In an address to the nation from Sala das Bicas of the Palácio de Belém in Lisbon, the President said "I opted for the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic and the scheduling of elections on 10 March, 2024".

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that the parties were "clearly in favor" of this decision, while in the Council of State there was a "draw and, therefore, not in favor of dissolution – a situation, in fact, that had already occurred in the past with other heads of State ".

"I did so, therefore, by my own decision, in the exercise of a power conferred by the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic", he stated.

In a short speech, lasting around seven minutes, the President of the Republic added that he gives "the word back to the people, without dramatisation or fear", because "that is the strength of democracy: not being afraid of the people".

"And I did so for numerous reasons, the first being the nature of the vote in the 2022 elections, personalised for the prime minister, based on his own leadership, candidacy, electoral campaign and overwhelming victory", he explained.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled that he took this position "as early as 30 March of last year in the Government's inauguration speech, when talking about a possible replacement midway, highlighting the price of great victories, inevitably personal and intentionally personalized".

On the other hand, he considered that there would be "weakness" in the "formation of a new Government with the same majority but with any other Prime Minister, therefore not legitimized politically and personally by the popular vote", a solution that was proposed by the PS, as an alternative to elections.

According to the head of state, there would also be "the risk already seen in the past of this weakness resulting in a mere postponement of the dissolution until a worse moment, with a more critical situation and a more unpredictable outcome".

This executive would be seen as "a presidential Government, that is, supported by the President of the Republic, and the President of the Republic would be seen as weakening the presidential role in a sensitive period in which he must be, above all, an internal and external reference ", he argued.

The President of the Republic defended that dissolution and elections will bring "greater clarity and a more vigorous direction, to overcome an unexpected void, which surprised and disturbed so many passionate Portuguese who had been following eight years of uninterrupted government leadership" by António Costa.

"Now what it's about is looking ahead, picking up the pace, choosing the people's representatives and the Government that will result from the elections", he continued.

He expects the next Government to "seek to ensure stability and economic, social and cultural progress, in freedom, pluralism and democracy" and to have "a vision of the future, taking on what has already been done, finishing what is important to do, innovating in what was left undone." to reach".

"As always, Portuguese, I trust in you, in your patriotism, in your democratic spirit, in your experience, in your common sense, in your freedom. As always, it is you and you alone who are the decisive certainty of the future of our Portugal", concluded.

Under the terms of the Constitution and the electoral law, the dissolution of parliament will have to be officially decreed in the period between the 55th and 60th days before the date chosen for the elections, which in this case will be between January 10th and 15th.

This will be the ninth dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic since April 25, 1974 and the second decreed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, both in his second presidential term, which began in March 2021.

"I tried to shorten the time for this decision as much as possible, just like the time for the dissolution and calling of elections. And if it was not possible to make it shorter, this has to do with the process of replacing the leadership of the Government party, as happened in the past", said the head of state.

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