The Third Portuguese Republic () is a period in the
history of Portugal corresponding to the current
democratic regime installed after the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
of 25 April 1974, that put an end to the paternal autocratic regime of
''Estado Novo'' of
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...
and
Marcello Caetano. It was initially characterized by constant instability and was threatened by the possibility of a civil war during the early post-revolutionary years. A
new constitution was drafted, censorship was prohibited, free speech declared, political prisoners were released and major Estado Novo institutions were closed. Eventually the country granted independence to
its African colonies and begun a process of democratization that led to the accession of Portugal to the
EEC
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
(today's
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
) in 1986.
Background
![Grandola Vila Morena](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Grandola_Vila_Morena.JPG)
In Portugal, 1926 marked the end of the
First Republic, in a military coup that established an authoritarian government called ''
Estado Novo'', that was led by
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...
until 1968, when he was forced to step down due to health problems. Salazar was succeeded by
Marcelo Caetano. The government faced many internal and external problems, including the
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
.
On 25 April 1974 a mostly
bloodless coup
A nonviolent revolution is a revolution conducted primarily by unarmed civilians using tactics of civil resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest, to bring about the departure of governments seen as entrenched and authoritarian ...
of young military personnel forced Marcelo Caetano to step down. Most of the population of the country soon supported this uprising. It was called the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
because of the use of the carnation on soldiers' rifles as a symbol of peace. This revolution was the beginning of the Portuguese Third Republic. The days after the revolution saw widespread celebration for the end of 48 years of dictatorship and soon exiled politicians like
Álvaro Cunhal
Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the '' Estado Novo''. He served as secretary-general of the P ...
and
Mário Soares returned to the country for the celebration of
May Day, in what became a symbol of the country's regained freedom.
After the revolution
After the fall of the ''Estado Novo'', differences began to emerge on which political direction the country should take, including among the military. The revolution was mainly the result of the work of a group of young
officers unified under the ''
Movimento das Forças Armadas
''Movimento'' (English: "Movement") is the sixth studio album by Portuguese group Madredeus. It was released on 9 April 2001 by EMI-Valentim de Carvalho.
Recording
''Movimento'' was recorded in January and February 2000 at the Wisseloord Studio ...
'' (MFA). Within this group, there were several different political views, among them those represented by
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho and considered to be the more radical wing of the movement and those represented by
Ernesto Melo Antunes, considered to be the more moderate one.
In addition to that, to ensure the success of the uprising, the MFA looked for support among the conservative sections of the military that had been disaffected with the Caetano government, chief among which were the former Head of the Armed Forces, General
Francisco da Costa Gomes, and General
António de Spínola
António Sebastião Ribeiro de Spínola (generally referred to as António de Spínola, ;This surname, however, was not accompanied by the grammatical nobiliary particle "de". 11 April 1910 – 13 August 1996) was a Portuguese military off ...
. Both had been expelled from the ''
Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas'' for criticizing the government.
The differing political views came to be broadly represented by three main informal groups, which included both military and civilians. However, even within these groups that shared similar political views there were considerable disagreements.
* the conservatives: within the military, represented by Costa Gomes and Spínola and within the MFA by Melo Antunes. Its civilian representatives were politicians that had been part of the ''
Ala Liberal'' (Liberal Wing) of the ''Assembleia Nacional'' (National Assembly) that called for a transition to democracy, among them the future Prime-Ministers
Francisco de Sá Carneiro and
Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão (; born 1 September 1937) is a Portuguese businessman, former journalist and retired politician, who served as Prime Minister of Portugal, from 1981 to 1983.
Background
He is the son of Henrique Patrício ...
.
* the socialists: that were in favour of creating a
social-democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
state like those of
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
and were mainly represented by the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
and its leader
Mário Soares.
* the communists: that were in favour of creating a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
state with an economic system similar to those of the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
countries. The main representative of this group within the military and the MFA was Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, while the main political party included in this group was the
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...
(PCP), led by
Álvaro Cunhal
Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the '' Estado Novo''. He served as secretary-general of the P ...
.
2000s
In 2001,
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...
, the Prime Minister since 1995, resigned after the local elections, and after
legislative elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
on the following year,
José Manuel Barroso
José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and university teacher, currently serving as non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He previously served as the 11th president of the European Commi ...
was appointed as the new Prime Minister. In July 2004, Prime Minister Barroso resigned as prime minister to become
President of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...
. He was succeeded by
Pedro Santana Lopes, as leader of Social Democratic Party and
Prime Minister of Portugal
The prime minister of Portugal ( pt, primeiro-ministro; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, ...
. In 2005, Socialists got a landslide victory in early
elections. Socialist Party leader
Jose Socrates
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods.
* Jose ben Abin
* Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galile ...
became the new prime minister after the elections. In
2009 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2009.
* Electoral calendar 2009
* 2009 United Nations Security Council election
Caribbean
* 2009 Antiguan general election
* 2009 Aruban general election
* 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...
Socialist Party won re-election but lost its overall majority. In October 2009, Prime Minister Jose Socrates formed a new minority government.
The Euro
On 1 January 2002, Portugal adopted the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
as its currency in place of the
escudo.
Euro 2004
Euro 2004 was held across Portugal. The final match was won by
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
against
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. Several new stadia were built or rebuilt for the event. This event granted Portugal an opportunity to show its hosting abilities to the rest of the world.
2006 presidential elections
The Portuguese presidential
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
were held on 22 January 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President
Jorge Sampaio, who was prevented from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round for
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal fro ...
of the Social Democratic Party, the former Prime Minister, who won 50.59 per cent of the vote in the first round, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election. Voter turnout was 62.60 per cent of eligible voters.
Economic difficulties
From 2007 to 2008 onwards, Portugal was severely affected by the
European sovereign-debt crisis
The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, is a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone membe ...
. The legacy of considerable borrowing from earlier years became an almost unsustainable debt for the Portuguese economy, bringing the country to the verge of bankruptcy by 2011. This resulted in urgent measures to address structural problems in the economy, raise taxes and reduce public-sector spending. Increasing unemployment also led to increased emigration.
2010s
Portugal suffered from a severe
economic crisis between 2009 and 2016.
In January 2011,
Anibal Cavaco Silva was easily re-elected as President of the Republic of Portugal for a second five-year term in the first round of the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
.
In 2011, Portugal applied for EU assistance, as the third European Union country after Greece and Ireland, to cope with its budget deficit caused by the financial crisis.
In June 2011, center-right Passos Coelho became the new prime minister of the financially-troubled country, succeeding former Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates. The Social Democrat Party, led by
Pedro Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) 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) b ...
, won the parliamentary
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
earlier same month.
Austerity budgets included spending cuts and higher taxes, which caused worsening living standards in the country and higher unemployment to above 16%.
In October 2015 parliamentary
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
, the governing centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho won narrowly, but the coalition lost its absolute majority in parliament.
The new minority government led by Passos Coelho was soon toppled in a parliamentary vote. The 11-day-old government was the shortest-lived national government in the Portuguese history. In November 2015, The Socialist leader
Antonio Costa
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
became Portugal's prime minister, after forming an alliance with Communist, Green and Left Bloc parties.
In January 2016, centre-right politician
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was
elected as the new president of Portugal.
In October 2016, former Portuguese Prime Minister
Antonio Guterres was officially appointed as the next
United Nations Secretary-General
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-ge ...
. He took office on 1 January 2017, when
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
's second five-year term ended. António Guterres has announced that he will be seeking a second five-year term as UN Secretary-General, which would begin in January 2022.
In October 2019, Prime Minister Antonio Costa won the parliamentary
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
. His Socialist party won the most votes, but it did not get the absolute majority in parliament. The party continued its pact with two far-left parties - the Left Bloc and the Communists. Portugal's economy had grown above the EU average and many cuts to public sector had been reversed.
2020s
In January 2021, Portugal's centre-right president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won re-election, after taking 60.7% of the votes in the first round of the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
.
In June 2021, United Nations General Assembly unanimously elected Antonio Guterres to a second five-year term as secretary-general.
The ruling Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister António Costa, won an outright majority in the
January 2022 snap general election. The Socialist Party won 120 seats in the 230 seat parliament, defeating the right-wing to form the
XXIII Constitutional Government of Portugal.
Timeline
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:90 left:20
AlignBars = early
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1974 till:03/09/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:01/01/1974
Colors =
id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97)
id:PS value:pink legend:Social_Democratic_(PSD)
id:PSD value:orange legend:Socialist_(PS)
id:IND value:gray(0.6) legend:Independent
id:CDS value:blue legend:People's_Party_(CDS-PP)
Define $left = align:right shift:(-25,-5)
Define $right = align:left shift:(25,-5)
Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas
BarData =
barset:Presidentes
barset:Primeiros-Ministros
barset:Legislaturas
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
barset:Presidentes
from:25/04/1974 till:30/09/1974 color:IND text:"António de Spínola
António Sebastião Ribeiro de Spínola (generally referred to as António de Spínola, ;This surname, however, was not accompanied by the grammatical nobiliary particle "de". 11 April 1910 – 13 August 1996) was a Portuguese military off ...
"
from:30/09/1974 till:13/07/1976 color:IND text:" Costa Gomes"
from:13/07/1976 till:09/03/1986 color:IND text:"Ramalho Eanes Ramalho is a Portuguese surname. Ramalho may refer to:
People
*João Ramalho (1493–1580), Portuguese explorer
*Ramalho Ortigão (1836–1915), Portuguese writer
* Rosa Ramalho (1888–1977), Portuguese ceramist
* José Ramalho (rower) (1901–?un ...
"
from:09/03/1986 till:09/03/1996 color:PS text:" Mário Soares"
from:09/03/1996 till:09/03/2006 color:PS text:" Jorge Sampaio"
from:09/03/2006 till:09/03/2016 color:PSD text:"Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal fro ...
"
from:09/03/2016 till:end color:PSD text:" Marcelo R. Sousa"
barset:Primeiros-Ministros
from:23/07/1976 till:28/08/1978 color:PS text:" Mário Soares"
from:28/08/1978 till:22/11/1978 color:IND text:" Alfredo Nobre da Costa"
from:22/11/1978 till:01/08/1979 color:PSD text:"Carlos Mota Pinto
Carlos Alberto da Mota Pinto, GCC, GCIP, (; Pombal, 25 July 1936 – Coimbra, 7 May 1985) was a Portuguese professor and politician.
Career
He graduated as a licentiate in law and doctorate in judicial sciences from the Faculty of Law o ...
"
from:01/08/1979 till:03/01/1980 color:PS text:"Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo
Maria de Lourdes Ruivo da Silva de Matos Pintasilgo (; 18 January 1930 – 10 July 2004) was a Portuguese chemical engineer and politician. She was the first and to date only woman to serve as Prime Minister of Portugal, and the second woman to ...
"
from:03/01/1980 till:04/12/1980 color:PSD text:" Francisco Sá Carneiro"
from:04/12/1980 till:09/01/1981 color:CDS text:"Diogo Freitas do Amaral
Diogo Pinto de Freitas do Amaral (; 21 July 1941 – 3 October 2019), known as Freitas do Amaral, was a Portuguese politician and law professor. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 January 1980 to 12 January 1981 and from 12 March 2005 t ...
"
from:09/01/1981 till:09/07/1983 color:PSD text:"Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão (; born 1 September 1937) is a Portuguese businessman, former journalist and retired politician, who served as Prime Minister of Portugal, from 1981 to 1983.
Background
He is the son of Henrique Patrício ...
"
from:09/07/1983 till:06/11/1985 color:PS text:" Mário Soares"
from:06/11/1985 till:28/10/1995 color:PSD text:"Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal fro ...
"
from:28/10/1995 till:06/04/2002 color:PS text:"António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...
"
from:06/04/2002 till:17/07/2004 color:PSD text:"Durão Barroso Durão is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Joaquim Durão (1930–2015), Portuguese chess player
* Nuno Durão (born 1962), Portuguese rugby union footballer and coach
*Santa Rita Durão
José de Santa Rita Durão (1722–178 ...
"
from:17/07/2004 till:12/03/2005 color:PSD text:" Pedro Santana Lopes"
from:12/03/2005 till:05/06/2011 color:PS text:"José Sócrates
José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...
"
from:21/06/2011 till:26/11/2015 color:PSD text:"Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) 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) ...
"
from:26/11/2015 till:end color:PS text:"António Costa
António Luís Santos da Costa GCIH (; born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician serving as the 119th and current prime minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and ...
"
barset:Legislaturas
from:25/04/1976 till:05/10/1980 color:PS text:" 1st Legislature"
from:05/10/1980 till:25/04/1983 color:PSD text:" 2nd Legislature"
from:25/04/1983 till:06/10/1985 color:PS text:" 3rd Legislature"
from:06/10/1985 till:19/07/1987 color:PSD text:" 4th Legislature"
from:19/07/1987 till:06/10/1991 color:PSD text:" 5th Legislature"
from:06/10/1991 till:01/10/1995 color:PSD text:" 6th Legislature"
from:01/10/1995 till:10/10/1999 color:PS text:" 7th Legislature"
from:10/10/1999 till:17/03/2002 color:PSD text:" 8th Legislature"
from:17/03/2002 till:20/02/2005 color:PS text:" 9th Legislature"
from:20/02/2005 till:27/09/2009 color:PSD text:" 10th Legislature"
from:27/09/2009 till:05/06/2011 color:PS text:" 11th Legislature"
from:05/06/2011 till:04/10/2015 color:PSD text:" 12th Legislature"
from:04/10/2015 till:06/10/2019 color:PSD text:" 13th Legislature"
from:06/10/2019 till:end color:PS text:" 14th Legislature"
See also
*
Treaties of Portugal
References
{{Authority control
Portuguese Republic
History of Portugal by polity
Republic 03
Portuguese Republic 03
Portuguese Republic 03
Portuguese Republic 03
21st century in Portugal
States and territories established in 1974
1974 establishments in Portugal
.