The Portuguese parliament and the political parties

Abstract

In Portugal, the transition towards democracy has produced a parliament highly controlled by political parties. Such a leadership of parties over an unicamaral parliament is observable in the choice of its members and expresses itself in the submission of the parliamentarians to their parliamentary groups and in that of the parliamentary groups to the political parties. At the same time, a growing «parliamentarization» of the parties occurs, either quantitative or qualitative. Consequently, the parliament progressively becomes more professional either because its members get a greater specialization or because of a greater exclusivity of professional activities. So, in spite of the political instability of these first twelve years of democratic life, which has inevitably affected institutions, the Portuguese parliament is managing the conditions for progressive stabilization and institutionalization.