President of Portugal
The president of the Portuguese Republic is the executive head of state of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the Prime Minister and cabinets have over time differed with the various Portuguese constitutions.
The current President of Portugal is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who took office on 9 March 2016.
Role
The Portuguese Third Republic is a semi-presidential system. Unlike several other European presidents, the Portuguese President is quite powerful. Although it is the Prime Minister of Portugal and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual day-to-day affairs, the Portuguese President wields significant influence and authority, especially in the fields of national security and foreign policy. The President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, holds the nation's most senior office, and outranks all other politicians.The President's greatest power is his ability to choose the Prime Minister. However, since the Assembly of the Republic has the sole power to dismiss the Prime Minister's government, the Prime Minister named by the President must have the confidence of the majority of the representatives in the assembly, otherwise he or she may face a motion of no confidence. The President has the discretionary power to dissolve parliament when sees it fit, and President Sampaio made use of this prerogative in late 2004 to remove the controversial government of Pedro Santana Lopes, despite the absolute majority of deputies supporting the government. In 2003 President Sampaio also intervened to limit the Portuguese participation in the Iraq War - as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces he forbade the deployment of the Portuguese Army in a war that he personally disagreed with, clashing with the then Prime-Minister José Manuel Barroso.
Prior to the Carnation Revolution, the powers of the presidency varied widely; some presidents were virtual dictators, while others were little more than figureheads.
Powers
The constitution grants the following powers to the president:- The President exercises the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Grand Master of the Three Orders and shall appoint and remove, at the proposal of the Government, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Military Staff Heads of the three branches the Armed Forces.
- The president can dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, which implies the need to call for new legislative elections and after the implementation of these, the resignation of the government.
- The President appoints the Prime Minister, given the election results, and appoints the other members of the Government by proposal of the Prime Minister. He can, however, dismiss the Government when this is necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of democratic institutions. Even the government bodies of the autonomous regions may be dissolved by the President, by committing serious acts contrary to the Constitution.
- The President declares a state of siege and emergency upon consultation with the Government and with permission of the Parliament.
- At the proposal of the Government and with the authorization of the Parliament, the President can declare war in the event of actual or imminent aggression and can also propose peace.
- The President promulgates or vetoes the promulgation of laws, decree-laws, regulatory decrees and other decrees of the Government.
- In the area of his powers in international relations, the President of the Republic ratifies international treaties.
- The President decides on referendums put forth to him by Parliament.
- The President of the Republic may request the Constitutional Court prior review of the constitutionality of the norms of international agreements or decrees that they have been sent for promulgation as an organic law, law or ordinance.
- The President shall appoint and remove, in some cases a proposal from the Government, holders of important state organs such as the Representatives of the Republic for the autonomous regions, the President of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General, five members of the Council of State and two members of the Supreme Judicial Council.
- The president appoints ambassadors and special envoys, following proposal by the Government, and accredits the foreign diplomatic representatives.
- The President of the Republic, after consultation with the Government, pardons and commutes sentences.
Election
The President is elected in a two-round system: if no candidate reaches 50% of the votes during the first round, the two candidates with the most votes face each other in a second round held two weeks later. However, the second round has only been needed once, during the 1986 presidential election. To date, all of the elected presidents since the Carnation Revolution have served for two consecutive terms, and presidents consistently rank as the most popular political figure in the country. Recently, however, the popularity of former President Aníbal Cavaco Silva plummeted, making him the second-least popular political figure in the country, just above the Prime Minister, and the first Portuguese President after 1974 to have a negative popularity.
If the president dies or becomes incapacitated while in office, the President of the Assembly assumes the office with restricted powers until a new president can be inaugurated following fresh elections.
2016 presidential election
Summary of the 24 January 2016 Portuguese presidential election results!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Candidates
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Supporting parties
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan="2"|First round
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|%
Graphical timeline (since 1910)
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from:05/10/1910 till:24/08/1911 color:PRP/PD $right text:"1910–1911 Teófilo Braga "
from:24/08/1911 till:26/05/1915 color:PRP/PD $left text:"Manuel de Arriaga 1911–1915"
from:26/05/1915 till:05/10/1915 color:PRP/PD $right text:"1910–1911 Teófilo Braga"
from:05/10/1915 till:05/12/1917 color:PRP/PD $left text:"Bernardino Machado 1915–1917 "
from:05/12/1917 till:14/12/1918 color:PNR $right text:"1917–1918 Sidónio Pais"
from:14/12/1918 till:05/10/1919 color:PNR $left text:"Canto e Castro 1918–1919"
from:05/10/1919 till:05/10/1923 color:PRE $right text:"1919–1923 António José de Almeida"
from:05/10/1923 till:11/12/1925 color:PRP/PD $left text:"Manuel Teixeira Gomes 1923–1925"
from:11/12/1925 till:31/05/1926 color:PRP/PD $right text:"1925–1926 Bernardino Machado "
from:31/05/1926 till:17/06/1926 color:IND $left text:"Mendes Cabeçadas 1926"
from:17/06/1926 till:09/07/1926 color:IND $right text:"1926 Manuel Gomes da Costa"
from:09/07/1926 till:18/04/1951 color:UN $left text:"1926–1951 Óscar Carmona"
from:18/04/1951 till:21/07/1951 color:UN $right text:"António Oliveira Salazar 1951 "
from:21/07/1951 till:09/08/1958 color:UN $left text:"1951–1958 Craveiro Lopes"
from:09/08/1958 till:25/04/1974 color:UN $right text:"Américo Tomás 1958–1974"
from:25/04/1974 till:16/05/1974 color:IND $left text:"1974 National Salvation Junta"
from:16/05/1974 till:30/09/1974 color:IND $right text:"António de Spínola 1974"
from:30/09/1974 till:14/07/1976 color:IND $left text:"1974–1976 Costa Gomes"
from:14/07/1976 till:09/03/1986 color:IND $right text:"Ramalho Eanes 1976–1986"
from:09/03/1986 till:09/03/1996 color:PS $left text:"1986–1996 Mário Soares"
from:09/03/1996 till:09/03/2006 color:PS $right text:"Jorge Sampaio 1996–2006"
from:09/03/2006 till:09/03/2016 color:PSD $left text:"2006–2016 Aníbal Cavaco Silva"
from:09/03/2016 till:end color:PSD $right text:"Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa 2016–present"