Districts of Portugal

Last updated

District
Portuguese Districts Map With Names.svg
Category1st-level administrative division
Location Portugal
Created
  • 1835
Number18
Populations104,923 (Portalegre District)–2,275,385 (Lisbon District)
Areas2,255–10,225 km2
Government
  • Appointed administration
Subdivisions

The Districts of Portugal (Portuguese : Distritos de Portugal) are the most important first-level administrative subdivisions of continental Portugal. Currently, mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts.

Contents

As an administrative division, each district serves mainly as the area of jurisdiction of a civil governor, who acts as the local delegate of the Central Government of Portugal.

Overview

The Districts of Portugal were established by a royal decree of 18 July 1835. On the Portuguese mainland, they correspond to the current districts, with the exception of Setúbal District, which is the result of a split of Lisbon District in 1926. This decree did not affect the then extensive colonial empire.

The 1976 Portuguese Constitution specifies that Portugal has only, as first-level divisions, the autonomous regions (Azores and Madeira) and the administrative regions (to be created in mainland Portugal). According to the Constitution, the districts shall be disestablished in territories in which an autonomous or administrative region has been created.

The districts were abolished in Azores and Madeira in 1976, when the autonomous regions were created. In 1998, a proposal was submitted to referendum to create eight administrative regions in mainland Portugal, and so to extinguish the districts. The proposal was rejected at the ballot box and so the districts continued to exist in mainland Portugal. Despite their abolition in the autonomous regions, the areas of the three former districts of Azores are still used as areas of jurisdiction of some government and non-government entities, like the district finance directorates (Tax Authority regional offices) and the district football championships.

However, the importance of the districts has been decreasing. In recent years, some administrative, financial and political competencies have been delivered to the CCDRs (Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional, English: Commission for Regional Coordination and Development) and to the municipalities, to the detriment of the districts. In 2003, the Portuguese municipalities were allowed to organize themselves into intermunicipal communities (comunidades intermunicipais) and metropolitan areas (áreas metropolitanas), which allowed for a lessening in the importance of the districts.

Also, the abolition of the districts is a subject that returned to discussion in Portuguese society. In 2009, during the campaign for the legislative election of 2009, the leader of the Socialist Party, José Sócrates, promised a new referendum to the administrative regions [1] and therefore, the abolition of districts, if he won the election. Other personalities support the creation of administrative regions and therefore the abolition of districts.

Despite being in the process of being phased out by the decentralisation policies of the government, the districts still remain the most relevant subdivision in the country by serving as a basis for a series of administrative divisions such as electoral constituencies, police, and civil protection regional commands; sports district associations; and championships.

On September 8, 2011, a decree from the Portuguese Government de facto extinguished all the offices of civil governor by transferring most of their functions to other bodies. As the existence of the civil governors is still included in the Portuguese Constitution, its de jure extinction may occur only after a constitutional amendment.

Present purpose

In mainland Portugal, for administrative purposes, the districts are still used as the areas of jurisdiction of the local branches and field offices of several Government ministries and agencies. Some of the bodies that have each district as their jurisdiction area are:

Furthermore:

For non-Government purposes, the districts are used as the area of jurisdiction of many entities, including:

List

DistrictMunicipalitiesParishesPop.
(2021) [2] 		Area
(km2)		Density
(/km2)
Azores (autonomous region)19156236,4132,322106
Aveiro 19147700,7872,798250
Beja 1475144,40110,22914
Braga 14347846,2932,706313
Bragança 12226122,8046,60819
Castelo Branco 11120177,9626,67527
Coimbra 17155408,5513,947104
Évora 1469152,4447,39321
Faro 1667467,3434,96094
Guarda 14242142,9745,51826
Leiria 16110458,6053,505131
Lisbon 161342,275,3852,761824
Madeira (autonomous region)1154250,744801334
Portalegre 1569104,9236,06517
Porto 182431,785,4052,408742
Santarém 21141424,9736,74763
Setúbal 1355874,8065,064173
Viana do Castelo 10208231,2662,255103
Vila Real 14197185,6954,32843
Viseu 24277351,2925,00770
Total Portugal3083,09210,343,06692,097112

Former districts of Portugal

Azores

Madeira

Mainland Portugal

Former districts of the Portuguese overseas provinces

Following the model of European Portugal, the major Portuguese overseas territories (Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese India) were also divided in districts. In these territories, each district was headed by a district governor, subordinated to the governor-general. In Angola and Mozambique, the former district areas mostly coincide with the modern province areas. In the former Portuguese India, the Damão and Diu districts are still divisions of the present union territory of Daman and Diu, while the present state of Goa (former Goa District) is now divided into two districts.

Angola

Mozambique

Portuguese India

See also

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The present Portuguese order of precedence is defined by the Law of the Precedences of Protocol of the Portuguese State of 25th August 2006. This defines the following precedence:

  1. The President of the Republic
  2. The President of the Assembly of the Republic
  3. The Prime Minister
  4. The President of the Supreme Court and the President of the Constitutional Court
  5. The President of the Supreme Administrative Court and the President of the Court of Auditors
  6. Former Presidents of the Republic
  7. Ministers of the Government of Portugal
  8. The Leader of the Opposition
  9. Vice-presidents of the Assembly of the Republic and Presidents of the parliamentary groups
  10. The Attorney-general of the Republic
  11. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
  12. The Ombudsman
  13. Representatives of the Republic to the Autonomous Regions
  14. Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Autonomous Regions
  15. Presidents of the Regional Governments
  16. Leaders of other parties with seats in the Assembly of the Republic
  17. Former Presidents of the Assembly of the Republic and former Prime Ministers
  18. Councilors of State
  19. Presidents of Permanent Commissions of the Assembly of the Republic
  20. Secretaries and under-secretaries of State of the Government of Portugal
  21. Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force
  22. Members of the Assembly of the Republic
  23. Members of the European Parliament
  24. Marshals and Admirals of the fleet
  25. Chiefs of the Civilian House and Military House of the President of the Republic
  26. Presidents of the Economic and Social Council, of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and of the National Association of Freguesias
  27. The Governor of the Bank of Portugal
  28. Chancellors of Honorific Orders of Portugal
  29. Vice-presidents of the Supreme Judges Council
  30. Judges of the Constitutional Court
  31. Judges of the Supreme Court, Supreme Administrative Court, and Court of Audits
  32. Regional secretaries and under-secretaries of the Governments of the Autonomous Regions
  33. Members of the Legislative Assemblies of Autonomous Regions
  34. The Commandant-general of the National Republican Guard and the National Director of the Public Security Police
  35. Secretaries-general of the Presidency of the Republic, of the Assembly of the Republic, of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  36. The Chief of Protocol
  37. Presidents of intermediate level courts (Relação), Presidents of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities and of the Coordinator Council of the Polytechnics, leaders of the Bar Associations and Presidents of professional associations of public law
  38. Presidents of the Portuguese Academy of History and the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Rectors of universities and Presidents of Polytechnics
  39. Members of the councils of the Honorific Orders of Portugal
  40. Judges of intermediate level courts and deputies attorneys-general, vice-rectors of universities and vice-presidents of polytechnics
  41. Presidents of the municipal councils (Mayors)
  42. Presidents of the municipal assemblies
  43. Civil governors of districts
  44. Chiefs of Staff of the President of the Republic, President of the Assembly of the Republic, and Prime Minister
  45. Presidents, members and secretaries-general of councils, national councils, superior councils, oversight councils, national commissions, high authorities, high commissioners, oversight committees, by order of seniority of the respective institution, directors-general and presidents of public institutions, by order of their respective ministries, the head of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia, and the President of the Portuguese Red Cross
  46. Admirals and general officers with command functions, by order of military rank, operational commanders and commanders of military zone, maritime zone, and air zone, of the Autonomous Regions of Azores and Madeira
  47. Directors of the National Defense Institute and the Joint Command and Staff College, commanders of the Military Academy, Naval School, and Air Force Academy, admirals and general officers of 3 and 2 stars
  48. Chiefs of staff of members of government
  49. Deputies directors-general and regional directors
  50. Judges and attorneys-general
  51. Aldermans (vereadores) of municipal councils
  52. Aides of the President of the Republic, of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, and of the Prime Minister
  53. Presidents of Civil Parishes
  54. Members of municipal assemblies
  55. Presidents of parish assemblies and members of civil parishes and parish assemblies
  56. Directors of service
  57. Chiefs of division
  58. Aides of members of government

References

Notes
  1. ↑ "Sócrates quer maioria absoluta, promete referendo à regionalização e defende casamento homossexual - Política - PUBLICO.PT". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  2. ↑ "Definitive Results of the 2021 Census". ine.pt. INE . Retrieved 26 November 2022.
Sources
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