Meaning and consequences of the election for president by universal suffrage: the Portuguese case

Abstract

The Portuguese political régime is flexible. On the other side, it is a régime that has not yet found its own way. Besides it would be impossible to identify the specific effects of a presidency that has had only one president. In this article, the author tries to make a general interpretation of the Portuguese régime and president, centred in the influence of the election by universal suffrage on the president's political behaviour. To this purpose he places the president in the context of the Portuguese political culture and Constitution. Then he analyses the election processus and its directed effects, and at last he studies a privileged moment of the presidential action: the relationship with the Government.