ECPR Joint Sessions April Nicosia, Cyprus. Workshop 3. Local Political Leadership in a Changing Environment

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1 ECPR Joint Sessions April 2006 Nicosia, Cyprus Workshop 3. Local Political Leadership in a Changing Environment Directors: Henry BÄCK, Kristof STEYVERS. Title: Local elites and the Portuguese revolution: recruitment of mayors before and after Maria Antónia Pires de Almeida CIES Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, ( ISCTE Higher Institute of Social Sciences and Business Studies, Lisbon, Portugal ( Address: Ma.almeida@iscte.pt 1. Goals Who is in charge of local politics in Portugal? Which social and professional groups directed city and village councils before and after the carnation revolution in Portugal? What was their evolution and behaviour for the second half of the twentieth century, during the final years of the Estado Novo and the political transition provided by the Revolution of April 25 th, 1974? To answer these apparently simple questions there is a long work to be done, which includes the research on local administration sources and the oral memories of the populations. Only recently have these studies been of any interest to historians. Integrating a theme called the Social History of the Administration, some thesis have been produced in Portugal about local elites. Their sources include, among others, local archives, farming records and account books of the most important local families. Rui Santos, concerning the elites of Mértola in the XVIII th century, called them: Lords of the land, lords of the village Rui Santos Senhores da terra, senhores da vila: elites e poderes locais em Mértola no século XVIII, Análise Social, vol. XXVIII (121), 1993, pp

2 Others have studied a few rural villages in the XIX century. Yet, most of the XX th century, and specially its second half, is still unstudied. My masters and doctoral thesis were about local elites of a small rural town in the southern part of Portugal 2. From this point on, I ve expanded these studies to the rest of the country, using a proven methodology. In this paper I intent to present part of the research already accomplished, focusing on the new groups that were appointed to run city councils during the transitional period of , and the first elected mayors from December 1976 onwards, comparing them to the previous group. This is the political group that is most present in people s lives, opposite to members of parliament and ministers, who work, live and act on a level which is unreachable for the common citizen. The knowledge of the individuals who represent the people locally and their sociological and professional characterization as a group which evolved throughout a long period of time and a regime transition is fundamental to the comprehension of the entire Portuguese society. According to Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris, post-materialistic values in the younger generation eroded class based politics 3. Did this happen in Portugal? If it did, when and why did it happen? Was this a consequence of the revolution, or a result of other factors, such as Portugal s integration in the European Union, economic development and social and demographic evolution? Classic theories in Sociology defend total separation between the elites and the people. This was true in Portugal during the Estado Novo regime ( ), particularly if we compare the levels of academic achievements and economic status of the elites with the ones of the rest of the population. After 1974 these theories became obsolete, and the model of plural elites became much more efficient to characterize local political elites in Portugal. There was in fact a radical change in local politics with the 1974 revolution: the persons were replaced and the new people in charge had different backgrounds; nominations were terminated and democratic elections began taking place regularly. Some local reactions were violent, but mostly it was a peaceful process, such as the revolution itself: soldier s guns fired red carnations, instead of bullets. Specially, regional differences were established or accentuated: north versus south, rural interior versus seashore, big cities versus small rural towns, enormous urbanization versus rural desertification. All this was reflected in the elites and will be exposed in this paper, 2 A Reforma Agrária em Avis. Elites e mudança num concelho alentejano ( ) [Agrarian Reform in Avis. Elite and Change in the Alentejo Region ( )], Doctoral dissertation, Lisbon, ISCTE, 2004, soon to be published as: A Revolução no Alentejo. Memória e Trauma da Reforma Agrária em Avis [The Revolution in the Alentejo. Memory and Trauma of the Agrarian Reform in Avis], Lisboa, Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, And Elites Sociais Locais Alentejanas: Continuidade e Mudança. Avis , [Local Social Elites in the Alentejo: Continuity and Change. Avis ], Masters Dissertation, Lisbon, ISCTE, 1997, published as Família e Poder no Alentejo (Elites de Avis: ), Lisboa, Edições Colibri, Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris Rising Tide. Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p

3 integrating the general theme of the workshop: Local political leadership in the changing context of a revolution. 2. Sources, methodology and recruitment criteria For the general population, especially people who live far away from the political capital, mayors represent government in its most visible form. In order to characterize this group of people I ve constructed an elaborate data base with names and dates, completed with a whole series of information (whenever possible) regarding gender, age, length of mandates, school degrees, professional categories, social and family framing, political, professional and geographical curricula (before and after the term of mayor). With this I intend to compare and evaluate time frames, regions and different behaviours 4. This study covers 303 municipalities in Portugal (this was the figure in 1936, now there are 308), inscribed into 18 districts in the continent and four more in the islands of Madeira and Azores 5. Each district has a civil governor and each municipality has a mayor 6. During the Estado Novo regime, mayors were appointed by the government (the minister of the interior), upon proposal of the district s civil governor. The legislation of 1936 specifically refers that they were to be chosen among local economic and social elites, people who possessed social and symbolic capitals 7, preferably with a university degree. They did not receive payment (except for the mayors of Lisbon, Oporto, and other important towns, representing only 8.6 per cent of the municipalities), therefore they had to have their own incomes and pursue their professional careers in parallel. Appointments and exonerations (whether by personal request or not) were published on the government s journal, my major source of information in this phase of the research. Data regarding the districts of Oporto and Portalegre are complete, as are the municipalities of Lisbon, Cascais and Covilhã. These lists will allow me to establish comparisons between urban and seashore elites (Oporto is the second Portuguese city, located North, and it is an important industrial and foreign commerce centre; Cascais is a beachfront town near Lisbon, home of many wealthy families) and the ones of rural and interior municipalities (Portalegre and Covilhã). Other sources to be explored include the press and local registers. Eventually, personal 4 According to Gianfranco Pasquino, the comparative method is essential to political science, The study of political science: methods and goals, in Cristina Montalvão Sarmento e Isabel Cluny (coords.) Ciência Política, in Cultura. Revista de História e Teoria das Ideias, Centro de História da Cultura, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, vol. XVI-XVII, IIª série, 2003, p Municipalities in the continent and 30 in the islands. 6 César Oliveira (dir.) História dos Municípios e do Poder Local (dos finais da Idade Média à União Europeia), Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, Pierre Bourdieu O Poder Simbólico, Lisboa, Difel, 1989, pp

4 visits to each municipality shall be regarded, in order to observe the peoples and their memories, houses, graveyards, statues and local monuments, the names of the streets, and so on. A watchful walk on the streets of a small village may reveal a lot more than could be expected. Names that are exposed generally coincide with the ones that show up on the registers and reveal the importance of the families and their local image. With the April 25 th revolution, all the former regime s political elites were dismissed or exonerated. Law number one, dated the same day of the revolution, dismissed the president of the republic and all the members of the government and the parliament. Civil governors were discharged by decree, also issued the same day. From May 2 nd on, mayors started being exonerated one by one, and administrative commissions were appointed for each municipality. These commissions were supposed be composed of independent personalities or groups and political currents which identify themselves with the Movement of Armed Forces (the authors of the revolution), and should function until the first democratic local elections. In most cases, local citizen comities affiliated to the communist party presented the list of the commission members to the Ministry of Interior and were immediately approved. On 304 existing municipalities in 1974, only two former mayors were appointed presidents of the administrative commissions, a fact which proves the almost complete discontinuation of the local political elites. The commission s lists were also published on the government s journal, and they include academic titles and professions of all its members. Therefore, this is a very complete source for my work, which allows me to analyse each region s interests in changing its representatives or not. For example, in Lisbon, the appointed commission had completely different persons, but all of them with social and professional backgrounds very similar to the former mayors. In Oporto the situation was very similar to Lisbon s. But in Portalegre there was a radical change in the political elite characteristics. There were 464 presidents appointed during this two and a half years period, because there were several replacements. And this was the first time women were appointed to lead municipalities. Although during the former regime there were already some (very few) women as town-council members, there hadn t yet been a single one as mayor. Anyway, there were only 9 women appointed presidents of the administrative commissions, representing 1.9 per cent. And from a total of 2547 members of these commissions, there were 92 women: 3.6 per cent. The first democratic local elections were held on December 12 th After over half a century of mayors being appointed by the central government, from that date on they were elected by the people, mediated by the political parties. On 2001, for the first time, mayors could be elected as independents. Anyway, eligibility criteria were definitely modified: new factors were introduced, such as the direct relation between the candidate s professional and 4

5 social background and the social and demographic characteristics of the region, or the social work done, instead of the social capital possessed. And personal sympathy, a new and very important factor introduced in 1976, contrary to fear and respect, which people generally felt for mayors before These factors are representative of what leads people to reelection. The length of the mandates was three years until 1985 and four years until now. There are five mayors, generally called dinosaurs, which have been re-elected 8 times and are now in their 30 th year as mayor (consecutively). This will no longer be possible for the next election, because a law was passed in 2005 to prevent these situations. Anyway, democratically elected Portuguese mayors stay in office an average 8 years and 58.7 per cent of them have been in office for over five years, which shows a huge longevity of Portuguese mayors. This is certainly longer than mayors used to stay in office during the former regime. Table I: Mayors Years in office Nº % 29 years ("dinosaurs") 5 0,5 20 to ,7 15 to ,1 10 to ,0 5 to ,4 0,25 to ,3 Total ,0 Another difference is the fact that mayors are now paid to do their job, which resulted in a new phenomenon: being a mayor became a profession, sometimes integrated in a larger and more ambitious political career (this is true for important cities, such as Lisbon, were mayors move up be the president of the republic or prime-minister), but most of the times a career in itself. In most cases of longevity, especially in small villages, the mayor had a previous profession and, after he was elected, he remained there until retirement. There were 1109 mayors in Portugal between 1976 and 2005, 31 of them women (2.8 per cent). All people elected must fill a form and send it to a department of the Ministry of the Interior. That is were I gathered most of the data regarding this period. Afterwards, their professional categories were inserted into previously established groups, adapted from the national professional classification: 1. Top managers in public and private enterprises 2. Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions 3. Officers 4. Other military 5. Teachers 6. Managers / Industrialists 7. Landowners 5

6 8. Farmers 9. Shopkeepers 10. Technicians and intermediate professionals 11. Civil servants 12. Priests 13. Clerks and salesmen 14. Bank clerks 15. Farm workers 16. Fishermen 17. Labourers, artisans and machine operators 18. Housewives 19. Students 20. Unemployed 21. Noblemen. This was my starting point to be able to compare and analyse Portuguese mayors and their social evolution in a 69 year period. 3. Estado Novo, There were 78 mayors in the 17 municipalities of the district of Oporto and 102 mayors in the 15 municipalities of Portalegre. Lisbon had 6 mayors, Cascais had another 6 and Covilhã had 7. Their average stay in office is 4.8 years (4.3 years in the Oporto district, 5.1 in the Portalegre district, 5.6 in both Lisbon and Cascais and 4.7 in Covilhã). Both Lisbon and Cascais had mayors with university degrees throughout this entire period and their professional categories were army officers and engineers. After 1974 mayors in these municipalities were equally army officers, engineers and the new professions that were introduced were lawyers, architects and economists (and an accountant in Cascais). On the other hand, Covilhã, a mountain village with an important wool and textile industry, also had army officers, doctors and engineers before 1974, but afterwards there were factory managers, salesmen and technical engineers. In the Oporto district before 1974, mayors had university degrees in 72 per cent of the cases and 76.7 per cent were specialists of intellectual and scientific professions, most of them engineers. There were 10 per cent army officers and 8.3 per cent teachers, most of which were professors of the Oporto University. Table II: Professional groups of Oporto's mayors, Nº % Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions 46 76,7 Officers 6 10,0 Teachers 5 8,3 6

7 Priests 2 3,3 Farmers 1 1,7 Total ,0 Portalegre s mayors were different from the start: only 54.9 per cent had university degrees and 8.8 per cent had technical degrees. Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions were also the majority, but only with 44.3 per cent, most of them medical doctors and lawyers. There were also engineers (but they were specialized in agronomy) and veterinarians. These categories fit well into the characteristics of the region, were agriculture and cattle breeding were the main activities. And 21.6 per cent were land owners (plus 2.1 pr cent farmers), a group that definitely did not exist in urban municipalities. Teachers were 9.3 per cent, but none in the university: 3 of them taught in high school and 6 in elementary school. Table III: Professional groups of Portalegre's mayors, Nº % Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions 43 44,3 Landowners 21 21,6 Teachers 9 9,3 Shopkeepers 5 5,2 Managers / Industrialists 4 4,1 Civil servants 3 3,1 Officers 3 3,1 Priests 3 3,1 Farmers 2 2,1 Other military 2 2,1 Technicians and intermediate professionals 2 2,1 Total ,0 With this we can assert the early difference between northern and southern districts, seashore urban cities and rural interior towns. 4. Transitional period, The 464 presidents of the administrative commissions had university degrees in 49.4 per cent of the cases and 5.2 per cent had technical degrees. If we consider all the members of these commissions, only 26.6 per cent had a university degree and 6.7 per cent had a technical degree. Specialists are still the majority, but with 32.1 per cent of presidents and 7

8 15.6 per cent of the whole group. Most of these specialists were lawyers (43.5 per cent), followed by physicians with 25.9 per cent and engineers with 14.3 per cent. There were 13.4 per cent teachers (most of them elementary school teachers) and 11 per cent shopkeepers. This is a new professional category, such as the civil servants with 8.4 per cent. There is no doubt that during this revolutionary period there was an intentional enlargement of the professional categories of the leaders of the municipalities. Factory and farm workers were appointed presidents, which was something absolutely unheard of before. Table IV: Presidents of administrative commissions, Professional groups Total % Men % Men Women % Women Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions , ,3 2 22,2 Teachers 62 13, ,0 3 33,3 Shopkeepers 51 11, ,2 0 0,0 Civil servants 39 8,4 37 8,1 2 22,2 Clerks and salesmen 33 7,1 33 7,3 0 0,0 Technicians and intermediate professionals 30 6,5 30 6,6 0 0,0 Managers / Industrialists 23 5,0 23 5,1 0 0,0 Landowners 21 4,5 21 4,6 0 0,0 Bank clerks 17 3,7 17 3,7 0 0,0 Officers 12 2,6 12 2,6 0 0,0 Farmers 9 1,9 9 2,0 0 0,0 Labourers, artisans and machine operators 4 0,9 4 0,9 0 0,0 Other military 4 0,9 4 0,9 0 0,0 Priests 4 0,9 4 0,9 0 0,0 Farm workers 2 0,4 2 0,4 0 0,0 Housewives 1 0,2 0 0,0 1 11,1 Unemployed 1 0,2 1 0,2 0 0,0 Others 1 0,2 0 0,0 1 11,1 No mention 1 0,2 1 0,2 0 0,0 Total , , ,0 There were regional differences worth notice: specialists, managers and industrialist were appointed more on the northern part of the country (where industry prevails), whereas the south had more technicians and intermediate professionals. Landowners disappeared from the south, which is directly related to the Agrarian Reform movement. This group dominated the agricultural southern region and was completely overwhelmed by land occupations and workers control for many years. These economic elites definitely stopped being the political elite: with the revolution, the lords of the land were no longer the lords of the village... 8

9 5. Democratic period, In these last 29 years, 44 per cent of the mayors had a university degree and 9 per cent had a technical degree. Specialists are still the majority, but with only 26.2 per cent, a figure which is considerably lower than earlier values. They are followed by teachers, with 18.1 per cent and civil servants with Table V: Mayors Professional group Total % Men % Men Women % Women Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions , ,2 9 29,0 Teachers , ,8 9 29,0 Civil servants , ,2 5 16,1 Technicians and intermediate professionals 95 8,6 92 8,5 3 9,7 Bank clerks 81 7,3 80 7,4 1 3,2 Clerks and salesmen 73 6,6 72 6,7 1 3,2 Managers / Industrialists 65 5,9 65 6,0 0 0,0 No mention 40 3,6 40 3,7 0 0,0 Shopkeepers 34 3,1 34 3,2 0 0,0 Top managers in public and private enterprises 25 2,3 23 2,1 2 6,5 Labourers, artisans and machine operators 24 2,2 24 2,2 0 0,0 Farmers 17 1,5 17 1,6 0 0,0 Landowners 13 1,2 13 1,2 0 0,0 Officers 12 1,1 12 1,1 0 0,0 Priests 4 0,4 4 0,4 0 0,0 Farm workers 4 0,4 4 0,4 0 0,0 Other military 3 0,3 3 0,3 0 0,0 Housewives 1 0,1 0 0,0 1 3,2 Total , , ,0 Women have higher percentages of specialists, teachers and top managers (both of them economists) than men. Male specialists are mostly lawyers and they are located in higher percentages in the northern and more urban municipalities. At the time of their first election, mayors average 42.8 years old. And when they leave office their average age is 51. Youth is a factor and 8.6 per cent were elected in the age group of 22 to 30 years old. The oldest president was elected when he was 73 years old. He was re-elected three years later, but died before assuming office. The oldest president to leave office was 80 years old. As for where they were born, 64.4 per cent come from the same municipality, plus 13 per cent from the same district. Only 22.6 per cent come from another district. Residence: 89.3 per cent live in the same municipality and 6.7 per cent live in the same district. Table VI: Age groups of mayors,

10 Age groups of mayors when first elected, Nº % 22 to 30 years old 89 8,6 31 to 40 years old ,1 41 to 50 years old ,6 51 to 60 years old ,8 61 to 73 years old 30 2,9 Total ,0 Table VII: Age groups of mayors, Age groups of mayors when leaving office, Nº % 27 to 30 years old 8 0,8 31 to 40 years old ,9 41 to 50 years old ,2 51 to 60 years old ,8 61 to 80 years old ,4 Total ,0 In every election, party results are analysed intensively. But personal political paths are interesting to watch, especially when there is party mobility upon re-election. Forty per cent (40.4) of the mayors were always elected by PSD, 32.3 per cent by PS, 12.4 per cent by PCP and its coalitions, 5.9 per cent by CDS and 1.9 per cent by AD. The remaining 7.1 per cent (79 mayors) changed parties, some of them several times and a few went through the entire range of political parties. Table VIII: Portuguese political parties AD CDS MPT PCP PPM PS PSD UDP Ind. Democratic Alliance: PSD+CDS+PPM Social democratic centre (right) Earth party movement (left) Portuguese communist party Portuguese monarchic party (extreme right) Socialist party Social democratic party (centre right) Popular democratic union (extreme left) Independent On table IX we can see the distribution of professional groups among the parties. Table IX: Mayors and political parties Professional groups / Political parties AD CDS MPT PCP PPM PS PSD UDP Ind. Total Specialists of intellectual and scientific professions

11 Teachers Civil servants Technicians and intermediate professionals Bank clerks Clerks and salesmen Managers / Industrialists No mention Shopkeepers Top managers in public and private enterprises Labourers, artisans and machine operators Farmers Landowners Officers Priests Farm workers Other military Housewives Total Groups that are traditionally associated with political parties have the highest values and are painted yellow: for instance, specialists, teachers, civil servants and clerks were elected mostly with the PS and PSD. Bank clerks, labourers and farm workers were elected with the communist party. Managers and industrialists, shopkeepers, top managers, landowners and farmers are mostly elected with right wing parties. 6. Women and local politics, After the first 9 women appointed president of the administrative commissions from 1974 to 1976, there were 31 women elected mayor from 1976 to There is no doubt that this is a diminutive female representation, but it is a considerable revolution in local politics, considering that there was not a single female mayor before Table X: Mayors Election dates Elected women % Elected Men % Total , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

12 , , , ,8 308 Totals Averages 8,7 2,8 296,9 97,2 100 Briefly analysing the gender question in Portugal, the first woman to ever vote in this country was called Carolina Beatriz Ângelo. She was a medical doctor, a widow and a mother who, in 1911, required the right to vote as a family head. The case went to court and she won and exercised her right to vote. Immediately after, the law was altered, specifically denying this right to women. Later, in 1931, for the first time in Portugal there was a law which authorized women to vote, as long as they were family heads. Anyway, this law had significant gender discrimination: men only had to prove they could read and write, whereas women had to show a high school or university diploma. Two months later, feminine vote was enlarged to emancipated women and they were allowed to be council members in their municipalities. Under these circumstances, active female participation in national politics was quite reduced. From 1934 to 1973 there were only 14 female members of the Portuguese parliament (National Assembly) 8. As for cabinet members, the first woman appointed was Maria Teresa Lobo, Undersecretary of State of Social Assistance in With the democratic regime, electoral law established for the first time total gender equality 9, just as many other laws were passed to pave the way towards political, social and civic rights gender equality. Yet, there is still a feminine sub-representation in Portuguese politics, inscribed into the larger problem of women s access to all aspects of social, cultural and economic life 10. In 1979, for the first and only time, there was a woman Prime Minister for five months: Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo, a chemical engineer who was afterwards elected a member of the European Parliament (in 1986). In 1985, Prime Minister Cavaco Silva (recently elected President of the Republic) was the first to invite a woman to be a minister in his cabinet. Women s participation in Portuguese governments from 1976 to 1995 is limited to 6 ministers, 33 secretaries of state and 4 undersecretaries of state. This adds up to 44 women, a total of 5.8 per cent of total cabinet members throughout this period. The first woman civil governor was appointed in Until 1994 three more were appointed, which, for a total of 114 civil governors appointed from 1974 to 1994, represents 3.5 per cent 11. As 8 Ana Vargas Mulheres na Assembleia Nacional ( ), Eleições. Revista de Assuntos Eleitorais, nº 6, Nov. 2000, pp Decree number 621-A/74, November 15 th José Manuel Leite Viegas and Sérgio Faria As mulheres na política, Lisboa, INCM, Data collected from Governos Civis. Mais de um século de história, Lisboa, Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Administração Interna,

13 for the members of parliament, table XI shows us the evolution of women elected in each legislature. Year Table XI: Members of the Portuguese Parliament, Total members Men Women Percentage of women National Assembly , , , , , , , , , , ,1 Constitutive Assembly ,7 Assembly of the Republic , , , , , , , , ,3 These figures demonstrate the slow evolution of women in Portuguese politics and the fact that in central representative institutions women have achieved a more prominent position than in local ones. To complete this picture, table XII shows us the numbers of Portuguese female members of the European Parliament. Table XII: Percentage of Portuguese women elected as Members of the European Parliament, Election years % , , ,5 12 Sources: Ana Vargas op. cit. A participação das mulheres na vida sindical, cívica e política, Cadernos Condição Feminina, nº 2, Maio, José Manuel Leite Viegas and Sérgio Faria op. cit. 13 Sources: José Manuel Leite Viegas and Sérgio Faria op. cit., pp and 13

14 Regarding this subject, Portugal s female representation is not so different from the average found in rest of the world. Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris summed up women as world leaders in 2002 and these are their figures: 4.7 per cent of women elected heads of state or government and 10 per cent members of cabinets 14. Yet, in relation to European countries, Portugal is very low on the list of parliament representation: in 2002 Sweden had 42.7 per cent women, Spain had 28.3 per cent and Portugal had 17.4 per cent. France was behind with 10.9 per cent 15. Facing such small figures, portraying Portuguese women mayors is almost like describing individuals, rather than a group. Anyhow, there are some possible conclusions to be taken: for example, the levels of academic achievement are higher in the female gender than in the male gender, a fact that fits into the Portuguese demographic reality 16. In the administrative commissions, women presidents were highly educated in 55.5 per cent of the cases, whereas men only in 49.2 per cent. Considering all the members of these commissions, 64.1 per cent women had university degrees and men only 25.1 per cent. As for elected mayors from 1976 on, 58 per cent of women had a college education and men 43 per cent. Table IV shows a majority of 55.5 women teachers and specialists as presidents of the administrative commissions, whereas men have 45.3 per cent in these categories. During the democratic period, table V shows that women increased this percentage to 58 and men lowered to 44. When women are elected, they are older than men, with an average 44.3 years old. And they stay in office an average 7.3 years. Fifty per cent were born in a different district and only 27.3 per cent come from the same municipality. In 90 per cent of the cases, they live in the same municipality, plus 7 per cent who live in the same district. Women are elected mostly with left wing parties: 38.7 per cent were elected with the PSD (right wing), but adding 29% with the Socialist Party and 29 per cent with the Communist Party, we can apply to Portugal the rule that in present day s countries women s values tend more towards the left Continuity or transition of local elites with regime change? 14 Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris op. cit., pp Ana Vargas op. cit., p José Manuel Leite Viegas and Sérgio Faria analysed the evolution of gender in the academic community, both students and professors, and women are a clear majority, op. cit., p Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris op. cit., p

15 Mayors appointed in 1937 were mostly the same that were already presidents of the administrative commissions that ruled municipalities in the transitional period of (at least 58.5 per cent). This continuity that characterized the early years of the Estado Novo regime did not happen when the democratic regime was established in 1976: after the administrative commissions nominated in , there was practically a rupture. In 304 municipalities, where 464 presidents were appointed, only 16.6 per cent of the presidents (in 25.3 percent of the municipalities) were elected in 1976 (table XIII). Table XIII: Presidents of administrative commissions ( ) that were elected afterwards Nº Percentage of municipalities Percentage of presidents of the administrative commissions for the first time in ,4 14,0 for the first time in ,0 1,3 for the first time in ,0 0,6 for the first time in ,3 0,2 for the first time in ,7 0,4 Total 77 25,3 16,6 What I wanted to find out was whether these transitional elites were the same that have always held local power. In the beginning of the Estado Novo, they were mostly the same people, appointed by the same ministry. When democratic institutions began functioning and elections were held for the first time in 1976, there was quite a discontinuity with the transitional period. This proved that the people s vote did not totally validate the choices of the revolutionaries, neither did it approve of the political personal of the revolutionary period. As for the regime change, elite substitution was practically total. Only two mayors were appointed presidents of their municipality s administrative commissions. Those same persons were elected in 1976 and they are the only ones who remained in office throughout the entire process of regime substitution. There were seven other mayors from before 1974 that were elected afterwards, but did not participate in the administrative commissions. They represent less than three per cent of the 304 municipalities. In Lisbon and Cascais, we ve already verified the socio-professional continuity of the local elites. In Covilhã this did not happen, just like the districts of Oporto and Portalegre, where discontinuity was the rule. We had already seen that, during the Estado Novo, Oporto had mayors with higher qualifications than the ones from Portalegre (72 and 54.9 per cent each). During the transitional period of , the presidents of the administrative commissions of Oporto maintained high levels of university degrees: 76 per cent. In Portalegre this value dropped to 37.5 per cent. In Oporto, professional groups continued to 15

16 have a majority of specialists, but their percentage dropped to 36, less than half of the 76.7 per cent of the previous regime. There was a considerate rise of the teachers, to 24 per cent. In Portalegre, specialists also dropped to 25 per cent (they were 37 per cent until 1974) and teachers also rose to 18.8 per cent. Landowners were practically extinct and farm workers appeared out of nothing. After 1976, there were 65 mayors in Oporto s 17 municipalities and 59 in Portalegre s 15. In both districts there were two women mayors. And the average stay in office was 7.8 years in Oporto and 7.4 in Portalegre, which almost doubles the time in office during the Estado Novo (4.3 and 5.1). These factors are very close in both districts. But others reveal considerable differences between a northern seashore industrial district, and another one in the southern and rural region. School qualifications remained high in the Oporto district, where 63.1 per cent mayors have university degrees. In Portalegre this factor dropped to 35.6 per cent. And the rest of them reveal a really low school frequency: mostly elementary school and technical degrees, especially the ones related to the agricultural activity. Professional groups in the Oporto district show the prevalence of specialists (40 per cent, most of them medical doctors, lawyers and engineers), followed by teachers (18.5 per cent) and clerks and salesmen (10.8 per cent). Army officers drop from 10 per cent in the Estado Novo to 3.1 per cent nowadays. Portalegre already had a larger socio-professional variety, which was increased after 1976: civil servants became the main group (20.3 per cent) and specialists dropped to 18.6 per cent, with a majority of medical doctors. Bank clerks were introduced and became the third largest group, with 16.9 per cent. Teachers are now 11.9 per cent, technicians 8.5, and labourers, artisans and machine operators, as well as farm workers represent 3.4 per cent each. 8. Conclusions These are just a few of the first possible assertions that can be made with the available data. And it represents the beginning of a larger picture that I should like to draw of the local Portuguese elites and their behaviour in face of the events that marked the transition towards democracy. There were, in fact, social transformations in the Portuguese local elites, such as the introduction of women, the larger variety of professional categories and a considerable difference in this group s school qualifications. Particularly regional differences, which existed but were dim in the elite group, became increasingly evident, 16

17 because elected representatives mirror local societies more clearly than mayors appointed by the central government do. In sum, whereas local elites of the rural south were mostly replaced as consequence of the revolution, from landowners with a university degree to clerks with technical courses and elementary school teachers, other regions of Portugal revealed a continuity of social and professional backgrounds and criteria of recruitment of its mayors. It is yet to be confirmed the thesis about democracy as a cause for transformation. Fernando Ruivo described the early mayors as representatives of local interests. Economic and political development undermined this image. Nowadays mayors are mostly middle class and bear different ways to relate to politics and to their communities 18. Apparently it is true for the rural south, but can it be applied to the rest of the country? And when did these transformations occur? Doubtlessly, there was a slow evolution of the local elites for the last thirty years, resulting from Portugal s integration in the European Union, economic development and social and demographic evolution. There were new financing sources for the municipalities, new services provided, and mayors changed their public images. All these questions deserve more research and shall be considered in future works. 18 Fernando Ruivo Local e Política em Portugal: o Poder Local na Mediação entre o Centro e a Periferia, Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, nº 30, 1990, p