 All were in Lisbon (where their supporters were concentrated), although their leader Bernardino Machado declared "we are the majority" to The Times in Paris.Problems within the political system had arisen during the Portuguese Regeneration Era as a consequence of an inefficient system of rotating governments (which saw the Progressive Party and Regenerator Party alternating in government).The British ambassador to Portugal at the time, Francis Hyde Villiers, explained the confusion and inefficiency of the "Cortes" (Parliament)