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 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 CDS – People's Party is a conservative and Christian democratic political party in Portugal. It is characterized as being between the centre-right and right-wing of the political spectrum. In voting ballots, the party's name appears only as the People's Party, with the abbreviation CDS–PP unchanged.
Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas is a Portuguese media and political figure, who has, since the 1990s, been one of Portugal's leading conservative politicians. He was the leader of one of Portugal's right-wing parties, the CDS – People's Party (CDS-PP) from 1998 to 2005 and 2007–2016, on whose lists he was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in every legislative election between 1995 and 2015. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal from 2013 to 2015, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013, and Minister of Defence from 2002 to 2005, all three times in coalitions of the PSD and his CDS-PP. Portas withdrew from politics in 2016.
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 118th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) between 2010 and 2018.
The 2015 Portuguese legislative election was held on 4 October. All 230 seats of the Assembly of the Republic were in contention.
The 2019 Portuguese legislative election was held on 6 October 2019. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were contested.
The following lists events in the year 2015 in Portugal.
The XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal was the 19th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the current Constitution. It was in office from 21 June 2011 to 30 October 2015, and was formed by a centre-right coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP). Pedro Passos Coelho, leader of the PSD, served as Prime Minister.
The XXI Constitutional Government of Portugal was the 21st government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the current Constitution. It was in office from 26 November 2015 to 26 October 2019, and was formed by the members of the Socialist Party (PS). António Costa, leader of the PS, served as Prime Minister.
Graça Maria da Fonseca Caetano Gonçalves is a Portuguese politician who served as Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister António Costa since 15 October 2018. Fonseca graduated with a law degree from the University of Lisbon, has a master's degree in economics from the University of Coimbra, and obtained a PhD in sociology from ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. From 26 November 2015 to 15 October 2018, Fonseca served as Secretary of State Assistant and of Administrative Modernisation.
The VI Constitutional Government of Portugal was the sixth government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 3 January 1980 to 9 January 1981. It was formed by a centre-right coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic and Social Center (CDS) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM), which ran together in the 1979 and 1980 legislative elections as the Democratic Alliance (AD). Francisco Sá Carneiro, leader of the PSD, was the Prime Minister, and Diogo Freitas do Amaral, leader of the CDS, was Vice Prime Minister.
The VII Constitutional Government of Portugal was the seventh government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 9 January 1981 to 4 September 1981. It was formed by a centre-right coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic and Social Center (CDS) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM), which ran together in the 1980 legislative election as the Democratic Alliance (AD). Francisco Pinto Balsemão was the Prime Minister.
The VIII Constitutional Government of Portugal was the eighth government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 4 September 1981 to 9 June 1983. It was formed by the centre-right coalition Democratic Alliance (AD), which was composed of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic and Social Center (CDS) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM). Francisco Pinto Balsemão, leader of the PSD, was the Prime Minister. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, leader of the CDS, was Vice Prime Minister.
The IX Constitutional Government of Portugal was the ninth government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 9 June 1983 to 6 November 1985. It was formed by a coalition between the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which became known as the Central Bloc due to both parties centrist political positioning. It was the third term of Mário Soares, leader of the PS, as Prime Minister.
The X Constitutional Government of Portugal was the tenth government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 6 November 1985 to 17 August 1987. It was formed by members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and had Aníbal Cavaco Silva, leader of the PSD, as Prime Minister.
The XI Constitutional Government of Portugal was the 11th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 17 August 1987 to 31 October 1991. It was formed by members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and had Aníbal Cavaco Silva, leader of the PSD, as Prime Minister. It was the first single-party government with an absolute majority in the Assembly of the Republic since the Carnation Revolution.
The XII Constitutional Government of Portugal was the 12th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, in office from 31 October 1991 to 28 October 1995. It was formed by members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and had Aníbal Cavaco Silva, leader of the PSD, as Prime Minister.
The XV Constitutional Government of Portugal was the 15th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the Portuguese Constitution of 1976. The government was in office from 6 April 2002 to 17 July 2004 and was formed by a centre-right coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP). José Manuel Durão Barroso, leader of the PSD, served as Prime Minister.
The XVI Constitutional Government of Portugal was the 16th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the Portuguese Constitution of 1976. It was in office from 17 July 2004 to 12 March 2005, and was formed by the centre-right coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) that was started in the previous government. Pedro Santana Lopes, leader of the PSD, served as Prime Minister.
