Francisco Sá Carneiro, the social democratic leader and the new prime minister, had placed constitutional reforms at the top of the political agenda in the 1980 election campaign, but the fact that a two-thirds vote in the Assembly of the Republic was needed to achieve constitutional change required the Democratic Alliance to seek the support of the Socialist Party to achieve these reforms. This, in turn, immediately created a major internal debate among the socialists over the extent to which they should collaborate in this revision process. A “letter of intent” agreed to between the socialists and President Eanes before the second presidential election in December 1980 (in which Eanes was reelected), however, became central to the choice between a presidential or a parliamentary route for the revision process, since both Eanes and Soares opposed the calling of a referendum on the constitutional question as had been proposed by the prime minister.