Luís Montenegro and his 16 ministers will be sworn in at 6pm
Portugal‘s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the 16 ministers of the 25th Constitutional Government will be sworn in today (June 5) at 6pm at the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon, just 18 days after the Aliança Democrática (AD) victory in the May 18 legislative elections.
This will be the fourth executive government that the country’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will swear in – and the second led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which he previously headed. None of the three previous governments completed their term in office.
In the Ambassadors’ Room, the head of state will swear in the prime minister and then the 16 ministers, who will be called one by one, in hierarchical order, to take the oath and sign the act of office.
The secretaries of state of the 25th Constitutional Government, who are not yet known, will only take office on Friday at 12pm.
The inauguration ceremony will be followed by speeches by the country’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and prime minister, Luís Montenegro.
With this new government, Montenegro has created a new ministry for State Reform, while incorporating the ministries of Economy and Culture into others: Economy will be merged with Territorial Cohesion, while Culture will join the ministry of Youth and Sport.
The new government retains 13 ministers from the previous executive and will have three new ones: two who did not hold government positions in the 24th – Gonçalo Matias, who will be Deputy and Reform Minister, and Maria Lúcia Amaral, in Internal Administration – and Carlos Abreu Amorim, who has been bumped up from Secretary of State to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
Meanwhile, four ministers are on their way out: Pedro Duarte, until now Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Pedro Reis, Minister of Economy; Margarida Blasco, Minister of the Interior; and Dalila Rodrigues, Minister of Culture.
In total, the nee government will have 16 ministries – one less ministry than before – and six female ministers, also down one.
In the early legislative elections on May 18, 2025, the Democratic Alliance coalition (PSD/CDS-PP) won again without an absolute majority, electing 91 MPs out of 230 (11 more than a year ago), of whom 89 are from the PSD and two from the Christian Democratic CDS-PP Party.
CHEGA became the second largest parliamentary force, with 60 MPs, followed by the Socialists (PS) with 58, the Liberals (IL) with nine, Livre with six, the Communists (PCP) with three, and the Left Bloc (BE), People-Animals-Nature (PAN) and Madeira-based JPP with one each.
Source: LUSA
