Assunção Cristas

Portuguese lawyer, professor and politician

Assunção Cristas
Assunção Cristas in 2017

President of CDS – People's Party
In office 13 March 2016 – 26 January 2020
Preceded by	Paulo Portas
Succeeded by	Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos
Minister of Agriculture and Sea
In office 21 June 2011 – 26 November 2015
Prime Minister	Pedro Passos Coelho
Preceded by	António Serrano
Succeeded by	Luís Capoulas Santos
Minister of the Environment and Territorial Planning
In office 21 June 2011 – 24 July 2013
Prime Minister	Pedro Passos Coelho
Preceded by	Dulce Pássaro
Succeeded by	Jorge Moreira da Silva
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
In office 15 October 2009 – 27 January 2020
Constituency	Leiria (2009–2019) Lisbon (2019–2020)
Member of the Lisbon City Council
In office 1 October 2017 – 17 October 2021

Personal details
Born	Maria de Assunção de Oliveira Cristas (1974-09-28) 28 September 1974 (age 49) Luanda, Portuguese Angola
Political party	CDS – People's Party (2007–present)
Spouse	Tiago Machado da Graça (m. 1998)
Children	4
Alma mater	University of Lisbon
Occupation	Lawyer • Professor • Politician

Maria de Assunção de Oliveira Cristas Machado da Graça (born 28 September 1974) is a Portuguese lawyer, professor and politician. She was the President of the CDS – People's Party from 2016 to 2020.^[1]^[2]

Since 2017 she's also opposition leader councilwoman in the Lisbon City Council, elected with 21% of the popular vote.

From 2011 to 2015, she served as Minister of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Territorial Planning in the government led by Pedro Passos Coelho.^[3]

Life before politics

She is a lawyer by training and a professor at the New University of Lisbon. She graduated in law in 1997 by the University of Lisbon,^[4] was admitted in the Portuguese Bar Association in 1999 and completed her doctorate in Private Law in 2004.

Political career

Assunção Cristas has been a member of Democratic and Social Centre - People's Party since 2007. She was first elected to the Assembly of the Republic in 2009 elections, representing Leiria. She was re-elected in 2011 elections, participating in the negotiations between her party and the winning Social Democratic Party to form a coalition government.

Cristas led the CDS-PP into the 2019 elections. Her party was defeated, with the CDS-PP losing 13 seats and retaining only 5. She announced her resignation as leader of CDS-PP that evening.^[5]

Electoral history

CDS–PP leadership election, 2016

Ballot: 13 March 2016
Candidate		Votes	%
	Assunção Cristas	877	98.8
	Miguel Mattos Chaves	11	1.2
Turnout		888
Source: Results^[6]

Lisbon City Council election, 2017

Ballot: 1 October 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	PS	Fernando Medina	106,036	42.0	8	–3
	CDS–PP/MPT/PPM	Assunção Cristas	51,984	20.6	4	+3
	PSD	Teresa Leal Coelho	28,336	11.2	2	–1
	CDU	João Ferreira	24,110	9.6	2	±0
	BE	Ricardo Robles	18,025	7.1	1	+1
	PAN	Inês Sousa Real	7,658	3.0	0	±0
	Other parties		5,833	2.3	0	±0
Blank/Invalid ballots			10,498	4.2	–	–
Turnout			252,481	51.16	17	±0
Source: Autárquicas 2017^[7]

Legislative election, 2019

Ballot: 6 October 2019
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	PS	António Costa	1,903,687	36.3	108	+22
	PSD	Rui Rio	1,454,283	27.8	79	–10
	BE	Catarina Martins	498,549	9.5	19	±0
	CDU	Jerónimo de Sousa	332,018	6.3	12	–5
	CDS–PP	Assunção Cristas	221,094	4.2	5	–13
	PAN	André Silva	173,931	3.3	4	+3
	Chega	André Ventura	67,502	1.3	1	new
	IL	Carlos Guimarães Pinto	67,443	1.3	1	new
	Livre	Collective leadership	56,940	1.1	1	+1
	Other parties		207,162	4.0	0	±0
Blank/Invalid ballots			254,875	4.9	–	–
Turnout			5,237,484	48.60	230	±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições^[8]

References

^ "Biografia". www.parlamento.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-08-13.
^ "Assunção Cristas". NOVA School of Law | Faculdade de Direito da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-08-13.
^ Portugal, Grand Union. "Assunção Cristas". www.historico.portugal.gov.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-08-13.
^ "ASSUNÇÃO CRISTAS MINISTRA DA AGRICULTURA E DO MAR". Archived from the original on 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
^ Rodrigues, Ana Sofia (October 7, 2019). "Assunção Cristas anuncia saída da liderança do CDS-PP". RTP (in Portuguese).
^ "Moção de Assunção Cristas vence com 877 votos contra 11". TVI24 (in Portuguese). March 13, 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
^ "Autárquicas 2017". SGMAI. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
^ "Mapa Oficial Resultados Legislativas 2019" (PDF). CNE. Retrieved 5 August 2024.

19th Constitutional Government of Portugal

Prime Minister

Pedro Passos Coelho

Deputy Prime Minister

Paulo Portas (2013–2015)

Ministers

State and Finance	Vítor Gaspar (2011–2013) Maria Luís Albuquerque (2013–2015)
State and Foreign Affairs	Paulo Portas (2011–2013) Rui Machete (2013–2015)
National Defence	José Pedro Aguiar Branco (2011–2015)
Internal Administration	Miguel Macedo (2011–2014) Anabela Rodrigues (2014–2015)
Justice	Paula Teixeira da Cruz (2011–2015)
Economy	Álvaro Santos Pereira (2011–2013) António Pires de Lima (2013–2015)
Agriculture and Sea	Assunção Cristas (2011–2015)
Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy	Jorge Moreira da Silva (2013–2015)
Health	Paulo Macedo (2011–2015)
Education and Science	Nuno Crato (2011–2015)
Solidarity, Employment and Social Security	Pedro Mota Soares (2011–2015)
Parliamentary Affairs	Miguel Relvas (2011–2013) Luís Marques Guedes (2013–2015)
Adjunct and Regional Development	Luís Poiares Maduro (2013–2015)

20th Constitutional Government of Portugal

Prime Minister

Pedro Passos Coelho

Deputy Prime Minister

Paulo Portas

Ministers

State and Finance	Maria Luís Albuquerque (2015)
State and Foreign Affairs	Rui Machete (2015)
National Defence	José Pedro Aguiar Branco (2015)
Internal Administration	João Calvão da Silva (2015)
Justice	Fernando Negrão (2015)
Parliamentary Affairs	Carlos Costa Neves (2015)
Presidency and Regional Development	Luís Marques Guedes (2015)
Economy	Miguel Morais Leitão (2015)
Agriculture and Sea	Assunção Cristas (2015)
Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy	Jorge Moreira da Silva (2015)
Health	Fernando Leal da Costa (2015)
Education and Science	Margarida Mano (2015)
Solidarity, Employment and Social Security	Pedro Mota Soares (2015)
Administrative Modernization	Rui Medeiros (2015)
Culture, Equality and Citizenship	Teresa Morais (2015)