Assembleia da República (Portugal)

Structure and role

The Parliament is made up of 230 members elected by the universal direct suffrage for 4 years within the framework of the 22 electoral constituencies.

The old citizens of more than 18 years are voters. The women have the right to vote since 1976.

The Parliament exerts the Legislative power. She votes the laws and the budget, ratifies the treated international and can modify the Constitution (in the majority of the two-thirds). The Government is responsible in front of it.

The Parliament has also as a task to indicate 10 of the 13 members of the Constitutional court and 7 of the 16 members of the Council of State.

Its president is the second character of the Portuguese State. It is brought to ensure the Intérim of the Présidence of the Republic in the event of vacancy of this station.

Current composition

Results of the last elections

Here percentages of the voices and seats obtained by the political parties with the anticipated elections of the February 20th 2005 (which made following the dissolution required by the President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio):

Socialist party, PS (45,05%, 121 deputies)
Left social democrat (center-right), PSD (28,69%, 75 deputies)
social democrat Center CDS/Popular party, PP (7,26%, 12 deputies)
PCP-PEV (Communist and ecologists) (7,57%, 14 deputies, including 2 green deputies Os Verdes)
Bloc of Left (6,38%, 8 deputies);
the 4 deputies from abroad were known only the March 2nd 2005 (1 for the PS and 3 for the PSD)

Percentage of women at the Parliament: 13,5%.

Parliamentary groups

The parliamentary groups which were constituted after the elections are the following:

PS - 121
PSD - 75
PCP - 12
CDS-PP - 12
BE - 8
PE-OV - 2 (Greens)

External bonds

Official site of the Parliament, also in French and English
the result of the elections to the Parliament of the Republic since 1975

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