In December 1996, the fifteenth congress was held, this time in Porto, with more than 1600 delegates participating. The congress criticized the right-wing policies of the socialist government of António Guterres, and debated the future of the PCP following the debacle of the Socialist Bloc. In the subsequent local elections, the party continued to decline, but in the legislative election of 1999, the party increased its voting percentage for the first time in many years. The sixteenth congress was held in December 2000, and Carlos Carvalhas was re-elected secretary-general. In the legislative election of 2002, the PCP achieved its lowest voting result ever, with only 7.0% of the vote.