Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

Assembly of the Republic

*Assembleia da República*
Assembly of the Republic ; Assembleia da República
15th Assembly of the Republic
	Emblem of the Assembly of the Republic
	Flag of the Assembly of the Republic
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
President	Augusto Santos Silva, PS ; since 29 March 2022
Vice-Presidents	Edite Estrela (PS); Adão Silva (PSD);
Structure
Seats	230
Political groups	Government (120) PS (120); Opposition (110) PPD/PSD (77); CH (12); IL (8); PCP (6); BE (5); PAN (1); LIVRE (1);
Elections
Voting system	Closed list proportional representation; D'Hondt method
Last election	30 January 2022
Next election	11 October 2026 or earlier
Meeting place
	São Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Website
	parlamento.pt

The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: Assembleia da República, pronounced [ɐsẽˈblɐjɐ dɐ ʁɛˈpublikɐ]), 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 is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento (Palace of Saint Benedict), the site of an old Benedictine monastery. The Palácio de São Bento 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 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 2022 legislative elections, the MPs distributed by districts were as follows:^[3]

District	Number of MPs	Map
Lisbon	48
Porto	40
Braga	19
Setúbal	18
Aveiro	16
Leiria	10
Coimbra, Faro and Santarém	9 each
Viseu	8
Madeira and Viana do Castelo	6 each
Azores 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. 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	%
	Socialist Party	Eurico Brilhante Dias	120	52.2
	Social Democratic Party	Joaquim Miranda Sarmento	77	33.5
	CHEGA	Pedro Pinto	12	5.2
	Liberal Initiative	Rodrigo Saraiva	8	3.5
	Portuguese Communist Party	Paula Santos	6	2.6
	Left Bloc	Pedro Filipe Soares	5	2.2
	People–Animals–Nature	Inês Sousa Real	1	0.4
	LIVRE	Rui Tavares	1	0.4
Total			230	100.0

2022 election

National summary

Summary of the 30 January 2022 Assembly of the Republic elections results
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	2019	2022	±	%	±	MPs %/ votes %
	Socialist	2,302,601	41.38	5.1	108	120	12	52.17	5.2	1.26
	Social Democratic^[b]	1,539,415	27.66	1.3	74	72	2	31.30	0.8	1.13
	CHEGA	399,659	7.18	5.9	1	12	11	5.22	4.8	0.73
	Liberal Initiative	273,687	4.92	3.6	1	8	7	3.48	3.0	0.71
	Left Bloc	244,603	4.40	5.1	19	5	14	2.17	6.2	0.49
	Unitary Democratic Coalition	238,920	4.29	2.0	12	6	6	2.61	2.6	0.61
	People's^[b]	89,181	1.60	2.4	5	0	5	0.00	2.2	0.0
	People–Animals–Nature	88,152	1.58	1.7	4	1	3	0.43	1.3	0.26
	LIVRE	71,232	1.28	0.2	1	1	0	0.43	0.0	0.33
	Madeira First (PSD/CDS–PP)^[c]	50,636	0.91	0.2	3	3	0	1.30	0.0	1.43
	Democratic Alliance (PSD/CDS–PP/PPM)^[d]	28,330	0.51	0.1	2	2	0	0.87	0.0	1.71
	React, Include, Recycle	23,233	0.42	0.3	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	11,265	0.20	0.5	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	National Democratic Alternative^[e]	10,874	0.20	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Together for the People	10,786	0.19	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Earth	7,561	0.14	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Volt Portugal	6,240	0.11	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Socialist Alternative Movement	6,157	0.11	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Rise Up^[f]	5,043	0.09	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	We, the Citizens!	3,880	0.07	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Labour	3,533	0.06	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Alliance	2,467	0.04	0.7	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	PPM^[g]	260	0.00	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
Total valid		5,417,715	97.36	2.3	230	230	0	100.00	0	—
Blank ballots		63,103	1.13	1.4
Invalid ballots		83,721	1.50	0.9
Total		5,564,539	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		10,813,246	51.46	2.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share

PS			41.38%
PSD			27.66%
CH			7.18%
IL			4.92%
BE			4.40%
CDU			4.29%
CDS-PP			1.60%
PAN			1.58%
L			1.28%
MF			0.91%
AD			0.51%
Others			1.66%
Blank/Invalid			2.63%

Parliamentary seats

PS			52.17%
PSD			31.30%
CH			5.22%
IL			3.48%
CDU			2.61%
BE			2.17%
MF			1.30%
AD			0.87%
PAN			0.43%
L			0.43%

Distribution by constituency

Results of the 2022 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic by constituency
Constituency	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	Total S
Constituency	PS		PSD		CH		IL		CDU		BE		MF^[c]		AD^[d]		PAN		L		Total S
Azores	42.8	3			5.9	-	4.1	-	1.5	-	4.3	-			33.9	2	1.4	-	0.9	-	5
Aveiro	39.5	8	35.7	7	5.6	1	4.5	-	1.8	-	4.6	-					1.3	-	0.8	-	16
Beja	43.7	2	15.9	-	10.3	-	2.1	-	18.4	1	3.7	-					0.9	-	0.7	-	3
Braga	42.0	9	34.8	8	5.8	1	4.3	1	2.6	-	3.7	-					1.2	-	0.8	-	19
Bragança	40.3	2	40.3	1	8.6	-	1.6	-	1.4	-	2.1	-					0.6	-	0.4	-	3
Castelo Branco	47.7	3	27.4	1	8.3	-	2.6	-	2.9	-	4.3	-					1.0	-	0.8	-	4
Coimbra	45.2	6	29.1	3	6.1	-	3.6	-	3.4	-	5.1	-					1.2	-	1.0	-	9
Évora	44.0	2	21.4	1	9.2	-	2.5	-	14.6	-	3.3	-					0.8	-	0.6	-	3
Faro	39.9	5	24.4	3	12.3	1	4.6	-	4.8	-	5.8	-					2.2	-	1.1	-	9
Guarda	45.1	2	33.5	1	8.0	-	1.9	-	1.8	-	3.1	-					0.7	-	0.5	-	3
Leiria	35.7	5	34.7	4	8.0	1	5.3	-	3.1	-	4.5	-					1.3	-	1.1	-	10
Lisbon	40.8	21	24.2	13	7.8	4	7.9	4	5.1	2	4.7	2					2.0	1	2.4	1	48
Madeira	31.5	3			6.1	-	3.3	-	2.0	-	3.2	-	39.8	3			1.6	-	0.7	-	6
Portalegre	47.2	2	23.2	-	11.5	-	2.1	-	7.6	-	2.9	-					0.6	-	0.6	-	2
Porto	42.5	19	32.3	14	4.4	2	5.1	2	3.3	1	4.8	2					1.7	-	1.2	-	40
Santarém	41.2	5	26.9	3	10.9	1	3.8	-	5.4	-	4.6	-					1.2	-	0.9	-	9
Setúbal	45.7	10	16.2	3	9.0	1	5.1	1	10.1	2	5.8	1					2.0	-	1.4	-	18
Viana do Castelo	42.1	3	34.2	3	6.1	-	2.9	-	3.0	-	3.5	-					1.0	-	0.7	-	6
Vila Real	41.3	3	40.0	2	7.2	-	1.8	-	1.7	-	2.3	-					0.8	-	0.6	-	5
Viseu	41.5	4	36.8	4	7.8	-	2.5	-	1.6	-	2.8	-					0.9	-	0.6	-	8
Europe^[h]	33.0	2	15.0	-	7.1	-	2.5	-	1.3	-	2.4	-					2.7	-	1.4	-	2
Outside Europe	29.8	1	37.5	1	9.6	-	3.6	-	1.4	-	2.6	-					4.5	-	1.0	-	2
Total	41.4	120	27.7	72	7.2	12	4.9	8	4.3	6	4.4	5	0.9	3	0.5	2	1.6	1	1.3	1	230
Source: Election Results

Elected Composition of the Assembly of the Republic since 1975

1975–1976
1976–1979
1979–1980
1980–1983
1983–1985
1985–1987
1987–1991
1991–1995
1995–1999
1999–2002
2002–2005
2005–2009
2009–2011
2011–2015
2015–2019
2019–2022
2022–2026

Presidents of the Assembly of the Republic

Notes

^ ^a ^b All of Afghanistan, 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]
^ ^a ^b Only in mainland Portugal
^ ^a ^b In Madeira, the PSD and the CDS–PP contested the elections in a coalition called Madeira First (Madeira Primeiro).
^ ^a ^b 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 September 2021, the Democratic Republican Party (PDR) changed its name to the National Democratic Alternative (ADN).
^ In July 2020, the National Renovator Party (PNR) changed its name to Rise Up (E).
^ PPM list only in Madeira
^ Original election annulled by the Constitutional Court. A rerun was conducted during March 2022.

References

^ Correction declaration no. 83/2017, Diário da República, 31 January 2017 (in Portuguese).
^ Number of voters by district/island/continent, council/country, parish/consulate and consular post, for the legislative elections to the Assembly of the Republic of 30 January 2022, Ministry of Internal Administration of Portugal, 15 January 2022 (in Portuguese).
^ "Official map no. 1-C/2021" (PDF) (in Portuguese). National Elections Commission of Portugal. 6 December 2021.

External links

Official website

[abroad-3] All of Afghanistan, 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_and_CDS-5] Only in mainland Portugal

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

[PSD/CDS/PPM-7] 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).

[PDR-8] In September 2021, the Democratic Republican Party (PDR) changed its name to the National Democratic Alternative (ADN).

[PNR-9] In July 2020, the National Renovator Party (PNR) changed its name to Rise Up (E).

[PPM-10] PPM list only in Madeira

[Europe-11] Original election annulled by the Constitutional Court. A rerun was conducted during March 2022.

[1] Correction declaration no. 83/2017, Diário da República, 31 January 2017 (in Portuguese).

[2] Number of voters by district/island/continent, council/country, parish/consulate and consular post, for the legislative elections to the Assembly of the Republic of 30 January 2022, Ministry of Internal Administration of Portugal, 15 January 2022 (in Portuguese).

[CNE-4] "Official map no. 1-C/2021" (PDF) (in Portuguese). National Elections Commission of Portugal. 6 December 2021.

[a]

[3]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[1]

[2]

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