I and II Constitutional Governments (1976–1978)

The Socialist Party, under the leadership of Mário Soares, rose to power after the 1976 legislative elections and formed the I Constitutional Government. However, this government faced a lot of problems due to the country's economic situation, and in 1978, the II Constitutional Government, a coalition between the Socialists and the Democratic and Social Centre, was sworn in. The coalition only lasted eight months and Mário Soares resigned.^[5]

III, IV and V Constitutional Governments (1978–1980)

President Eanes then nominated the III Constitutional Government, under the leadership of Alfredo Nobre da Costa, which was sworn in on late August 1978, but lasted just three months as it failed to gain Parliamentary support.^[6]

The IV Constitutional Government, under the leadership of Carlos Mota Pinto, was sworn in on late November 1978, but, like the previous government, lasted very little, eight months, due to its failure to pass policies in Parliament.^[7]

The President then sworn in the V Constitutional Government, under the leadership of Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, the first and still only female Prime Minister in Portuguese history. The government managed the country until the early elections of December 1979.^[8]

VI, VII, VIII Constitutional Governments (1980–1983)

The Democratic Alliance, under the leadership of Francisco Sá Carneiro, won the 1979 legislative elections by a big margin and the VI Constitutional Government was sworn in on January 1980. Sá Carneiro's tenure was short lived as he died in a tragic plane crash in December 1980.^[9]

In January 1981, the Social Democratic Party, the main party within the Democratic Alliance, elected Francisco Pinto Balsemão as leader and the VII Constitutional Government was sworn in.^[10] Internal issues within the Alliance forced a new government to take office, the VIII Constitutional Government, in September 1981, also led by Pinto Balsemão. Balsemão resigned in late 1982.^[11]

XI Constitutional Government (1983–1985)

The Socialist Party, under the leadership of Mário Soares, returned to power after the 1983 early elections and formed a Central Bloc government, the IX Constitutional Government, between the two main parties, the Socialists and the Social Democrats. Soares resigned in June 1985 after the Social Democrats withdrew from government.^[12]

X, XI and XII Constitutional Governments (1985–1995)

The Social Democratic Party, under the leadership of Aníbal Cavaco Silva, rose to power after the 1985 legislative elections and formed a minority government. However, the government lost the confidence of Parliament in April 1987 after losing a non-confidence vote.^[13] After this, President Mário Soares called an early election for July 1987.

The 1987 early elections were held on 19 July and resulted in a landslide majority government for the Social Democrats, the first time a party won a majority on its own in democracy.^[14] The XI Constitutional Government, the first one to finish a full 4-year term in democracy, was sworn in on 17 August 1987. During this term, the PSD government initiated a big program of liberalization and privatization of several sectors of the economy.^[15]

In the 1991 election the Social Democrats were returned again to power and, also, with an absolute majority. It was the third consecutive election victory for the PSD, a record in democracy. The XII Constitutional Government was sworn in on 31 October 1991. After 1992, the economy fell into a recession and despite the recession being over by mid 1994, the government was badly hit and Cavaco Silva decided to not run for a fourth term as prime minister.^[16] Cavaco Silva's 10-year tenure as prime minister is the longest, so far, in democracy.^[17]

XIII and XIV Constitutional Governments (1995–2002)

The Socialist Party, under the leadership of António Guterres, came to power following the October 1995 legislative elections. The Socialists later won a new mandate by winning exactly half the parliamentary seats in the October 1999 election, and constituting then the XIV Constitutional Government. Socialist Jorge Sampaio won the February 1996 presidential elections with nearly 54% of the vote. Sampaio's election marked the first time since the 1974 revolution that a single party held the prime ministership, the presidency, and a plurality of the municipalities. Local elections were held in December 1997.

Prime Minister Guterres continued the privatization and modernization policies begun by his predecessor, Aníbal Cavaco Silva (in office 1985–1995) of the Social Democratic Party. Guterres was a vigorous proponent of the effort to include Portugal in the first round of countries to collaborate and put into effect the euro in 1999. In international relations, Guterres pursued strong ties with the United States and greater Portuguese integration with the European Union while continuing to raise Portugal's profile through an activist foreign policy. One of his first decisions as prime minister was to send 900 troops to participate in the IFOR peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Portugal later contributed 320 troops to SFOR, the follow-up Bosnia operation. Portugal also contributed aircraft and personnel to NATO's Operation Allied Force in Kosovo.

XV Constitutional Government (2002–2004)

The XV Constitutional Government was led by José Manuel Durão Barroso, leader of the Social Democratic Party in coalition with the People's Party, whose leader, Paulo Portas, became Minister of Defence.

XVI Constitutional Government (2004–2005)

After José Manuel Durão Barroso accepted the invitation to be the next European Commission President, a new government had to be formed. Though opposition parties called for general elections, President Jorge Sampaio named Pedro Santana Lopes, the new Social Democratic Party leader, as prime minister, who thus formed a new government, in coalition with the People's Party. However, in December 2004, due to several controversies involving the government, the President dissolved the parliament and called for early elections. Santana Lopes resigned after the announcement of the President's decision.

XVII and XVIII Constitutional Governments (2005–2011)

In the elections on 20 February, the Socialist Party obtained its largest victory ever, achieving an absolute majority for the first time in the party's history. Prime Minister José Sócrates was sworn in by President Jorge Sampaio on 12 March. To many's surprise, Sócrates formed a cabinet made up of roughly half senior members of the Socialist Party and half independents, notably including Diogo Freitas do Amaral, founder of the right wing People's Party, who assumed office as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (he later resigned due to personal issues).

In the elections on 27 September 2009, The Socialist Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister José Sócrates, won the largest number of seats, but did not repeat the overall majority they gained in 2005. Sócrates was reconducted but lost his majority. The 2010 European debt crisis led Portugal to ask for a bailout from the IMF and the European Union. This situation led to the resignation of José Sócrates as prime minister and the President dissolved the parliament and called for early elections.

XIX and XX Constitutional Governments (2011–2015)

In the elections held on 5 June 2011, the Social Democratic Party won enough seats to form a majority government with the People's Party. The Government was led by Pedro Passos Coelho. It had 11 ministers and was sworn in on 21 June.

The Portuguese legislative election of 2015 was held on 4 October. The results display a relative victory of the right-wing coalition, but they also display a combined victory of the left-wing parties (including the Socialist Party), with a hung parliament (a right-wing single winner and a left-wing majority parliament). After the election The XX Constitutional Government of Portugal had Pedro Passos Coelho (PSD) as the prime minister and lasted from 30 October 2015 to 26 November 2015. However, the Government Programme was rejected by the Parliament. It was the shortest-lived Portuguese national government since the Carnation Revolution.

XXI, XXII and XXIII Constitutitional Governments (2015–)

The 21st cabinet of the Portuguese government since the establishment of the current constitution. It was established on 26 November 2015 as a Socialist Party (PS) minority government led by Prime Minister António Costa.

The Portuguese legislative election of 2019 was held on 6 October 2019. The centre-left Socialist Party (PS) of incumbent Prime Minister Costa obtained the largest share of the vote, and the most seats. The XXII Constitutional Government of Portugal is the current cabinet of the Portuguese government. It was established on 26 October 2019 as a Socialist Party (PS) minority government led by Prime Minister António Costa. In October 2021, the budget proposed by the government was rejected by Parliament, leading President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to call an early election for January 2022.^[18]

The 2022 early elections were held on 30 January 2022. The election resulted in an absolute majority for the Socialist Party, the second in its history.^[19] However, the government swearing in was postponed because of a rerun in the overseas constituency of Europe, and the XXIII Constitutitional Government, led by Prime Minister António Costa, was only sworn in on 30 March 2022.^[20] António Costa resigned on 7 November 2023, following the Operation Influencer police searches into government contracts surrounding lithium and hydrogen businesses.^[21] The President dissolved parliament and called early elections.^[22]

President

Belém Palace, the official residence of the President.

The President, elected to a 5-year term by direct, universal suffrage, is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Presidential powers include appointing the prime minister and Council of Ministers, in which the President must be guided by the assembly election results; dismissing the prime minister; dissolving the assembly to call early elections; vetoing legislation, which may be overridden by the assembly; and declaring a state of war or siege.

The Council of State, a presidential advisory body, is composed of:^[23]

• The President of the Assembly of the Republic
• The Prime Minister of Portugal
• The President of the Constitutional Court of Portugal
• The Ombudsman of Portugal
• Both Presidents of the regional governments of the autonomous regions (Madeira and Azores)
• Former Presidents of the Republic
• Five citizens appointed by the President of the Republic
• Five citizens appointed by the Assembly of the Republic

The president, according to the election results, names the party that shall form a government, whose leader is appointed prime minister. The prime minister names the Council of Ministers, and the ministers name their Secretaries of State. A new government is required to define the broad outline of its policy in a program and present it to the assembly for a mandatory period of debate. Failure of the assembly to reject the program by a majority of deputies confirms the government in office.

Legislative branch

São Bento Palace, the meeting place of Parliament.

Legislative power is exercised by the Assembly of the Republic, which is the parliament of Portugal, although the Government also has a more limited ability to legislate on some matters (on others, Parliament has exclusive legislative competence). It is also the body which holds the Government accountable and has the means to remove it from office at any time, as described earlier, primarily through a motion of no confidence, although alternative methods exist.^[2]

The Assembly of the Republic is a unicameral body composed of 230 deputies (that is, members of parliament). Elected by universal suffrage according to a system of proportional representation, deputies serve terms of office of 4 years, unless the president dissolves the assembly and calls for new elections.^[2] According to the constitution, members of the assembly represent the entire country, not the constituency from which they are elected.

Political parties in legislative elections

For other political parties, see List of political parties in Portugal. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Portugal.

Main article: 2022 Portuguese legislative election

Summary of the 30 January 2022 Assembly of the Republic elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
					2019	2022	±	%	±
	Socialist	2,302,601	41.38	5.1	108	120	12	52.17	5.2	1.26
	Social Democratic[lower-alpha 2]	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[lower-alpha 2]	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)[lower-alpha 3]	50,636	0.91	0.2	3	3	0	1.30	0.0	1.43
	Democratic Alliance (PSD/CDS–PP/PPM)[lower-alpha 4]	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[lower-alpha 5]	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[lower-alpha 6]	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
	People's Monarchist[lower-alpha 7]	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

Executive branch

São Bento Mansion, the official residence of the Prime Minister.

Executive power is exercised by the Government of Portugal. The Government is formed after the President appoints the prime minister based on election results, as described earlier – traditionally, the leader of the most voted party.

The Government can only remain in place for as long as the Parliament allows: the Parliament can remove the Government at the beginning by approving a motion of rejection to the introductory Government programme, or at any time by approving a motion of no confidence, either of which is achieved by a simple majority; the Government may also, of its own initiative, choose to present at any time a motion of confidence, which acts as the opposite of a motion of no confidence: if rejected, the Government is removed. Finally, the Government also relies on Parliament to approve the state budget, which also allows Parliament to indirectly force the Government to resign by rejecting its budget proposal. Thus, the Government, although not directly elected, is held accountable before Parliament, which is proportionally representative of the people.^[2] Typically, once the Government is removed from office, the President will call a snap election (also known as an early election).

Judicial branch

Supreme Court of Justice's seat.

Administrative Supreme Court's seat.

Ratton Palace, the Constitutional Court's seat.

The national Supreme Court is the court of last appeal in civil and criminal matters, which is described by the Constitution as the "the senior organ in the hierarchy of the courts of law". There is a separate system of courts for administrative and fiscal matters, for which the court of last appeal is the Supreme Administrative Court. During war time, the law provides for there being military courts. A thirteen-member Constitutional Court reviews the constitutionality of legislation. There is also a Court of Auditors.