The Portuguese Democratic Movement / Democratic Electoral Commissions (Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

: Movimento Democrático Português / Comissões Democráticas Eleitorais or MDP/CDE or just MDP) was one of the most important organizations of the democratic opposition to the Portuguese fascist regime. It was founded in 1969 as an electoral coalition meant to run in the non-democratic and widely manipulated parliamentary election.

In 1973 the MDP took part in the Democratic Congress of Aveiro, the largest meeting of democratic militants during the dictatorship. After the Carnation Revolution

Carnation Revolution

The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...

 in 1974, it was made part of every provisional government, with exception of the 6th and in 1979 it ran in coalition with the Portuguese Communist Party

Portuguese Communist Party

The Portuguese Communist Party is a major left-wing political party in Portugal. It is a Marxist-Leninist party, and its organization is based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself to be patriotic and internationalist....

 in the FEPU and later in APU, achieving important electoral results.

In 1987, disagreements with the PCP arose, the coalition was dissolved and the MDP was later disbanded. A fraction formed the political association Democratic Intervention

Democratic Intervention (Portugal)

The Democratic Intervention is a Portuguese left-wing political association founded in order to promote and defend socialist ideas in Portugal. Members of it take part as independents in the electoral alliance Unitarian Democratic Coalition, along with the Portuguese Communist Party and the...

 (Portuguese: Intervenção Democrática) and another group formed a new party, the Politics XXI (Portuguese: Política XXI) that now is part of the Leftwing Bloc.