The PS tried to form a new government with the support of the PRD and CDU, but Mário Soares, the President at the time, rejected the idea and called for a new election.

The PSD won every district with the exception of Setúbal, Évora and Beja, which voted for the CDU.

The left-wing Democratic Unity Coalition lost some of its MPs to the Socialist Party and the Democratic Renewal Party, now led by former President António Ramalho Eanes, lost almost all of its influence, mainly due to its responsibility in the fall of the former PSD minority government.

In the first months of 1987, a trip of a Portuguese parliamentary delegation to the Soviet Union, which also passed by Estonia, a territory that wasn't recognized by Portugal as under Soviet control, created a diplomatic issue that was used by the Opposition to bring down the Cavaco Silva minority government.

[3] President Mário Soares refused an alternative PS-PRD-PCP government and decided to dissolve Parliament and call a snap election.

[4] The 1985 general election results were quite disappointing for CDS, and then party leader Francisco Lucas Pires resigned from the leadership.

[11] The Democratic Renewal Party surprised with their excellent results in the 1985 elections, winning almost 18 percent of the votes.