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Portugal
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Government and society

Constitutional framework

Portugal has been a republic since the overthrow of King Manuel II and the house of Bragança in 1910. From 1910 to 1926, the era of Portugal’s First Republic, a parliamentary democracy was established, though monarchists attempted to overthrow it, and factions quickly arose among republicans. In 1926 a bloodless military coup overthrew the republic, replacing it with an authoritarian government. In 1932 António de Oliveira Salazar established a corporative dictatorship—the so-called Estado Novo (New State)—that lasted until 1974, four years after Salazar’s death. During the dictatorship, democratic-like institutions existed but were merely a facade, stacked with supporters of Salazar; political freedoms were suppressed, sometimes ruthlessly. Since the Revolution of the Carnations on April 25, 1974, Portugal has had a democratic republic. Its postrevolutionary constitution, first adopted in 1976 and modified several times since, established a semipresidential system whereby executive power was divided between a president and a prime minister. The constitution was revised in 1982, when ideological elements were minimized, and again in 1989, when the way was paved for privatization and a transition to a free-market economy.

Portugal’s chief of state is the president, who is directly elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term and may be elected to only two consecutive terms. The president is responsible for guaranteeing Portugal’s independence and national unity. Presidential duties also include serving as chief commander of the armed forces, appointing and dismissing the prime minister (who must be able to command majority support in the legislature), appointing and dismissing other members of the government at the proposal of the prime minister, sending messages to parliament and convening or dissolving it as necessary, and setting the dates of elections after consultation with the Council of State.

The constitution designates the Council of Ministers, the cabinet, as Portugal’s chief policy-making body. The cabinet consists of the prime minister, who presides over its meetings, the ministers of government departments, and some secretaries of state (ministers without portfolios). The prime minister is simultaneously responsible to the president (regarding the overall functioning of governmental institutions) and to parliament (regarding the content of public policy). The prime minister directs, coordinates, and implements government policy. By tradition the prime minister is the head of the civil service.

The parliament comprises the unicameral Assembly of the Republic, which has 230 deputies. Its duties include debating and voting upon legislation, authorizing the government to raise revenues, and approving the laws passed by the legislatures of the autonomous regions. The parliament may also dismiss the government by rejecting a vote of confidence requested by the government or by passing a motion of censure against the government.

Local government

Portugal has three tiers of government below the national level. The lowest tier comprises the parishes (freguesias), of which there are about 4,000. Each parish has a directly elected assembly (assembleia de freguesia), which appoints its own executive body, the parish board (junta de freguesia). The second tier consists of the municipalities (concelhos), which number some 300. Municipalities include rural and urban areas within their territorial limits. Each municipality has a municipal assembly (assembleia municipal), made up of the presidents of the boards of the constituent parishes and an equal number plus one of directly elected members; a municipal chamber (câmara municipal), which is the executive of the municipality; and a municipal council (conselho municipal), a consultative organ through which the views of social, cultural, professional, and economic organizations within the municipality are transmitted to the municipal chamber. Above the municipalities are 18 districts (distritos)—20 including Madeira and the Azores—each with an appointed civil governor.

The constitution of 1976 called for the establishment of administrative regions (regiões administrativas), and the government created plans to subdivide the country, but by the early 21st century such a scheme had yet to be implemented (and had been rejected in a national referendum in 1998). Nevertheless, to simplify the implementation and administration of EU programs, the government devised a system consisting of five regions for the mainland: North (Norte), Central (Centro), Lisbon and the Tagus Valley (Lisboa e Vale do Tejo), the Alentejo, and the Algarve. The archipelagoes of Madeira and the Azores are autonomous regions (regiãos autónomas), a special status granted in the 1976 constitution, in recognition of their geographic, economic, social, and cultural uniqueness and their historical aspirations for greater independence. Each autonomous region has its own government (cabinet and president), legislature (regional assembly), and administration.

Justice

Portugal’s judiciary is formally independent of the executive and legislative branches. The country is divided into several dozen judicial circuits, above which there are four regional districts. The highest judicial organ is the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. There is also a Constitutional Tribunal, which has 13 justices appointed by parliament and which rules on the constitutionality of laws. A jury system was introduced with the 1976 constitution.

The role of the military as the watchdog of the 1974 revolution and the subsequent transition to democracy was enshrined by the 1976 constitution in the Council of the Revolution. A constitutional committee operated in conjunction with the Council of the Revolution, which determined the constitutionality of legislation. Revisions made to the constitution in 1982 abolished the Council of the Revolution and the constitutional committee and replaced them with a Council of State and the Constitutional Tribunal. Members of the Council of State are the president of the republic (who presides over the council), the president of the parliament, the prime minister, the president of the Constitutional Tribunal, the attorney general, the presidents of the governments of the autonomous regions, certain former presidents of the republic, five persons appointed by the president, and five persons selected by the Assembly of the Republic.