Assembly of the Republic

This article is about the Portuguese parliament. For the Mozambique legislature, see Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique. For the Northern Cyprus legislature, see Assembly of the Republic (Northern Cyprus).

Assembly of the Republic Assembleia da República
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
President of the Assembly	Maria da Assunção Esteves, Social Democratic since 21 June 2011
Structure
Members	230
Political groups	Government coalition      Social Democratic Party (108)      People's Party (24) Opposition parties      Socialist Party (74)      Communist Party (14)      Left Bloc (8)      "The Greens" (2)
Elections
Voting system	D'Hondt method
Last election	5 June 2011
Meeting place
São Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Website
Assembleia da República

The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: Assembleia da República, pronounced: [ɐsẽˈblɐjɐ dɐ ʁɛˈpublikɐ]) is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery. The Palace of São Bento was formerly known as the seat of the National Assembly (Assembleia Nacional) during the Estado Novo regime.

According to the Portuguese Constitution, the unicameral Assembly "is the representative assembly of all Portuguese citizens." The constitution names the assembly as one of the country's organs of supreme authority.

Powers and duties of the Assembly

The Assembly of the Republic's powers derives from its power to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence, to change the country's laws, and to amend the constitution (this one 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 consisted at first of 250 members, 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 (eighteen in mainland Portugal corresponding to each district, one for each autonomous regions, Azores (Portuguese: Açores) and Madeira, one for Portuguese living in Europe and a last one for those living in the rest of the world. Except for the constituencies for Portuguese living abroad, which are fixed at two members each, the number of voters registered in a constituency determines the number of its members in the assembly, 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.

São Bento Palace, home of the Portuguese Parliament.

Portugal

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Portugal

Constitution Constitution President President (List) Aníbal Cavaco Silva Council of State Government Prime Minister (List) Pedro Passos Coelho Cabinet Legislative Assembly of the Republic Assunção Esteves Judiciary Supreme Court of Justice Constitutional Court Elections Presidential (2011) European (2009) Parliamentary (2011) Local (2009) Political Parties Politicians Divisions Subdivisions Districts Autonomous regions Municipalities Parishes Foreign policy EU Politics Foreign relations

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

The President of the Republic Assembly is the second hierarchical figure in the Portuguese state and is usually nominated by the party that holds the majority of the seats, the President is aided by four vice-presidents, nominated by the other parties represented in the parliament and is usually the speaker, when he is 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 to job, the President of the Assembly of the Republic becomes his substitute.

Latest election

e • d Summary of the 5 June 2011 Assembly of the Republic elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs					MPs %/ votes %
					2009	2011	±	%	±
	Social Democratic	2,159,181	38.66	9.6	81	108	27	46.96	11.7	1.21
	Socialist	1,566,347	28.05	8.5	97	74	23	32.17	10.0	1.15
	People's Party	653,888	11.71	1.3	21	24	3	10.43	1.3	0.89
	Democratic Unity Coalition	441,147	7.90	0.0	15	16	1	6.96	0.4	0.88
	Left Bloc	288,923	5.17	4.6	16	8	8	3.48	3.5	0.67
	PCTP/MRPP	62,610	1.12	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Party for Animals and Nature	57,995	1.04	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Earth Party	22,705	0.41	0.3	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Hope for Portugal Movement	21,942	0.39	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	National Renovator Party	17,548	0.31	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Labour Party	16,895	0.30	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	People's Monarchist Party	14,687	0.26	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	New Democracy Party	11,806	0.21	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Portugal pro life	8,209	0.15	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity	4,572	0.08	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0.0
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic	4,569	0.08	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
	Humanist Party	3,588	0.06	—	—	0	—	0.00	—	0.0
Total valid		5,357,037	95.92	1.0	230	230	0	100.00	0.0	—
Blank ballots		148,618	2.66	0.9
Invalid ballots		79,399	1.42	0.1
Total (turnout 58.03%)		5,585,054	100.00	1.7
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Distribution by constituency

e • d Results of the 2011 election of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic
by constituency

Constituency	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	Total S
	PSD		PS		CDS–PP		CDU		BE
Azores	47.2	3	25.7	2	12.1	-	2.5	-	4.4	-	5
Aveiro	44.5	8	25.9	5	12.9	2	4.1	-	5.0	1	16
Beja	23.7	1	29.8	1	7.3	-	25.4	1	5.2	-	3
Braga	40.1	9	32.9	7	10.4	2	4.9	1	4.2	-	19
Bragança	52.1	2	26.1	1	11.1	-	2.6	-	2.3	-	3
Castelo Branco	37.9	2	34.8	2	9.6	-	4.9	-	4.2	-	4
Coimbra	40.1	5	29.2	3	9.9	1	6.2	-	5.8	-	9
EvoraÉvora	27.6	1	29.0	1	8.7	-	22.0	1	4.9	-	3
Faro	37.0	4	23.0	2	12.7	1	8.6	1	8.2	1	9
Guarda	46.3	3	28.3	1	11.2	-	3.6	-	3.4	-	4
Leiria	47.0	6	20.7	3	12.8	1	5.0	-	5.4	-	10
Lisbon	34.1	18	27.5	14	13.8	7	9.6	5	5.7	3	47
Madeira	49.4	4	14.7	1	13.7	1	3.7	-	4.0	-	6
Portalegre	32.5	1	32.4	1	10.2	-	12.8	-	4.5	-	2
Porto	39.2	17	32.0	14	10.0	4	6.2	2	5.1	2	39
Santarém	37.6	5	25.9	3	12.3	1	9.0	1	5.8	-	10
Setúbal	25.2	5	26.9	5	12.1	2	19.6	4	7.1	1	17
Viana do Castelo	43.6	3	26.2	2	13.4	1	4.9	-	4.4	-	6
Vila Real	51.4	3	29.1	2	8.7	-	3.1	-	2.3	-	5
Viseu	48.4	5	26.7	3	12.4	1	2.9	-	2.9	-	9
zEurope	29.2	1	39.6	1	5.5	-	4.4	-	3.3	-	2
zRest of the World	55.1	2	18.0	-	4.1	-	0.8	-	1.1	-	2
Total	38.7	108	28.1	74	11.7	24	7.9	16	5.2	8	230
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Presidents

Presidents of the National Assembly

e • d 

#		President	Party	Term
-		Albino Soares Pinto dos Reis	UN	1945 - 1961
-		Mário de Figueiredo	UN	1961 - 1969
-		Carlos Monteiro do Amaral Neto	UN	1969 - 1974

President of the Constituent Assembly

e • d 

#		President	Party	Term
1		Henrique Teixeira de Queirós de Barros	PS	1975 - 1976

Presidents of the Assembly of the Republic

e • d 

#		President	Party	Term
1		Vasco da Gama Fernandes	PS	1976 - 1978
2		Teófilo Carvalho dos Santos	PS	1978 - 1980
3		Leonardo Eugénio Ramos Ribeiro de Almeida	PSD	1980 - 1981
4		Francisco Manuel Lopes Vieira de Oliveira Dias	CDS	1981 - 1982
5		Leonardo Eugénio Ramos Ribeiro de Almeida	PSD	1982 - 1983
6		Manuel Alfredo Tito de Morais	PS	1983 - 1984
7		Fernando Monteiro do Amaral	PSD	1984 - 1987
8		Victor Pereira Crespo	PSD	1987 - 1991
9		António Moreira Barbosa de Melo	PSD	1991 - 1995
10		António de Almeida Santos	PS	1995 - 2002
11		João Bosco Soares da Mota Amaral	PSD	2002 - 2005
12		Jaime José de Matos da Gama	PS	2005 - 2011
13		Maria da Assunção Esteves	PSD	2011–Present

See also

• São Bento Palace
• ARtv (Portugal)

Notes

External links

• Official webpage of the Assembly of the Republic