President dissolves parliament, sets early elections for 18 May

Portugal’s president has signed the decree dissolving parliament and scheduling early legislative elections for 18 May, making official the announcement he made on 13 March.

“The president signed the decree dissolving parliament and calling legislative elections for 18 May,” reads a note published on the presidential website at 8.40pm on Wednesday evening.

According to the decree signed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and published in the official government gazette, “the Assembly of the Republic is dissolved” and “18 May 2025 is set for the election of MPs to the Parliament”.

This decree takes effect today, Thursday 20 March.

Under the terms of the Constitution, during the period in which parliament is dissolved, the Standing Committee of Parliament continues to function, made up of the speaker of parliament, the vice- speakers and MPs nominated by all parties, according to their respective parliamentary representation.

This is the tenth dissolution of parliament since 25 April 1974 – the third decreed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa – and follows the fall of the PSD/CDS-PP minority government, which saw a motion of confidence rejected on 11 March.

After completing the two steps required by the Constitution before dissolving parliament and calling elections, listening to the parties and the Council of State, the country’s president made a statement to the country on 13 March, announcing that early elections will be held on 18 May.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that there was ‘no middle way’ and no possible consensus between the position of the government and the opposition in the current political crisis, considering that “it is not possible to trust and distrust” the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, at the same time.

The political crisis began in February with the publication of an article by the Correio da Manhã newspaper about Luís Montenegro’s family business, Spinumviva, which at the time was owned by his children and his wife, to whom he is married in community of acquisitions – and which has since passed to their children – raising doubts about compliance with the incompatibilities and impediments regime for holders of public and political office.

After more than two weeks of news – including the weekly Expresso newspaper report that hotel and casino group Solverde was paying Spinumviva a monthly fee of €4,500 – two motions of censure against the government, by Chega and the PCP, both of which were rejected, and the PS’s announcement that it would present a commission of inquiry, the prime minister announced on 5 March that he would present a motion of confidence in the government.

The text was rejected with the PS, Chega, BE, PCP, Livre and PAN’s sole MP, Inês Sousa Real, voting against. In favour were the PSD, CDS-PP and the Liberal Initiative.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa became the fifth president in a row to utilise this constitutional power, which, until now, no elected official in a democracy has failed to use: Ramalho Eanes dissolved parliament three times, Mário Soares once, Jorge Sampaio twice and Cavaco Silva once.

The decision made official on Wednesday, by decree, fulfils the constitutional obligation to set the date for new elections in the act of dissolution, to be held within the following 60 days, and the electoral law’s requirement that they must be called at least 55 days in advance.