The prime minister of the Portuguese Republic () is the head of the Government of Portugal. The officeholder coordinates the actions of all ministers, represents the Government as a whole, reports their actions and is accountable to the Assembly of the Republic, in addition to keeping the president of the Republic informed.
There is no limit to the number of mandates as prime minister. They are appointed by the president of the Republic, after the legislative elections and after an audience with every leader of a party represented at the Assembly. It is usual for the leader of the party which receives a plurality of votes in the elections to be named prime minister.
The official residence of the prime minister is a mansion next to São Bento Palace, which, in confusion, is also often called "São Bento Palace", although many prime ministers did not live in the palace during their full mandate.
History The origins of present office of prime minister of Portugal fall back to the beginning of the Portuguese monarchy in the 12th century. Typically, a senior official of the king of Portugal prevailed over the others, ensuring the coordination of the administration of the kingdom as a kind of prime minister. Throughout history, the prominent position fell successively on the Mayor of the Palace (Portuguese Mordomo-Mor), on the Chancellor (Chanceler-Mor), on the king's private secretary (Escrivão da Puridade) and on the secretary of state (Secretário de Estado).
In 1736, three offices of secretary of state were created, with the Secretary of State of the Internal Affairs of the Kingdom (Secretário de Estado dos Negócios Interiores do Reino) occupying a prominent position over the others.
Since the Liberal Revolution of 1820, liberalism and parliamentarism were installed in the country. In the first liberal period, there were three to six secretaries of state with equal position in the hierarchy, but with the secretary the Internal Affairs of the Kingdom (usually known by Minister of the Kingdom) continuing to occupy a prominent position. Occasionally there was a Minister Assistant to the Dispatch (Ministro Assistante ao Despacho), a coordinator of all secretaries of state, and with a post similar to that of a prime minister. After a brief absolutistic restoration, the second liberalism started. With the beginning of the Constitutional Monarchy, the office of President of the Council of Ministers (Presidente do Conselho de Ministros) was created. The presidents of the council were clearly the heads of government of the kingdom, holding the executive power that absolute monarchs had, but were restricted by the controlling power of the National Congress.
With the advent of the Republic in the 5 October 1910 revolution, the head of government was renamed President of the Ministry (Presidente do Ministério). During this period the heads of government were under the strong power of the parliament and often fell due to parliamentary turmoils and social instability.
With the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, and eventually, after the formation of the Estado Novo quasi-fascist dictatorial regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, the prime minister was again named President of the Council of Ministers, and was nominally the most important figure in the country. First Salazar and then Marcello Caetano occupied this post for almost 42 years.
With the Carnation Revolution came the prime minister, which replaced the president of the council.
Prime ministers The official counting of prime ministers starts with the first president of the Council of Ministers of the constitutional monarchy. The first column shows the name (and title during the monarchy) of each office holder, with the second and third column showing the start and end of term. A fourth column counts the duration of each term. The next column shows each election won by each Prime Minister, followed by the color and political affiliation of the holder. Then, there's a column listing each constitutional governments headed by each Prime Minister, and finally, a last column showing the head of state during the term of each office holder, between 1834 and 1910, a Monarch, and since 1910, a President.
The colors indicate the political affiliation:
/independent
Constitutional Monarchy – Second Liberalism (1834–1910)
+ Portrait Prime minister Term of office Election Party Government Monarch StartEndDurationPedro de Sousa Holstein 1834 1835 1834 Chartist/"Chamorro"1st Dev. Maria IIand Fernando IIVitório Maria de Sousa Coutinho 1835 1835 — "Chamorro"João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun 1835 1835 — Independent 2nd Dev.José Jorge Loureiro 1835 1836 — Independent 3rd Dev.António José Severim de Noronha 1836 1836 — "Chamorro" 4th Dev.1836José da Gama Carneiro e Sousa 1836 1836 —Septemberist 1st Set.José Bernardino de Portugal e Castro(did not take office) 1836 1836 — IndependentBernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo 1836 1837 — Septemberist 2nd Set.1836António Dias de Oliveira 1837 1837 — Septemberist 3rd Set.Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo 1837 1839 — Septemberist 2nd Set.1838Rodrigo Pinto Pizarro 1839 1839 — Septemberist 5th Set.José Travassos Valdez 1839 1841 — Septemberist 6th Set.1840Joaquim António de Aguiar 1841 1842 — Septemberist 7th Set.Pedro de Sousa Holstein(2nd time) 1842 1842 — Independent G.E.António José Severim de Noronha(2nd time) 1842 1846 — Chartist 1st R. Cart.18421845Pedro de Sousa Holstein(3rd time) 1846 1846 —Chartist 2nd R. Cart.João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun(2nd time) 1846 1849 —Chartist 3rd R. Cart.1847António Bernardo da Costa Cabral 1849 1851 —Chartist 4th R. Cart.António José Severim de Noronha(3rd time) 1851 1851 —Regenerator 5th R. Cart.João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun(3rd time) 1851 1856 —Regenerator 1st Reg. 1851 1852 Pedro VNuno José de Moura Barreto 1856 1859 —Historic 2nd Reg. 1856 1858António José Severim de Noronha(4th time) 1859 1860 —Regenerator 3rd Reg. 1860Joaquim António de Aguiar(2nd time)18601860 — RegeneratorNuno José de Moura Barreto (2nd time)1860 1865 —Historic 4th Reg. 1861 1864Luis IBernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo(3rd time) 1865 1865 — Reformist 5th Reg.Joaquim António de Aguiar(3rd time) 1865 1868 1865 Regenerator 6th Reg.1867António José de Ávila 1868 1868 — Independent 7th Reg.Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo(4th time) 1868 1869 1868 Reformist 8th Reg.Nuno José de Moura Barreto (3rd time)18691870 1869Historic 9th Reg.1870João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun(4th time) 1870 1870 — Regenerator 10th Reg.Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo(5th time) 1870 1870 — Reformist 11th Reg.1870António José de Ávila(2nd time) 1870 1871 — Reformist 12th Reg.1871Fontes Pereira de Melo 1871 1877 — Regenerator 13th Reg.1874António José de Ávila(3rd time) 1877 1878 — Reformist 14th Reg.Fontes Pereira de Melo(2nd time) 1878 1879 — Regenerator 15th Reg.1878Anselmo José Braamcamp 1879 1881 — Progressist 16th Reg.1879António Rodrigues Sampaio 1881 1881 — Regenerator 17th Reg. 1881Fontes Pereira de Melo(3rd time) 1881 1886 — Regenerator 1884José Luciano de Castro 1886 1890 — Progressist 18th Reg.18871889Carlos IAntónio de Serpa Pimentel 1890 1890 — Regenerator 19th Reg. 1890João Crisóstomo 1890 1892 — Independent 20th Reg.José Dias Ferreira 1892 1893 — Independent 21st Reg. 1892Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro 1893 1897 — Regenerator 22nd Reg. 1894 1895 José Luciano de Castro(2nd time) 1897 1900 — Progressist 23rd Reg. 1897 1899Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro(2nd time) 1900 1904 — Regenerator 24th Reg. 1900 1901 1904José Luciano de Castro(3rd time)19041906 — Progressist 25th Reg. 1905Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro(3rd time) 1906 1906 —Regenerator 26th Reg. 1906João Franco 1906 1908 —Liberal Regenerator 27th Reg. 1906Francisco Ferreira do Amaral 1908 1908 — Independent 28th Reg. Manuel II 1908Artur de Campos Henriques 1908 1909 — Independent 29th Reg.Sebastião Teles 1909 1909 — Independent 30th Reg.Venceslau de Lima 1909 1909 — Independent 31st Reg.Francisco da Veiga Beirão 1909 1910 — Regenerator 32nd Reg.António Teixeira de Sousa 1910 1910 — Regenerator 33rd Reg.1910
First Republic (1910–1926) + Portrait Prime minister Term of office Election Party Government President StartEndDurationTeófilo Braga 1910 1911 — Republican1st Teófilo BragaC. 1911João Chagas 1911 1911 — Republican 2nd Manuel de ArriagaAugusto de Vasconcelos 1911 1912 — Republican 3rdDuarte Leite19121912 — Republican 4thAugusto de Vasconcelos(interim)19121912 —RepublicanDuarte Leite 1912 1913 — RepublicanAfonso Costa 1913 1914 — Democratic 5th1913Bernardino Machado 1914 1914 — Democratic 6th — 7thVictor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho 1914 1915 — Democratic 8thJoaquim Pimenta de Castro 1915 1915 — Independent9th Constitutional Juntacomposed of: 1915 1915 — Independent —João Chagas(did not take office) 1915 1915 — Independent 10thJosé de Castro 1915 1915 —Democratic Teófilo Braga1915 11thAfonso Costa(2nd time) 1915 1916 —Democratic 12th Bernardino MachadoAntónio José de Almeida 1916 1917 — Sacred Union 13thAfonso Costa(3rd time) 1917 1917 —Democratic 14thJosé Norton de Matos(interim) 1917 1917 —DemocraticAfonso Costa(4th time) 1917 1917 —DemocraticJosé Norton de Matos(interim)1917 1917 —DemocraticSidónio Pais 1917 1918 —National Republican15thSidónio Pais191816thJoão do Canto e Castro 1918 1918 —National Republican João do Canto e Castro João Tamagnini Barbosa 1918 1919 —National Republican 17th — 18thHenrique de Paiva Couceiro(disputed) 1919 1919 — Independent —José Relvas 1919 1919 — Independent 19thDomingos Leite Pereira 1919 1919 — Independent20thAlfredo de Sá Cardoso 1919 1920 —Democratic 21st 1919 António José de AlmeidaFrancisco José Fernandes Costa(did not take office) 1920 —Republican Liberal 22ndAlfredo de Sá Cardoso(reconducted) 1920 1920 —Democratic 21stDomingos Leite Pereira(2nd time) 1920 1920 — Independent23rdAntónio Maria Baptista 1920 1920 —Democratic 24thJosé Ramos Preto 1920 1920 —DemocraticAntónio Maria da Silva 1920 1920 —Democratic 25thAntónio Granjo 1920 1920 —Republican Liberal 26thÁlvaro de Castro 1920 1920 —Reconstitution 27thLiberato Pinto 1920 1921 —Democratic 28thBernardino Machado(2nd time) 1921 1921 —Democratic29thTomé de Barros Queirós 1921 1921 —Republican Liberal 30thAntónio Granjo(2nd time) 1921 1921 1921Republican Liberal 31stManuel Maria Coelho 1921 1921 — Independent 32ndCarlos Maia Pinto 1921 1921 — Independent 33rdFrancisco Cunha Leal 1921 1922 — Independent 34thAntónio Maria da Silva(2nd time) 1922 1923 1922Democratic35th —36th —37th Manuel Teixeira GomesAntónio Ginestal Machado 1923 1923 — Nationalist Republican 38thÁlvaro de Castro(2nd time) 1923 1924 — Nationalist Republican39thAlfredo Rodrigues Gaspar19241924 —Democratic 40thJosé Domingues dos Santos19241925 —Democratic Leftwing Republican41stVitorino Guimarães 1925 1925 —Democratic 42ndAntónio Maria da Silva(3rd time) 1925 1925 —Democratic 43rdDomingos Leite Pereira(3rd time) 1925 1925 —Democratic 44thAntónio Maria da Silva(4th time) 1925 1926 1925Democratic 45th Bernardino Machado
Second Republic – Dictatorship (1926–1974)
+ Portrait Prime minister Term of office Election Party Government President StartEndDuration Ditadura Nacional – Military Dictatorship (1926–1932)José Mendes Cabeçadas 1926 1926 — Independent 1st Dict.José Mendes CabeçadasManuel Gomes da Costa 1926 1926 — Independent2nd Dict.Manuel Gomes da CostaAntónio Óscar Carmona 1926 1928 — Independent 3rd Dict. António Óscar Carmona José Vicente de Freitas 1928 1929 — Independent 4th Dict. —5th Dict.Artur Ivens Ferraz 1929 1930 — Independent 6th Dict.Domingos Oliveira 1930 1932 — National Union 7th Dict. Estado Novo – New State (1932–1974)António de Oliveira Salazar 1932 1968 — National Union8th Dict.19349th Dict.10th Dict.1938194219451949 Francisco Craveiro Lopes19531957 Américo Tomás19611965Marcello Caetano 1968 1974 — National UnionPeople's National Action 11th Dict.19691973
Third Republic (1974–present)