View source for Prime Minister of Portugal

{{Short description|Head of government of Portugal}}
{{For|a list|List of prime ministers of Portugal}}
{{Infobox official post
| post = Prime Minister
| body = the<br />Portuguese Republic
| native_name = {{Native name|pt|Primeiro-Ministro da<br />República Portuguesa|paren=omit}}
| insignia = Logótipo_do_Governo_Portugal.svg
| insigniasize = 200px
| insigniacaption = Government logo
| insigniaalt = Government logo, with a stylized flag of Portugal on the left, and the caption "Portuguese Republic" (in Portuguese) on the right
| flag = Flag of the Prime Minister of Portugal.svg
| flagsize = 125px
| flagborder = yes
| flagcaption = [[List of Portuguese flags#Government flags|Flag of the prime minister]]
| image = Luís Montenegro, 2025.06.26 (01) (cropped).jpg
| imagesize = 220px
| incumbent = [[Luís Montenegro]]
| acting = n
| incumbentsince = {{start date|2024|04|02|df=yes}}
| department = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Government of Portugal]]
* [[Council of Ministers (Portugal)|Council of Ministers of Portugal]]
}}
| style = {{indented plainlist|
* '''Mr. Prime Minister'''<br />(informal - male)
* '''Madam Prime Minister'''<br />(informal - female)
* [[Excellency|His/Her Excellency]]<br />(diplomatic)
}}
| type = [[Head of government]]
| member_of = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Council of State (Portugal)|Council of State]]
* [[Council of Ministers (Portugal)|Council of Ministers]]
* [[European Council]]
}}
| reports_to = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|Parliament]]
* [[President of Portugal|President]]
}}
| residence = [[Palacete de São Bento|São Bento Mansion]]
| seat = [[Lisbon]], Portugal
| appointer = [[President of Portugal|President]]
| termlength = Four years
| termlength_qualified = no term limits
| constituting_instrument = [[Constitution of Portugal]] (1976)
| precursor = Secretary of State
| formation = {{Start date and age|1834|9|24|df=y|p=y|br=y}}
| succession = Minister appointed by the President<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.parlamento.pt/legislacao/documents/constitution7threv2010en.pdf|title= Article 185 (Substitution of members of the Government), ''Constitution of the Portuguese Republic''|publisher= Assembly of the Republic|access-date=April 1, 2025|date=October 10, 2010}}</ref>
| inaugural = [[Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela|The 1st Duke of Palmela]]
| salary = €116,144 annually<ref name="Salary">{{Cite news |author= |date=6 May 2024 |title=Remunerações dos Cargos Políticos em Portugal |url=https://maisliberdade.pt/maisfactos/salarios-dos-politicos-em-portugal/ |language=pt |newspaper=MaisLiberdade |location=Lisbon |quote=Em Portugal, o cargo político com maior salário bruto, e que serve de referência para o cálculo dos restantes salários, é o de Presidente da República, que aufere 9.833€ mensais, seguindo-se o de Presidente da Assembleia da República, com 8.849€, e o de Primeiro-ministro, com 8.296€. |access-date=31 December 2024}}</ref>
| website = {{URL|http://www.portugal.gov.pt/|portugal.gov.pt}}
}}
{{Politics of Portugal}}

The '''prime minister of Portugal''' ({{langx|pt|primeiro-ministro}}; {{IPA|pt|pɾiˈmɐjɾu miˈniʃtɾu|pron}}) 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, is accountable to [[Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|parliament]] and keeps the [[President of Portugal|president]] informed. The prime minister can hold the role of head of government with the portfolio of one or more ministries. As Portugal is a [[semi-presidential system|semi-presidential]] [[parliamentary republic]], the prime minister is the country's leading political figure and ''de facto'' chief executive.

There is no limit to the number of terms a person can serve as prime minister. The prime minister is appointed by the president following [[Portuguese legislative elections|legislative elections]], after having heard the parties represented in the parliament. Usually, the person named is the leader of the largest party in the previous election, but there have been exceptions over the years.

== History ==
Since the [[Middle Ages]], some officers of the Portuguese Crown gained precedence over the others, serving as a kind of prime ministers. Over time, the role of principal officer of the Crown fell upon the ''chanceler-mor'' ([[chancellor]]), the ''mordomo-mor'' ([[mayor of the palace]]) and the ''escrivão da puridade'' (king's private secretary).

The first modern prime minister of Portugal was [[Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela|the 1st Duke of Palmela]], who was sworn in on 24 September 1834, as ''Presidente do Conselho de Ministros'' (President of the [[Council of Ministers of Portugal|Council of Ministers]]). In 1911, the official title of the prime minister became ''Presidente do Ministério'' (President of the [[Ministry (collective executive)|Ministry]]). In 1933, it became again ''Presidente do Conselho de Ministros''.

The present title ''Primeiro-Ministro'' (Prime Minister), attributed to the head of the [[Government of Portugal]], was officially established by the [[Portuguese Constitution of 1976|Constitution of 1976]] after the [[Carnation Revolution|revolution of 25 April 1974]]

== Officeholders ==
The incumbent prime minister of Portugal is [[Luís Montenegro]], who took office on 2 April 2024 as the 14th prime minister of the [[Third Portuguese Republic]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 April 2024 |title=Presidente deu posse ao primeiro-ministro e ministros do XXIV Governo Constitucional |trans-title=President swears in the Prime Minister and ministers of the XXIV Constitutional Government |url=https://www.lusa.pt/article/42615724/presidente-deu-posse-ao-primeiro-ministro-e-ministros-do-xxiv-governo-constitucional |language=pt}}</ref> The official residence of the prime minister is the [[Palacete de São Bento]], a mansion next to [[São Bento Palace]], which, in confusion, is sometimes also called "São Bento Palace".

'''Portuguese prime ministers of the Third Portuguese Republic:'''
* 1st [[Mário Soares]] (two terms);
* 2nd [[Alfredo Nobre da Costa]];
* 3rd [[Carlos Mota Pinto]];
* 4th [[Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo]];
* 5th [[Francisco Sá Carneiro]];
* (interim) [[Diogo Freitas do Amaral]] – [[Deputy Prime Minister]];
* 6th [[Francisco Pinto Balsemão]] (two terms);
* 1st [[Mário Soares]] (third term);
* 7th [[Aníbal Cavaco Silva]] (three terms);
* 8th [[António Guterres]] (two terms);
* 9th [[José Manuel Barroso]];
* 10th [[Pedro Santana Lopes]];
* 11th [[José Sócrates]] (two terms);
* 12th [[Pedro Passos Coelho|Passos Coelho]] (two terms);
* 13th [[António Costa]] (three terms);
* 14th [[Luís Montenegro]] (two terms);

==Prime minister's residence==
{{Main|Palacete de São Bento}}
<gallery widths="205" heights="160">
File:22 11 2022 Encontro com o senhor António Costa, Primeiro-Ministro da República Portuguesa (52518745795).jpg|Facade of the São Bento Mansion.
File:Pedro Sánchez se reúne con Antònio Costa en Portugal, Lisboa, lunes 6 de julio de 2020 (06).png|Interior of the Mansion.
</gallery>
Just behind the main building of the [[Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|Assembly of the Republic]], there is a mansion that serves as residence and office for the prime minister of Portugal. The mansion, dated from 1877, was built within the garden of the old monastery that held the Portuguese parliament. It has been the prime minister's official residence since 1938, when Salazar moved in. Although it is the official residence of the prime minister, not all incumbents have lived in the mansion during their term in office. The incumbent Prime Minister, [[Luís Montenegro]], currently resides in the mansion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luís Montenegro está a viver em São Bento. Mas em que estado é que está o palacete? |url=https://tvi.iol.pt/noticias/videos/luis-montenegro-esta-a-viver-em-sao-bento-mas-em-que-estado-e-que-esta-o-palacete/67d1f6c00cf28cf88767d37c |access-date=19 May 2025 |date=12 March 2025 |website=TVI |language=en }}</ref>

==List of prime ministers of Portugal==
{{main|List of prime ministers of Portugal}}

===Term of office in years===
{{main|List of prime ministers of Portugal by time in office}}

===Graphical timeline (since 1976)===
{{#tag:timeline|
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea  = top:10 bottom:80 right:130 left:3
AlignBars = late

Colors     =
  id:PS     value:rgb(1,0.40,1)  legend:Socialist_(PS)
  id:PSD    value:rgb(1,0.60,0)  legend:Social_Democratic_(PSD)
  id:PP     value:blue  legend:CDS-People's_Party_(CDS-PP)
  id:IND    value:gray(0.6)  legend:None_(Independent)
  id:gray1 value:gray(0.8)
  id:gray2 value:gray(0.9)
  id:grid   value:gray(0.5)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period     = from:01/01/1976 till:{{#time:d/m/Y}}
TimeAxis   = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1980
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1976

Legend     = columns:1 left:255 top:35 columnwidth:75

TextData =
  pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M
  text:"Political parties:"

BarData =
  barset:PM

  bar:Soares
  bar:daCosta
  bar:MotaPinto
  bar:Pintasilgo
  bar:SáCarneiro
  bar:doAmaral
  bar:Balsemão
  bar:Cavaco
  bar:Guterres
  bar:Barroso
  bar:Santana
  bar:Sócrates
  bar:Passos
  bar:Costa
  bar:Montenegro

PlotData=
  width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
  barset:PM

  bar:Soares
  from: 23/07/1976 till: 28/08/1978 color:PS
  from: 09/06/1983 till: 06/11/1985 color:PS text:"[[Mário Soares|Soares]]" fontsize:10
  bar:daCosta
  from: 28/08/1978 till: 22/11/1978 color:IND text:"[[Alfredo Nobre da Costa|Nobre da Costa]]" fontsize:10
  bar:MotaPinto
  from: 22/11/1978 till: 01/08/1979 color:IND text:"[[Carlos Mota Pinto|Mota Pinto]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Pintasilgo
  from: 01/08/1979 till: 03/01/1980 color:IND text:"[[Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo|Pintasilgo]]" fontsize:10
  bar:SáCarneiro
  from: 03/01/1980 till: 04/12/1980 color:PSD text:"[[Francisco Sá Carneiro|Sá Carneiro]]" fontsize:10
  bar:doAmaral
  from: 04/12/1980 till: 09/01/1981 color:PP text:"[[Diogo Freitas do Amaral|Freitas do Amaral]] (interim)" fontsize:10
  bar:Balsemão
  from: 09/01/1981 till: 09/06/1983 color:PSD text:"[[Francisco Pinto Balsemão|Balsemão]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Cavaco
  from: 06/11/1985 till: 28/10/1995 color:PSD text:"[[Aníbal Cavaco Silva|Cavaco Silva]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Guterres
  from: 28/10/1995 till: 06/04/2002 color:PS text:"[[António Guterres|Guterres]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Barroso
  from: 06/04/2002 till: 17/07/2004 color:PSD text:"[[José Manuel Barroso|Durão Barroso]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Santana
  from: 17/07/2004 till: 12/03/2005 color:PSD text:"[[Pedro Santana Lopes|Santana Lopes]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Sócrates
  from: 12/03/2005 till: 21/06/2011 color:PS text:"[[José Sócrates|Sócrates]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Passos
  from: 21/06/2011 till: 26/11/2015 color:PSD text:"[[Pedro Passos Coelho|Passos Coelho]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Costa
  from: 26/11/2015 till: 02/04/2024 color:PS text:"[[António Costa|Costa]]" fontsize:10
  bar:Montenegro
  from: 02/04/2024 till: {{#time:d/m/Y}} color:PSD text:"[[Luís Montenegro|Montenegro]]" fontsize:10
}}

=== Living former prime ministers of Portugal ===
Living former prime minister showing periods in office with dates of birth and age. Currently there are 7 former Prime Ministers alive:
<gallery widths="170" heights="170" class="center">
File:Анибал Каваку Силва 02 (13-06-2013) (cropped).jpg|[[Aníbal Cavaco Silva]]<br>(1985–1995)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1939|7|15|df=y}}
File:António Guterres crop.jpg|[[António Guterres]]<br>(1995–2002)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1949|4|30|df=y}}
File:José Manuel Barroso EC Presidents 2024(cropped).png|[[José Manuel Barroso|José Manuel Durão Barroso]]<br>(2002–2004)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1956|3|23|df=y}}
File:Pedro Santana Lopes.png|[[Pedro Santana Lopes]]<br>(2004–2005)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1956|6|20|df=y}}
File:Socrates Brasilia 2011.png|[[José Sócrates]]<br>(2005–2011)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1957|9|6|df=y}}
File:Pedro Passos Coelho January 2025.jpg|[[Pedro Passos Coelho]]<br>(2011–2015)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1964|7|24|df=y}}
File:António Costa (2024) (cropped).jpg|[[António Costa]]<br>(2015–2024)<br>{{Date of birth and age|1961|7|17|df=y}}
</gallery>

==Historical rankings of prime ministers==
In 2012 and 2014 newspaper ''[[i (Portuguese newspaper)|i]]'' and the polling agency Pitagórica conducted polls asking for the best Portuguese prime minister among the seven most recent ones (i.e. in the previous 30 years). The results revealed that the public clearly separated the seven evaluated prime ministers between the three best ones (each receiving more than 20% of the votes) and the four worst (each receiving from 4 to 8% of the votes).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/politica/24185/e-o-pr%C3%A9mio-de-melhor-primeiro-ministro-portugu%C3%AAs-vai-para |title=E o prémio de melhor primeiro-ministro português vai para... |date=28 November 2012 |publisher=Notícias ao Minuto |language=pt |trans-title=And the award for the best Portuguese Prime Minister goes to... |access-date=26 August 2018 }}</ref><ref name="i 2014">{{cite web |url=https://ionline.sapo.pt/315743 |title=António Guterres o melhor primeiro-ministro da democracia e Durão Barroso o pior |date=10 April 2014 |publisher=i |language=pt |trans-title=Guterres was the best Prime Minister of the democracy and Durão Barroso was the worst |access-date=26 August 2018 }}</ref> In both polls, [[António Guterres]] (1995–2002) ranked as the best prime minister. [[Mário Soares]] (1976–78 and 1983–85) and [[Aníbal Cavaco Silva]] (1985–95) were also among the best prime ministers. On the other hand, [[José Manuel Durão Barroso]] (2002–04), [[Pedro Santana Lopes]] (2004–05), [[José Sócrates]] (2005–11) and [[Pedro Passos Coelho]] (2011–15, incumbent at the time of the polls) ranked as the worst prime ministers. Pedro Santana Lopes was ranked the worst in the 2012 poll<ref name="NM 2012" /> while Barroso ranked as the worst in the 2014 one.<ref name="i 2014" /> Together, the three best prime ministers ruled Portugal uninterruptedly from 1983 to 2002, while the four worst ruled from 2002 to 2015.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%"
|+Rankings of prime ministers
|-
! Prime Minister
! Party
! Tenure
! {{abbr|2012|Pitagórica poll}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.erc.pt/download.php?fd=11953&l=pt&key=b072732da3fcee0c8f745f0e93d71b3d |title=Barómetro Pitagórica Novembro 2012 |date=26 November 2012 |language=pt |access-date=13 February 2024}}</ref>
! {{abbr|2014|Pitagórica poll}}<ref name="NM 2012">{{cite web |url=https://www.erc.pt/download.php?fd=10736&l=pt&key=b0c608c346cb1561606d3376cc1fb96a |title=Barómetro Pitagórica Março 2014 |date=1 April 2014 |language=pt |access-date=13 February 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[António Guterres]]||[[Socialist Party (Portugal)|PS]]||1995–2002|| {{Party shading/PS}};" align="right"|'''26.8%'''||{{Party shading/PS}};" align="right"| '''24.2%'''
|-
| [[Mário Soares]]||[[Socialist Party (Portugal)|PS]]||1976–1978<br/>1983–1985|| align="right"|22.7% || align="right"|23.9%
|-
| [[Aníbal Cavaco Silva]]||[[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|PSD]]||1985–1995|| align="right"|23.7% || align="right"|23.6%
|-
| [[José Sócrates]]||[[Socialist Party (Portugal)|PS]]||2005–2011|| align="right"|6.2% || align="right"|7.7%
|-
| [[Pedro Santana Lopes]]||[[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|PSD]]||2004–2005|| align="right"|4.0% || align="right"|6.9%
|-
| [[Pedro Passos Coelho]]||[[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|PSD]]||2011–2015|| align="right"|8.4% || align="right"|6.8%
|-
| [[José Manuel Durão Barroso]]||[[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|PSD]]||2002–2004|| align="right"|8.1% || align="right"|6.7%
|-
|}

==See also==
*[[Leader of the Opposition (Portugal)]]
*[[Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal]]
*[[President of Portugal]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.portugal.gov.pt Official website of the Prime Minister of Portugal]

{{European Council}}
{{Europe heads of state and government}}
{{Prime Minister}}

[[Category:Prime ministers of Portugal|*]]
[[Category:Government of Portugal]]
[[Category:1834 establishments in Portugal]]
[[Category:Articles which contain graphical timelines]]