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110 seats to the Chamber of Deputies 56 seats needed for a majority | ||
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Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal between 10 and 27 December 1820. [1] They followed the Liberal Revolution on 24 August. These were the first parliamentary elections in Portugal. [2] This election aimed to form assemblies in three levels: parochial, provincial, and the Constituent Cortes of 1820. [3]
Portugal was ruled as an absolute monarchy since 1698, the last time Portugal had any sort of representative assembly prior to 1820. [4] The Liberal Revolution had as its main political objective the creation of a democratically elected parliament, but there were three approaches to what sort of parliamentary government should be established: [5]
While the latter option initially won, the aftermath of the Martinhada (11 November 1820) would lead to the Spanish Constitution of 1812 option being implemented in the 1820 elections. [5]
The new electoral law was introduced on 22 November and had been directly translated from 1812 Spanish constitution, which had a wide electoral franchise but indirect electoral system. [6] All literate men had the right to vote except monks, servants, and some other groups. [1] Otherwise eligible men in Portuguese colonies were also allowed to vote. [3] In a three-stage process, the electorate directly elected members of parochial assemblies, who then elected provincial assemblies whose members then elected the members of the legislature (i.e., the Constituent Cortes of 1820). [6] [3] There were a total of six provinces in mainland Portugal: Alentejo, Beira, Estremadura, Minho, Trás-os-Montes, and Algarve. [3]
The 110 elected members included 43 jurists and magistrates, 20 academics, 15 members of the church, 11 military personnel, five property owners, three physicians and three tradespeople. [1] The vast majority were members of masonic societies. [1]
This election would form the Constituent Cortes of 1820, which would nominate a new government (the Regência which replaced the provisional government Junta Provisional do Governo Supremo do Reino), create the Portuguese Constitution of 1822 and order John VI of Portugal to return from Brazil to swear the 1822 Constitution. [7] A second legislative election was held in 1822, the only to be held under the Constitution of 1822. [8] The Vilafrancada (27 May 1823) would bring an end to the 1822 Constitution. [7]
A constituent assembly is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected by popular vote, drawn by sortition, appointed, or some combination of these methods. Assemblies are typically considered distinct from a regular legislature, although members of the legislature may compose a significant number or all of its members. As the fundamental document constituting a state, a constitution cannot normally be modified or amended by the state's normal legislative procedures in some jurisdictions; instead a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly, the rules for which are normally laid down in the constitution, must be set up. A constituent assembly is usually set up for its specific purpose, which it carries out in a relatively short time, after which the assembly is dissolved. A constituent assembly is a form of representative democracy.
The Cortes Generales are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate.
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The present Constitution of Portugal was adopted in 1976 after the Carnation Revolution. It was preceded by a number of constitutions including the first one created in 1822, 1826, 1838, 1911, and 1933.
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Spain in the 19th century was a country in turmoil. Occupied by Napoleon from 1808 to 1814, a massively destructive "liberation war" ensued. Following the Spanish Constitution of 1812, Spain was divided between the 1812 constitution's liberal principles and the absolutism personified by the rule of Ferdinand VII, who repealed the 1812 Constitution for the first time in 1814, only to be forced to swear over the constitution again in 1820 after a liberal pronunciamiento, giving way to the brief Trienio Liberal (1820–1823).
The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional cortes, which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous ones.
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The Diputación Provincial, Spanish for Provincial Deputation, was a type of institution created by the Spanish Constitution of 1812 to provide a representation of the territorial divisions of both Spain and the Hispanic American territories of the Spanish Empire, during the term of the Cortes of Cádiz. The Cortes created new structures for home rule, the provincial deputations and the constitutional ayuntamientos. The provincial deputations were a way by which regions ruled by juntas and areas in rebellion in the Americas could keep local control, but maintain their ties to the larger Spanish Empire.
The Act of Independence of Central America, also known as the Act of Independence of Guatemala, is the legal document by which the Provincial Council of the Province of Guatemala proclaimed the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire and invited the other provinces of the Captaincy General of Guatemala to send envoys to a congress to decide the form of the region's independence. It was enacted on 15 September 1821.
The Constitution of Costa Rica is the supreme law of Costa Rica. At the end of the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War, José Figueres Ferrer oversaw the Costa Rican Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the document. It was approved on 1949 November 7. Several older constitutions had been in effect starting from 1812, with the most recent former constitution ratified in 1871. The Costa Rican Constitution is remarkable in that in its Article 12 abolished the Costa Rican military, making it the second nation after Japan to do so by law. Another unusual clause is an amendment asserting the right to live in a healthy natural environment.
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 22 November 1822. The elections were the only vote held under the 1822 constitution, which provided for a unicameral legislature.
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 8 and 17 October 1826.
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 13 and 27 July 1834.
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 17 and 31 July 1836.
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 20 November 1836.
The history of the Costa Rican legislature is long and starts from even before its formal independence from the Spanish Empire. Costa Rica is one of the world's oldest democracies, thus, its parliamentary history dates back several centuries.
The Pact of Concord was the provisional Constitution of Costa Rica between 1821 and 1823, officially named the Interim Fundamental Social Pact of the Province of Costa Rica.
The Constituent Cortes of 1820, formal title The General and Extraordinary Cortes of the Portuguese Nation, also frequently known as the Sovereign Congress or the Cortes Constituintes Vintistas, was the first modern Portuguese parliament. Created after the Liberal Revolution of 1820 to prepare a constitution for Portugal and its overseas territories, it used a different system from the traditional General Cortes for choosing representatives, and the three traditional feudal estates no longer sat separately. The Cortes sat between January 24, 1821 and November 4, 1822 at the Necessidades Palace in Lisbon. The work of the Constitutional Cortes culminated in the approval of the Portuguese Constitution of 1822.
The Portuguese Constitution of 1822 approved on 23 September 1822 was the first Portuguese constitution, marking an attempt to end absolutism and introduce a constitutional monarchy. Although it was actually in force only for two brief periods, 1822–23 and 1836–38, it was fundamental to the history of democracy in Portugal. It was replaced by the Constitutional Charter of 1826.
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