Politics in Portugal operates as a unitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic,whereby the Prime Minister of Portugal is the head of government,and the President of Portugal is the non-executive head of state with several significant political powers they exercise often. Executive power is exercised by the Government,whose leader is the prime minister. Legislative power is primarily vested in the Assembly of the Republic,although the government is also able to legislate on certain matters. The Judiciary of Portugal is independent of the executive and the legislature. The President exerts a sort of "moderating power",not easily classified into any of the traditional three branches of government.
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action. The PS is a member of the Socialist International,Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists,and has nine members in the European Parliament within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group during the 9th European Parliament. It was the governing party of Portugal between November 2015 and April 2024,subsequently winning the 2019 and 2022 legislative elections.
The Social Democratic Party is a liberal-conservative political party in Portugal. Commonly known by its colloquial initials PSD,on ballot papers its initials appear as its official form PPD/PSD,with the first three letters coming from the party's original name,the Democratic People's Party. A party of the centre-right,the PSD is one of the two major parties in Portuguese politics,its rival being the Socialist Party (PS) on the centre-left.
The Unitary Democratic Coalition is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Ecologist Party "The Greens". The coalition also integrates the political movement Democratic Intervention.
Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 23 January 2011. The elections resulted in the re-election of Aníbal Cavaco Silva to a second term as President of Portugal. Turnout in this election was very low,where only 46.52% of the electorate cast their ballots. Cavaco Silva won by a landslide winning all 18 districts,both Autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira and 292 municipalities of a total of 308.
The 2015 Portuguese legislative election was held on 4 October. All 230 seats of the Assembly of the Republic were in contention.
The 2014 Socialist Party General Secretary primary elections was held on 28 September 2014,the first primary open for non-members of the Socialist Party (PS). It elected the party's candidate for Prime Minister of Portugal in the 2015 legislative election. It was the first time in Portugal that a party had an open primary. There were only two candidates running:António JoséSeguro,the incumbent general secretary of the party,and António Costa,the mayor of Lisbon. António Costa won the primary by a landslide,achieving about 68% of the votes against the 32% of António JoséSeguro.
The 2020 Azorean regional election was held on 25 October 2020,to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores. All 57 members of the assembly were up for election.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Portugal in January 2026. The elections will elect the successor to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa,who is barred from running for a third term.
The 2022 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election was held on 28 May 2022. If no candidate achieved more than 50% of the votes in the first round,a second round would be held between the two most voted candidates in the first round on 4 June 2022,however,as only two candidates were on the ballot,Luís Montenegro and Jorge Moreira da Silva,a second round was not necessary.
Pedro Nuno de Oliveira Santos is a Portuguese economist and politician,who is the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party. Santos previously held positions in the Portuguese Government under António Costa,first as Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs,from November 2015 to February 2019,and afterwards as Minister of Infrastructure and Housing,from February 2019 to January 2023.
Snap legislative elections were held on 10 March 2024 to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic to the 16th Legislature of Portugal. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were up for election. The elections were called in November 2023 after Prime Minister António Costa's resignation following an investigation around alleged corruption involving the award of contracts for lithium and hydrogen businesses.
António Lacerda Sales is a Portuguese politician of the Socialist Party who served as the Secretary of State of Health between 2019 and 2022.
Carlos João Pereira is a Portuguese politician and economist. He is currently a member of the Portuguese Parliament and vice-president of the Socialist Party's parliamentary group. He was also a member of parliament and parliamentary leader of the PS in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.
The 2023 Portuguese Socialist Party leadership election was held on 15 and 16 December 2023. The leadership ballot was called after Prime Minister and Socialist Party Secretary-General António Costa resigned from office on 7 November 2023. The winner of this election will lead the Socialist Party into the 2024 legislative election.
Members of Parliament in the 2024 Portuguese legislative election will be elected in a closed list proportional representation system. Each constituency in Portugal elects a certain number of MPs depending on their number of registered voters. This number ranges from a minimum of 2 MPs in Portalegre to 48 in Lisbon. In this page,the names of the head candidates by party and/or coalition for each constituency will be listed. The leader of each party/coalition is displayed in bold.
Porto is one of the 22 multi-member constituencies of the Assembly of the Republic,the national legislature of Portugal. The constituency was established in 1976 when the Assembly of the Republic was established by the constitution following the restoration of democracy. It is conterminous with the district of Porto. The constituency currently elects 40 of the 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic using the closed party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2022 legislative election it had 1,589,053 registered electors.
Braga is one of the 22 multi-member constituencies of the Assembly of the Republic,the national legislature of Portugal. The constituency was established in 1976 when the Assembly of the Republic was established by the constitution following the restoration of democracy. It is conterminous with the district of Braga. The constituency currently elects 19 of the 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic using the closed party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2022 legislative election it had 776,543 registered electors.
The 2011 Portuguese Socialist Party leadership election was held on 22 and 23 July 2011. The leadership ballot was called after former Prime Minister and Socialist Party Secretary-General JoséSócrates resigned as leader of the PS,following the party's defeat on the 2011 legislative elections.
