The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament; its building in Lisbon is referred to as Palácio de São Bento.

According to the constitution of Portugal, the country's unicameral parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, "is the representative assembly of all Portuguese citizens." The constitution names the assembly as one of the country's organs of supreme authority.

The assembly's power derives from its power to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence, to impeach the President of the Republic, to change the country's laws, and to amend the constitution. In addition to these key powers, the constitution grants to the Assembly of the Republic extensive legislative powers and substantial control over the budget, the right to authorize the government to raise taxes and grant loans, the power to ratify treaties and other kinds of international agreements, and the duty to approve or reject decisions by the President of the Republic to declare war and make peace. The assembly also appoints many members of important state institutions, such as ten of the thirteen members of the Constitutional Court and seven of the sixteen members of the Higher Council of the Bench.

The constitution requires the assembly to quickly review and approve an incoming government's program. Parliamentary rules allow the assembly to call for committees of inquiry to examine the government's actions. Political opposition represented in the assembly has the power to review the cabinet's actions, even though it is unlikely that the actions can be reversed. Party groups can also call for interpellations that require debates about specific government policies.

The assembly consisted at first of 250 members, but the constitutional reforms of 1989 reduced its number to between 230 and 235. Members were elected by popular vote for legislative terms of four years from the country's constituencies (eighteen in mainland Portugal, one each for the autonomous regions of the Azores (Açores in Portuguese) and Madeira, one for Portuguese living in Western Europe, and one for those living in the rest of the world). Except for the constituencies for Portuguese living abroad, which are fixed at two members each, the number of voters registered in a constituency determines the number of its members in the assembly, using the Hondt method of proportional representation. Constituencies vary greatly in size; as many as three dozen representatives came from the Lisbon district and as few as three from some inland districts. As of the early 1990s, the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira each sent five members to the assembly.

According to the constitution, members of the assembly represent the entire country, not the constituency from which they are elected. This directive was reinforced in practice by the strong role of political parties in regard to members of the assembly. Party leadership, for example, determined in which areas candidates were to run for office, thus often weakening members' ties to their constituencies. Moreover, members of the assembly were expected to vote with their party and to work within parliamentary groups based on party membership. Party discipline was strong, and insubordinate members could be coerced through a variety of means. A further obstacle to members' independence was that their bills first had to be submitted to the parliamentary groups, and it was these group leaders who set the assembly's agenda. The leader of the assembly, its president, was selected from the group leaders.

External link

• Official webpage of the Assembly of the Republic