Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the context of "European elections"

Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.

Until 2019, 751 MEPs were elected to the European Parliament, which has been directly elected since 1979. Since the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU in 2020, the number of MEPs, including the president, has been 705. No other EU institution is directly elected, with the Council of the European Union and the European Council being only indirectly legitimated through national elections. While European political parties have the right to campaign EU-wide for the European elections, campaigns still take place through national election campaigns, advertising national delegates from national parties.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs [soˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkraːtɪʃɛ parˌtaɪ ˈøːstɐraɪçs], SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs) from 1945 until 1991, the party is the oldest extant political party in Austria. Along with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), it is one of the country's two traditional major parties. It is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum.

Since June 2023, the party has been led by Andreas Babler. It is currently the third largest of five parties in the National Council, having won 41 of 183 seats and 21.1% of the popular vote in the 2024 Austrian legislative election. It holds seats in the legislatures of all nine states; of these, it is the largest party in three (Burgenland, Carinthia, and Vienna.) The SPÖ is supportive of Austria's membership in the European Union, and it is a member of the Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists. It sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, five are members of the SPÖ. The party has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK).

The Socialist Party (Portuguese: Partido Socialista [pɐɾˈtiðu susiɐˈliʃtɐ], PS) is a social democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action (Portuguese: Acção Socialista Portuguesa). The PS is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists, and has eight members in the European Parliament within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group during the 10th European Parliament.

The party won the 1976 general election and formed the first constitutional government after the 1974 revolution, with Mário Soares as prime minister. However, the government was unstable and fell in 1978. The PS lost the 1979 election, but returned to power in 1983, forming, with the Social Democratic Party, a Central Bloc coalition. It lasted two years and in 1985, the party was defeated and went back to opposition, remaining there for 10 years and losing the two following general elections. Under António Guterres, the party won the 1995 general election and returned to power, lasting until 2002, upon the resignation of Guterres. The party made a comeback and won a historic absolute majority in the 2005 general election under the leadership of José Sócrates. By 2011, the economic crisis led the party to lose the 2011 snap election and the party returned to the opposition. Despite losing the 2015 election, the party formed an agreement with the Left Bloc and the Unitary Democratic Coalition and managed to appoint António Costa as Prime Minister. Costa remained in office for 9 years, until 2024, and during his term won two elections, the last one, in 2022, with an absolute majority. After Costa's resignation, the party narrowly lost the 2024 election, thus, returning to opposition. The party again lost the 2025 election by a larger margin and even fell to third place in Parliament for first time since it's revolution in 1974.