Jesse Ventura

Assembly of the Republic Assembleia da República
17th legislature
Emblem and Flag of the Assembly
Logo of the Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Term limits	None
History
Founded	April 25, 1976 (1976-04-25)
Preceded by	Constituent Assembly
New session started	March 10, 2024 (2024-03-10)
Leadership
President	José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, PPD/PSD
Vice-Presidents	Teresa Morais (PPD/PSD) Vacant (CH) Marcos Perestrello (PS) Rodrigo Saraiva (IL)
Structure
Seats	230
Political groups	Government (91)   PPD/PSD (89)   CDS–PP (2) Opposition (139)   CH (60)   PS (58)   IL (9)   LIVRE (6)   PCP (3)   BE (1)   PAN (1)   JPP (1)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	Closed list proportional representation D'Hondt method
First election	April 25, 1976
Last election	May 18, 2025
Next election	By 14 October 2029
Meeting place
São Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Website
www.parlamento.pt
Constitution
Constitution of Portugal - Part 3 - Title 3

Politics of Portugal
Constitution
Executive President (list) Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Prime Minister (list) Luís Montenegro Cabinet
Legislature Assembly of the Republic President: José Pedro Aguiar-Branco
Judiciary Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Justice Court of Auditors Supreme Administrative Court
Elections Recent elections Presidential: 2016 2021 2026 Legislative: 2022 2024 2025 Local: 2017 2021 2025 European: 2014 2019 2024 Political parties Politicians
Administrative divisions Districts Autonomous regions Municipalities (list) Freguesias (list)
Foreign relations Spain-Portugal relations Portugal–United Kingdom relations France–Portugal relations Italy–Portugal relations Brazil-Portugal relations Portugal–United States relations China–Portugal relations Angola–Portugal relations Mozambique–Portugal relations Canada–Portugal relations Portugal–Sweden relations
Portugal portal Other countries

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).

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.

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 European countries and one covering the rest of the world). 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 Lisbon, which elects 48 representatives, to as small as Portalegre, which elects just two.

For the 2025 legislative elections, the MPs were distributed by constituencies as follows:^[1]

Constituency	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	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.

Summary of the 18 May 2025 Assembly of the Republic elections results

Parties			Votes	%	±pp swing	MPs
						2024	2025	±	%	±
		AD – PSD/CDS Coalition (PSD/CDS–PP)[a]	1,971,602	31.20	3.0	78	88	10	38.26	4.4
		PSD/CDS/PPM coalition (PSD/CDS–PP/PPM)[b]	36,886	0.58	0.1	2	3	1	1.33	0.4
	Total AD – PSD/CDS Coalition[a]		2,008,488	31.78	3.0	80	91	11	39.57	4.8
		Socialist	1,442,546	22.83	5.2	78	58	20	25.22	8.7
		CHEGA	1,438,554	22.76	4.7	50	60	10	26.09	4.4
		Liberal Initiative	338,974	5.36	0.3	8	9	1	3.91	0.4
		LIVRE	257,291	4.07	0.8	4	6	2	2.61	0.9
		Unitary Democratic Coalition	183,686	2.91	0.2	4	3	1	1.30	0.4
		Left Bloc	125,808	1.99	2.5	5	1	4	0.43	1.8
		People–Animals–Nature	86,930	1.38	0.6	1	1	0	0.43	0.0
		National Democratic Alternative	81,660	1.29	0.3	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Together for the People	20,900	0.33	0.0	0	1	1	0.43	0.4
		React, Include, Recycle	14,021	0.22	0.2	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Volt Portugal	12,150	0.19	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Portuguese Workers' Communist	11,896	0.19	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		New Right	10,216	0.16	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Rise Up	9,046	0.14	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Liberal Social	7,332	0.12	—	—	0	—	0.00	—
		People's Monarchist	5,616	0.09	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		We, the Citizens!	3,304	0.05	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Earth[c]	478	0.01	0.1	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
		Labour	425	0.01	0.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.0
Total valid			6,059,321	95.88	0.2	230	230	0	100.00	0.0
Blank ballots			87,654	1.39	0.0
Invalid ballots			172,994	2.74	0.2
Total			6,319,969	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			10,848,816	58.25	1.6
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[2]

Legislatures since 1975

Election	No.	Parliament	Parties represented		Term
			Government	Opposition
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	3rd		PS (94)   PPD/PSD (75)   UEDS (4)   ASDI (3)	PCP (41)   CDS (30)   MDP (3)	1983–1985
1985	4th		PPD/PSD (88)   PRD (45)[d]   CDS (22)[d]	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
			PS (86)   BE (19)[d]   PCP (15)[d]   PEV (2)[d]	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)	2024–2025
2025	17th		PPD/PSD (89)   CDS–PP (2)	CH (60)   PS (58)   IL (9)   L (6)   PCP (3)   BE (1)   PAN (1)   JPP (1)	2025–

• São Bento Palace
• ARtv (Portugal)
• Legislative Assembly of Madeira
• Legislative Assembly of the Azores

• Official website