Portugal is a sovereign republic, a democratic, unitary state of Law which within its organisation respects the principle of autonomy of local government and the democratic decentralisation of its Public Administration. The archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira form autonomous regions, with their own political and administrative status and organs of Government. 

The system of the central government, often described as semi-presidential, is based on three political organs: the President of the Republic, the Parliament  of the Republic and the Government. In addition to there, the Courts are also sovereign organs, and their formation, composition and areas of competency are laid out in the Constitution.

In the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores, the organs of government are the Regional Legislative Assembly and the Regional Government, with the sovereignty of the Republic represented by the Representatives of the Republic, nominated by the President of the Republic after consulting the Government to the effect.


- Government