Portugal is a republican state and a parliamentary democracy under the 1976 Constitution. The Parliament (Assembleia da República) is unicameral and its members are elected for a four-year term. The Government is led by a Prime Minister and the Head of State is the President of the Republic who is elected for a five-year term.

Portugal is an asymmetrical regionalised State. It has three levels of governance: central, regional (the Autonomous Regions) and local level (municipalities and parishes). Local government has been democratically elected since 1976, after the fall of the dictatorship in 1974. The decentralisation process started then and has developed ever since. In particular, in 1999, several laws were adopted to enhance the responsibilities of the municipalities and parishes. In parallel, an attempt at regionalisation took place in the 1990s, but was rejected by public referendum in 1998. The archipelagos of Azores and Madeira were granted special status as autonomous regions (Regiões Autónomas de Portugal) in 1976.

The Republic of Portugal is composed of:

• 2  Autonomous Regions (Regiões Autónomas)
• 308 Municipalities (Concelhos or Municípios)
• 3,091 Civil Parishes (Freguesias),

Alongside the municipalities and parishes, Portuguese local administration includes other types of authorities, such as 23 intermunicipal entities (two metropolitan areas and 21 intermunicipal communities), sectorial/single-purpose associations of parishes and municipalities, and local public companies, as defined in law 75/2013 of September 2013.

The role of the intermunicipal entities is mainly aimed at coordinating the municipal investments of supramunicipal scale or relevance. Their areas of competence include strategic, economic, social, environmental and infrastructural and territorial management.

Nearly all municipalities are subdivided into civil parishes.  Since the creation of a democratic local administration in 1976, the Portuguese municipalities have been ruled by a system composed by and executive body (the Câmara Municipal) and a deliberative body (the Assembleia Municipal). Parishes have also been ruled by a system composed by an executive body (the Junta de Freguesia) and a deliberative body (the Assembleia de Freguesia).

There are also five  decentralised administration services at the regional level empowered with financial and administrative autonomy (the Regional Coordination and Development Commissions – Comissões de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional – CCDR). Furthermore, the implementation of formal administrative regions is embedded in the Constitution (Art. 255) but so far these regional governments have not been created. Currently the mainland is divided into 18 Districts (Distritos) which were administered by 'civil governors' (Governadores Civis) appointed by the Minister of Internal Administration until mid-2011. However, these did not constitute levels of self-government. The District's 'civil governors' were abolished in 2011 by central government but constitutional amendments have not been made to formally remove/replace their place in law, de jure.

The principles of interdependence and separation of powers are embedded in the Constitution as well as the principles of decentralisation and regional and local autonomy. The Autonomous Regions have their own political and administrative statutes and their own legislative autonomy (Art. 228). They benefit from extensive legislative powers and define their own policy, except for the field of foreign policy and defence and internal security, which come under the competences of central authorities.

In addition to the Constitution which stipulates democratic participation, the economic and social development and the promotion of regional interests of the Autonomous Regions with regard to reinforcing national unity and solidarity links among all the Portuguese people (art. 225), the Law No. 75/2013 on the Legal Regime of Local Authorities and the Laws 130/99 of 21 August 1999 and 2/2009 of 12 January 2009 on the Autonomous Regions also describe the vertical distribution of competences.

The National Parliament  defines the central, regional and local financial regimes. Furthermore, it has the competence to adopt taxes and levies and other financial contributions. The fiscal, financial and economic autonomy of the Autonomous Regions and the municipalities exists within the limits of the Constitution. The Regions have autonomous fiscal powers and the competence to adapt the national regime to the regional economic reality.

Central level

The Central Government is responsible for the country's general policy and directs the public administration, which implements the State's policy.

It has responsibilities in the following areas:

• Legislative power in all fields, except for Azores and Madeira;
• General powers in areas related to national sovereignty, and
• Administrative powers which do not fall under the competence of local authorities.

Regional level

The Autonomous Regions have their own organic laws (see the legal framework of Azores and Madeira), regional governments and administrations. The Regional Government (Governo Regional) is made up of a Regional Cabinet, comprising a President (Presidente do Governo Regional) and several Regional Secretaries (Secretários Regionais).The legislative assembly (Assembleia Legislativa) is composed of members elected by direct universal suffrage.

The responsibilities of the Autonomous Regions include

• Improvement of human resources and quality of life;
• Heritage and cultural creation;
• Environment;
• Protection of nature, public health, animals and vegetation;
• Agricultural and fisheries development;
• Water, mineral and thermal resources and locally produced energy;
• Planning, accommodation, urbanism and regional planning;
• Transport, including roads, traffic and land transport, infrastructure and maritime and air transport between the islands;
• Commercial and industrial development;
• Tourism, folklore and crafts;
• Sports, and
• Organisation of regional administration and related services.
  
   

Local level

Municipalities

Since 1976 with the creation of a democratic local administration, municipalities have been made up of a deliberative body, the municipal assembly (Assembleia Municipal) that monitors the activities of the municipal council (Câmara Municipal) which is the municipality's executive branch. The municipal assembly is constituted by directly elected members and the presidents of the parishes' executive bodies. The board of the assembly (president and two secretaries) are directly elected by the assemblies' members. The municipal council is composed of members elected by direct universal suffrage for four years. The mayor (Presidente da Câmara Municipal) presides over the executive council.

Municipalities have responsibilities in particular in the following areas: 

• Rural and urban infrastructure; 
• Energy; 
• Transport and communications; 
• Education, vocational education and training; 
• Heritage, culture and science; 
• Leisure and sport; 
• Health
• Social welfare; 
• Housing; 
• Civil protection; 
• Environment , drainage and sanitation; 
• Consumer protection; 
• Promoting development; 
• The territory and urban planning; 
• Municipal police;
• External cooperation.

Parishes

The parish assembly (Assembleia de Freguesia) is composed of members elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term via a system of proportional representation. The executive body (Junta de Freguesia) of the parish is elected from within the parish assembly's members and is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the decisions of the parish assembly. The executive committee is chaired by the president of the parish (Presidente da Junta de Freguesia).

The parishes have responsibilities in the following areas:

• Rural and urban infrastructure;
• Water supply;
• Education ;
• Culture, leisure and sport;
• Primary health care;
• Social welfare;
• Civil protection;
• Environment and well-being;
• Development;
• Urban and rural planning;
• Community protection.
• The duties of the parishes also cover the planning, management and investments in the cases and in accordance with the law.
  
   
  

Intermunicipal entities

The metropolitan areas (one in the metropolitan region of Lisbon and one in the metropolitan regions of Porto) are ruled by a metropolitan council (Conselho metropolitano) – which is the deliberative body and where the members are the mayors of the municipalities that are integrated in the metropolitan area – and a metropolitan executive commission (Comissão executiva metropolitana) – where the first-secretary and other four secretaries are elected by the municipal assemblies of the municipalities that are integrated in the metropolitan area (from the pool of mayors that are integrated in the metropolitan area). The intermunicipal communities are ruled by a intermunicipal assembly (Assembleia intermunicipal) – which is the deliberative body and where the members are from the municipal assemblies of the municipalities that are integrated in the metropolitan area – an intermunicipal council (Conselho intermunicipal) – composed by the mayors of the municipalities that are integrated in the metropolitan area and where its president and vice-presidents are elected from within its members – and an executive intermunicipal secretariat – where the first-secretary and other intermunicipal secretaries are elected by the intermunicipal council.

The intermunicipal entities have responsibilities in the same areas of the municipalities (which can delegate certain tasks/responsibilities to these supramunicipal entities).