Citizenship and Christian Democracy

The Citizenship and Christian Democracy (Portuguese: Cidadania e Democracia Cristã, PPV/CDC) was a Portuguese minor right-wing political party, with an ideological foundation of anti-abortion, conservatism and the Christian right. PPV was approved by the Constitutional Court on 1 July 2009[1] and defends the principles of the social doctrine of the Church.[2]

Citizenship and Christian Democracy Cidadania e Democracia Cristã
Leader	Joana Câmara Pereira
Founded	1 July 2009
Dissolved	September 2020
Headquarters	Rua 24 de Junho, n.º 1497 4800-076 Guimarães
Ideology	Conservatism Social conservatism Christian right Catholic social teaching Confessionalism of the state Right-wing populism Euroscepticism
Political position	Right-wing
National affiliation	Basta!
Colours	Navy blue
Assembly of the Republic	0 / 230
European Parliament	0 / 21
Regional Parliaments	0 / 104
Local government	0 / 2,078
Website
Official Portugal pro Vida blog
Politics of Portugal Political parties Elections

Composed by people from all political persuasions, although mostly from the conservative right, the Portugal Pro-Life presented its programme of policy proposals around the unconditional defense of life, understanding the concept of life and the various principles inherent to it as advocates Catholic Church doctrine, and Roman Catholicism as a state religion. In 27 August 2020, it was announced that the party would officially merge with Chega, after running together in the legislative and European elections of 2019.[3]

History

The party was born after the 2007 Portuguese abortion referendum, aiming to be a platform for the anti-abortion movement.[4] It was founded in 2009 with the name Partido Portugal Pró-Vida (Portugal Pro-Life Party), PPV.[4] Its first leader was Luís Botelho Ribeiro.[4]

In 2009, the PPV/CDC advocated the repeal of the abortion law and of the then recent amendments to the law of divorce, the prohibition of euthanasia, the revision of standards on sex education in schools so that parents have an active voice, the opposition to same-sex marriage, no age limit for voting (see youth suffrage), and that taxpayers should be able to determine how their taxes are spent.[2]

In 2014, in the context of the European elections, the party (with its main candidate, Acácio Valente) held a demonstration in front of the Clínica dos Arcos clinic in Lisbon, a private clinic licensed to conduct abortions.[5][6] The candidate was also part of a debate in the Universidade da Beira Interior.[7]

Sérgio Cales was the party's main candidate during the 2015 legislative election.[4] In 2015, Manuel Matias became the party's leader.[8] In the same year, the party changed its designation to Partido Cidadania e Democracia Cristã and its initials to CDC-PPV.[9]

In 2019, the party was part of a coalition for the 2019 European Parliament election, Basta!, along with Chega, the People's Monarchist Party and a movement called Democracy 21.[10] The party justified its participation in the coalition as an attempt to "save Portugal from cultural Marxism".[11] Later that year, the party made a broad agreement with Chega, which included PPV/CDC members in its lists.[8] PPV/CDC's current leader, Manuel Matias, ran as the head of Chega's list for Braga.[8]

Election results

Assembly of the Republic

Election	Assembly of the Republic			Government	Size	Leader
	Votes	%	Seats won
2009	8,461	0.15%	0 / 230	No seats	13th	Luís Botelho Ribeiro
2011	8,209	0.15%	0 / 230	No seats	14th	Luís Botelho Ribeiro
2015	2,685	0.05%	0 / 230	No seats	19th	Joana Câmara Pereira
2019 within Chega	67,502	1.29%	1 / 230	No seats[lower-alpha 1]	7th	André Ventura

European Parliament

Election	European Parliament			Size	Leader
	Votes	%	Seats won
2014	12,008	0.37%	0 / 21	14th	Acácio Valente
2019 Basta! coalition	49,496	1.49%	0 / 21	9th	André Ventura

See also

• Christian Democratic Party (1975 - 2004)
• Catholic Centre Party (1915 - 1940)

Notes

1. None of the CDC/PPV members within Chega lists were elected, the only person elected was Chega's own leader (opposition).

References

1. "TC > Jurisprudência > Acordãos > Acórdão 327/2009 ". www.tribunalconstitucional.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
2. "Dez à procura de um deputado - PUBLICO.PT". web.archive.org. 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
3. "Partido Pró-Vida vai fundir-se com o Chega". Jornal Expresso (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-11-14.
4. "Cidadania e Democracia Cristã: Valores cristãos para uma sociedade menos desigual - DN". www.dn.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
5. "Partido Pro Vida manifesta-se à porta da Clínica dos Arcos". www.cm-tv.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
6. "SIC Notícias | Partido Pró-Vida apela a novo referendo sobre aborto". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
7. Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de. "Cabeça de lista do Partido Pró Vida em campanha pela Beira Interior". Cabeça de lista do Partido Pró Vida em campanha pela Beira Interior (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
8. Redação (2019-08-05). "Eleições: Chega já tem cabeça de lista por Braga". O Minho (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
9. "TC > Jurisprudência > Acordãos > Acórdão 386/2015 ". www.tribunalconstitucional.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
10. Redação (2019-04-13). "Europeias: TC aceita coligação Basta, que será encabeçada por André Ventura". O Minho (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.
11. Martins, Ruben. "Partido Cidadania e Democracia Cristã junta-se ao Chega para "salvar Portugal do marxismo cultural"". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-08-23.