The CDS – People's Party (, derived from Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular, CDS–PP) is a conservative and Christian democratic political party in Portugal. It is characterized as being between the centre-right and right-wing of the political spectrum. In voting ballots, the party's name appears only as the People's Party, with the abbreviation CDS–PP unchanged. The party was founded on 19 July 1974 during the Carnation Revolution. In its first democratic elections in 1975, the CDS-PP won 16 seats out of 230 – increasing to 42 in the 1976 legislative election. The party entered a short-lived coalition with the Socialist Party (PS) before joining the Democratic Alliance (AD). The party has been involved in centre-right coalitions with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) from 1980 to 1983 and again from 2002 to 2005. In the 2009 legislative election, the party won 21 seats, its most since the 1985 election, and increased it to 24 in 2011, leading to it forming a coalition government with the PSD. The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democrat Union (IDU). The party also has autonomous organisations which share its political beliefs, the People's Youth and the Federation of Christian Democratic Workers. After a disastrous result in the 2022 general elections, which left the party with no seats in the Assembly of the Republic for the first time ever since its founding, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos resigned as president, being replaced by MEP Nuno Melo in the 29th National Congress of the Party. History Foundation The CDS-PP was founded on 19 July 1974 by Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Paulo Lowndes Marques, Adelino Amaro da Costa, Basílio Horta, Vítor Sá Machado, Valentim Xavier Pintado, João Morais Leitão and João Porto. By that time, Portugal was living an unstable political moment: instability, violence and great social tensions were evident after the Carnation Revolution held on 25 April of the same year. The then CDS declared itself as a party rigorously at the centre of the political spectrum, but by then it already counted with a major slice of Portuguese right-winger in its affiliations. On 13 January 1975, the leaders of the CDS-PP delivered at the Supreme Court of Justice the necessary documentation to legalise the party. The first congress was held on 25 January 1975, at the Rosa Mota Pavilion, Porto. First years of opposition After 25 March 1975,