Administrative divisions
Portugal has an administrative structure of 308 municipalities (the most stable subdivision of Portugal since the foundation of the country), which are subdivided into more than 4,000 parishes (secondary local administrative units). For continental Portugal the municipalities are gathered in 18 Districts, while the Islands have a Regional Government directly above them.
The European Union’s system of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics is also used. According to this system, Portugal is divided into 7 regions:
Alentejo - 776,585 inhabitants, the region’s capital is Évora
Algarbe - capital is the city of Faro
Açores – population of 238, 767. Three are considered as capital cities: Ponta Delgada, Angra and Horta
Centro – 2,376,609 inhabitants. The capital city is Coimbra
Lisboa - 2,760,723 inhabitants. The capital city is Lisbon
Madeira - 244,286 inhabitants. The capital city is Funchal
Norte - 4,034,271 inhabitants. The capital is the city of Porto
These are subdivided into 30 sub regions.
Portugal is a democratic republic ruled by the constitution of 1976 with Lisbon. Four main governing components are the president of the republic, the assembly of the republic, the government, and the courts.
| The Assembly of the Republic - source |
The constitution grants the division or separation of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Portugal like most European countries has no state religion.
The president, who is elected to a five-year term, has a supervising, non-executive role. The current President is Anìbal Cavaco Silvia (social democrat). The Assembly of the Republic is a unicameral (having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber) parliament composed of 230 deputies elected for four-year terms.
The government is headed by the Prime Minister (currently José Sócrates), who chooses the Council of Ministers, comprising all the ministers and the respective state secretaries.
The national and regional governments, and the Portuguese parliament, are dominated by two political parties, the Socialist Party [1]and the Social Democratic Party.
The courts are organized into categories, including judicial, administrative, and fiscal. The supreme courts are the courts of last appeal. A thirteen-member constitutional court oversees the constitutionality of legislation.
Last national elections 2005, next 2009
http://www.parties-and-elections.de/portugal.html
Last European Parliament election June 2009 See: • http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/archive/elections2009/en/portugal_en.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2009_(Portugal)