Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

Assembly of the Republic

*Assembleia da República*
Assembly of the Republic ; Assembleia da República
16th Assembly of the Republic
	Emblem and Flag of the Assembly
	Logo of the Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
President	José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, PPD/PSD
Vice-Presidents	Teresa Morais (PPD/PSD); Marcos Perestrello (PS); Diogo Pacheco de Amorim (CH); Rodrigo Saraiva (IL);
Structure
Seats	230
Political groups	Government (80) PPD/PSD (78); CDS-PP (2); Opposition (150) PS (78); CH (50); IL (8); BE (5); PCP (4); LIVRE (4); PAN (1);
Elections
Voting system	Closed list proportional representation; D'Hondt method;
Last election	10 March 2024
Next election	On or before 8 October 2028
Meeting place
	São Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Website
	www.parlamento.pt

The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: Assembleia da República, pronounced [ɐsẽˈblɐjɐ ðɐ ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ]), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: Parlamento), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament "is the representative assembly of all Portuguese citizens". The constitution names the assembly as one of the country's organs of supreme authority.

It meets in São Bento Palace, the historical site of an old Benedictine monastery. The palace has been the seat of the Portuguese parliaments since 1834 (Cortes until 1910, Congress from 1911 to 1926 and National Assembly from 1933 to 1974).

Powers and duties of the Assembly

The Assembly of the Republic's powers derive from its ability to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence, to change the country's laws, and to amend the constitution (which requires a majority of two-thirds). In addition to these key powers, the constitution grants to the Assembly extensive legislative powers and substantial control over the budget, the right to authorize the government to raise taxes and grant loans, the power to ratify treaties and other kinds of international agreements, and the duty to approve or reject decisions by the President of the Republic to declare war and make peace. The assembly also appoints many members of important state institutions, such as ten of the thirteen members of the Constitutional Court and seven of the sixteen members of the Council of State.

The constitution requires the assembly to quickly review and approve an incoming government's program. Parliamentary rules allow the assembly to call for committees of inquiry to examine the government's actions. Political opposition represented in the assembly has the power to review the cabinet's actions, even though it is unlikely that the actions can be reversed. Party groups can also call for interpellations that require debates about specific government policies.

Structure

The assembly has 230 MPs. It originally consisted of 250 MPs, but the constitutional reforms of 1989 reduced its number to between 180 and 230. Members are elected by popular vote for legislative terms of four years from the country's twenty-two constituencies. There are eighteen in mainland Portugal corresponding to each district, one each for the autonomous regions of Azores (Portuguese: Açores) and Madeira, and two for Portuguese people living abroad (one covering Europe and one covering the rest of the world).^[a] Except for the constituencies for Portuguese living abroad, which are fixed at two representatives each, the number of MPs is determined by the number of voters registered in a constituency, using the D'Hondt method of proportional representation. Constituencies vary greatly in size; from as large as the district of Lisbon, which returns 48 representatives, to as small as the district of Portalegre, which elects just two.

For the 2024 legislative elections, the MPs were distributed by districts as follows:^[3]

District	Number of MPs	Map
Lisbon	48
Porto	40
Braga and Setúbal	19 each
Aveiro	16
Leiria	10
Coimbra, Faro and Santarém	9 each
Viseu	8
Madeira	6
Azores, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real	5 each
Castelo Branco	4
Beja, Bragança, Évora and Guarda	3 each
Portalegre, Europe and Outside Europe^[a]	2 each

According to the constitution, members of the assembly represent the entire country, not the constituency from which they are elected. This directive has been reinforced in practice by the strong role of political parties in regard to members of the assembly. Party leadership, for example, determines in which areas candidates are to run for office, thus often weakening members' ties to their constituencies. Moreover, members of the assembly are expected to vote with their party and to work within parliamentary groups based on party membership. Party discipline is strong, and insubordinate members can be coerced through a variety of means.^{[citation needed]} A further obstacle to members' independence is that their bills first have to be submitted to the parliamentary groups, and it is these groups' leaders who set the assembly's agenda.

The President of the Assembly of the Republic is the second hierarchical figure in the Portuguese state, after the President of the Portuguese Republic, and is elected by secret vote of the members of parliament. The President of the Assembly is aided by four vice presidents, nominated by the other parties represented in the parliament, and is usually the speaker.^{[original research?]} When they are not present, one of the vice presidents takes the role of speaker. When the President of the Republic is, for any reason, unable to perform the job, the President of the Assembly of the Republic becomes the substitute.

Current composition

Party		Parliamentary group leader	Seats	%
	Social Democratic Party	Hugo Soares	78	33.9
	Socialist Party	Alexandra Leitão	78	33.9
	CHEGA	Pedro Pinto	50	21.7
	Liberal Initiative	Mariana Leitão	8	3.5
	Left Bloc	Fabian Figueiredo	5	2.2
	Portuguese Communist Party	Paula Santos	4	1.7
	LIVRE	Isabel Mendes Lopes	4	1.7
	CDS - People's Party	Paulo Núncio	2	0.9
	People-Animals-Nature	Inês Sousa Real	1	0.4
Total			230	100.0

Latest election result

Summary of the 10 March 2024 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties			Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %

Parties			Votes	%	±pp swing	2022	2024	±	%	±	MPs %/ votes %
		Democratic Alliance (PSD/CDS–PP/PPM)^[b]	1,814,002	28.01	1.7	74	77	3	33.48	1.3	1.20
		Madeira First (PSD/CDS–PP)^[c]	52,989	0.82	0.1	3	3	0	1.30	0	1.59
		People's Monarchist^[d]	451	0.01	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
	Total Democratic Alliance^[e]		1,867,442	28.84	1.8	77	80	3	34.78	1.3	1.21
		Socialist	1,812,443	27.98	13.4	120	78	42	33.91	18.3	1.21
		CHEGA	1,169,781	18.06	10.9	12	50	38	21.74	16.5	1.20
		Liberal Initiative	319,877	4.94	0.0	8	8	0	3.48	0	0.70
		Left Bloc	282,314	4.36	0.0	5	5	0	2.17	0	0.50
		Unitary Democratic Coalition	205,551	3.17	1.1	6	4	2	1.74	0.9	0.55
		LIVRE	204,875	3.16	1.9	1	4	3	1.74	1.3	0.55
		People–Animals–Nature	126,125	1.95	0.4	1	1	0	0.43	0	0.22
		National Democratic Alternative	102,134	1.58	1.4	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		React, Include, Recycle	26,092	0.40	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		Together for the People	19,145	0.30	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		New Right	16,456	0.25	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
		Portuguese Workers' Communist	15,491	0.24	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		Volt Portugal	11,854	0.18	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		Rise Up	6,030	0.09	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		Alternative 21 (Earth Party/Alliance)	4,265	0.07	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		Labour	2,435	0.04	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		We, the Citizens!	2,399	0.04	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0	0.0
		Socialist Alternative Movement^[4]^[f]	0	0.00	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
Total valid			6,194,709	95.64	1.8	230	230	0	100.00	0	—
Blank ballots			89,847	1.39	0.3
Invalid ballots			192,396	2.97	1.5
Total			6,476,952	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			10,813,643	59.90	8.5
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições^[5]

Elected Composition of the Assembly of the Republic since 1975

Legislatures since 1975
Election	No.	Parliament	Parties represented		Term
Election	No.	Parliament	Government	Opposition	Term
Constituent 1975			PS (116) PPD (81) PCP (30) CDS (16) MDP (5) UDP (1) ADIM (1)		1975–1976
1976	1st		PS (107)	PPD (73) CDS (42) PCP (40) UDP (1)	1976–1978
			PS (107) CDS (42)	PPD/PSD (73) PCP (40) UDP (1)	1978
			Presidential appointed governments	PS (107) PPD/PSD (73) CDS (42) PCP (40) UDP (1)	1978–1979
1979			PPD/PSD (80) CDS (43) PPM (5)	PS (74) PCP (44) MDP (3) UDP (1)	1979–1980
1980	2nd		PPD/PSD (82) CDS (46) PPM (6)	PS (66) PCP (39) UEDS (4) ASDI (4) MDP (2) UDP (1)	1980–1983
1983	3th		PS (94) PPD/PSD (75) UEDS (4) ASDI (3)	PCP (41) CDS (30) MDP (3)	1983–1985
1985	4th		PPD/PSD (88) PRD (45)^[g] CDS (22)^[g]	PS (57) PCP (35) MDP (3)	1985–1987
1987	5th		PPD/PSD (148)	PS (60) PCP (29) PRD (7) CDS (4) PEV (2)	1987–1991
1991	6th		PPD/PSD (135)	PS (72) PCP (15) CDS (5) PEV (2) PSN (1)	1991–1995
1995	7th		PS (112)	PPD/PSD (88) CDS–PP (15) PCP (13) PEV (2)	1995–1999
1999	8th		PS (115)	PPD/PSD (81) CDS–PP (15) PCP (15) PEV (2) BE (2)	1999–2002
2002	9th		PPD/PSD (105) CDS–PP (14)	PS (96) PCP (10) BE (3) PEV (2)	2002–2005
2005	10th		PS (121)	PPD/PSD (71) CDS–PP (12) PCP (12) BE (8) PEV (2) PPM (2) MPT (2)	2005–2009
2009	11th		PS (97)	PPD/PSD (81) CDS–PP (21) BE (16) PCP (13) PEV (2)	2009–2011
2011	12th		PPD/PSD (108) CDS–PP (24)	PS (74) PCP (14) BE (8) PEV (2)	2011–2015
2015	13th		PPD/PSD (89) CDS–PP (18)	PS (86) BE (19) PCP (15) PEV (2) PAN (1)	2015
2015	13th		PS (86) BE (19)^[g] PCP (15)^[g] PEV (2)^[g]	PPD/PSD (89) CDS–PP (18) PAN (1)	2015–2019
2019	14th		PS (108)	PPD/PSD (79) BE (19) PCP (10) CDS–PP (5) PAN (4) PEV (2) CH (1) IL (1) L (1)	2019–2022
2022	15th		PS (120)	PPD/PSD (77) CH (12) IL (8) PCP (6) BE (5) PAN (1) L (1)	2022–2024
2024	16th		PPD/PSD (78) CDS–PP (2)	PS (78) CH (50) IL (8) BE (5) PCP (4) L (4) PAN (1)	2024–present

Evolution graphic

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1975

1976

1979

1980

1983

1985

1987

1991

1995

1999

2002

2005

2009

2011

2015

2019

2022

2024

CH
ADIM
PPM
CDS-PP
IL
PSN
MPT
PPD/PSD
ASDI
PRD
PAN
PS
UEDS
L
PCP
PEV
BE
MDP
UDP

Presidents of the Assembly of the Republic

Notes

^ ^a ^b All of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Cyprus, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), France (including Overseas France), Georgia, Lebanon, Netherlands (including the Dutch Caribbean), Russia (including its Asian part), Spain (including the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla), Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey (including its Asian part), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are included in the constituency of Europe, despite being partially or entirely outside geographic Europe. All of Kazakhstan, including its geographically European part, is included in the constituency of Outside Europe.^[1]^[2]
^ In Azores, the PSD, the CDS–PP, and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) contested the elections in a coalition called Democratic Alliance (Aliança Democrática).
^ In Madeira, the PSD and the CDS–PP contested the elections in a coalition called Madeira First (Madeira Primeiro).
^ PPM list only in Madeira
^ Democratic Alliance results are compared to the combined totals of the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Centre and the People's Monarchist Party in the 2022 election.
^ Votes counted as invalid.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Confidence & supply gov't

References

^ Number of voters by district/island/continent, council/country, parish/consulate and consular post, Ministry of Internal Administration of Portugal, 31 December 2023 (in Portuguese).
^ Number of voters and consular posts by electoral constituency, for the election to the Council of Portuguese Communities of 26 November 2023, National Elections Commission of Portugal (in Portuguese).
^ "Official map no. 1-A/2024" (PDF) (in Portuguese). National Elections Commission of Portugal. 16 January 2024.
^ "MAS de Renata Cambra está impedido de concorrer às legislativas de 10 de março" Archived 14 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine, Visão, 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
^ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 2-A/2024" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.

External links

Official website

[abroad-3] All of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Cyprus, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), France (including Overseas France), Georgia, Lebanon, Netherlands (including the Dutch Caribbean), Russia (including its Asian part), Spain (including the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla), Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey (including its Asian part), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are included in the constituency of Europe, despite being partially or entirely outside geographic Europe. All of Kazakhstan, including its geographically European part, is included in the constituency of Outside Europe.^[1]^[2]

[PSD/CDS/PPM-5] In Azores, the PSD, the CDS–PP, and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) contested the elections in a coalition called Democratic Alliance (Aliança Democrática).

[PSD/CDS-6] In Madeira, the PSD and the CDS–PP contested the elections in a coalition called Madeira First (Madeira Primeiro).

[PPM-7] PPM list only in Madeira

[Democratic_Alliance_2022-8] Democratic Alliance results are compared to the combined totals of the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Centre and the People's Monarchist Party in the 2022 election.

[10] Votes counted as invalid.

[1985_and_2015-12] Confidence & supply gov't

[1] Number of voters by district/island/continent, council/country, parish/consulate and consular post, Ministry of Internal Administration of Portugal, 31 December 2023 (in Portuguese).

[2] Number of voters and consular posts by electoral constituency, for the election to the Council of Portuguese Communities of 26 November 2023, National Elections Commission of Portugal (in Portuguese).

[4] "Official map no. 1-A/2024" (PDF) (in Portuguese). National Elections Commission of Portugal. 16 January 2024.

[MAS-9] "MAS de Renata Cambra está impedido de concorrer às legislativas de 10 de março" Archived 14 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine, Visão, 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024.

[11] "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 2-A/2024" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.

[a]

[3]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[4]

[f]

[5]

[g]

[1]

[2]

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