning in Matosinhos, just four days before election day. António Costa, number 2 on the list, became the Socialists' top candidate after Sousa Franco's death.

The Social Democrats (PSD) and the People's Party (CDS–PP) contested the election in a coalition called "Forward Portugal" (FP). The coalition had a very weak performance, winning just 33 percent of the votes, a big drop compared with the combined total of 39 percent the PSD+CDS had in 1999. The PSD lost two seats, while CDS–PP held on to their two seats.

The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) dropped one point and fell below 10 percent of the votes for the first time. CDU was still able to hold on to the two seats they had won in 1999. The Left Bloc (BE) gained a seat for the EU parliament for the first time, and saw its share of vote increase to almost 5 percent, an increase of more than 3 percentage points compared with 1999.

Turnout dropped compared with 1999, with 38.6 percent of voters casting a ballot.

Electoral system
The voting method used for the election of European members of parliament, is proportional representation using the d'Hondt method, which is known to benefit the largest parties slightly. In the 2004 EU elections, Portugal had 24 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.

Parties and candidates
The major parties that partook in the election, and their EP list leaders, were:


 * Left Bloc (BE), Miguel Portas
 * Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), Ilda Figueiredo
 * Socialist Party (PS), António Costa
 * Social Democratic Party (PSD)/People's Party (CDS–PP) Força Portugal, João de Deus Pinheiro

National summary of votes and seats
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" colspan=2 |National party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" |European party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" |Main candidate ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |+/– ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |+/– ! 12 • Social Democratic Party (PSD) • People's Party (CDS–PP) ! 9 7 2 2 0  • Communist Party (PCP) • Ecologist Party (PEV) ! 2 2 0 0 0  ! 1 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|24
 * - style="text-align:right;"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * style="text-align:left;" | Socialist Party (PS)
 * style="text-align:left;" | PES
 * style="text-align:left;" | António Costa
 * 1,516,001
 * 44.52
 * 1.45
 * 0
 * - style="text-align:right;"
 * style="background-color: #00aaaa" width=5px|
 * style="text-align:left;" | Forward Portugal (FP)
 * style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | EPP
 * style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | João de Deus Pinheiro
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |1,132,769
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |33.27
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |
 * - style="text-align:right;"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * style="text-align:left;" | Democratic Unitarian Coalition (CDU)
 * style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | GUE/NGL
 * style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" | Ilda Figueiredo
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |309,401
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |9.09
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |1.23
 * - style="text-align:right;"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * style="text-align:left;" | Left Bloc (BE)
 * style="text-align:left;" | EACL
 * style="text-align:left;" | Miguel Portas
 * 167,313
 * 4.91
 * 3.12
 * 1
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * style="text-align:left;" | Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP)
 * style="text-align:left;" | None
 * style="text-align:left;" | António Garcia Pereira
 * 36,294
 * 1.07
 * 0.19
 * 0
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| New Democracy Party (PND)
 * align="left"| None
 * align="left"| Manuel Monteiro
 * 33,833
 * 0.99
 * new
 * new
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| People's Monarchist Party (PPM)
 * align="left"| ECPM
 * align="left"| Gonçalo da Câmara Pereira
 * 15,454
 * 0.45
 * 0.02
 * 0
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: yellow" width=5px|
 * align="left"| Movement for the Sick (MD)
 * align="left"| None
 * align="left"| Vitorino Brandão
 * 13,840
 * 0.41
 * new
 * new
 * - style="text-align:right;"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| Earth Party (MPT)
 * align="left"| ALDE
 * align="left"| Luís Filipe Marques
 * 13,671
 * 0.40
 * 0.00
 * 0
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| Humanist Party (PH)
 * align="left"| None
 * align="left"| -
 * 13,272
 * 0.39
 * new
 * new
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| National Renovator Party (P.N.R.)
 * align="left"| None
 * align="left"| Paulo Rodrigues
 * 8,405
 * 0.25
 * new
 * new
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| Democratic Party of the Atlantic (PDA)
 * align="left"| None
 * align="left"| José Soares
 * 5,588
 * 0.16
 * 0.01
 * 0
 * - align="right"
 * style="background-color: " width=5px|
 * align="left"| Workers Party of Socialist Unity (POUS)
 * align="left"| None
 * align="left"| Carmelinda Pereira
 * 4,275
 * 0.13
 * 0.03
 * 0
 * - align="right"
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" | Valid votes
 * 3,270,116
 * 96.04
 * colspan="3" rowspan="2" |
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" | Blank and invalid votes
 * 134,666
 * 3.96
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" | Totals
 * 3,404,782
 * 100.00
 * 1 
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * colspan="4" | Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout
 * 8,821,456
 * 38.60
 * 1.33
 * colspan="2"|
 * style="text-align:left;" colspan="11" | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
 * }
 * }
 * }