On the 5th of October, 1143, the treaty that made Portugal a country was signed, but it was on this same date in 1910 that the Republic was established, celebrated as a national holiday. The 5th of October 1910 is part of the celebrations of a regime that represented a minority will through a violent movement, which, two years earlier, had publicly assassinated King Carlos I and Prince Luís Filipe, in a tragedy that exacerbated political tensions across various sectors of society.

In the last elections under the parliamentary monarchy, the Portuguese Republican Party, responsible for the coup d'état of 5th October, gained only 7% of the vote. In Portugal, the idea persists that there is an incompatibility between defending liberal ideas and believing that a constitutional monarchy is unequivocally a greater guarantee of liberty. However, it is widely omitted that the construction of the Republic was based on a coercive, violent process, and restrictive of individual freedoms.

The national flag was replaced by the flag of the Carbonária, a movement created with the specific purpose of establishing the Republic, and which was responsible for regicide. During the First Republic, Afonso Costa declared that one of the regime's objectives was to secularise the State, banning nuns and monks, while using the Republican National Guard to persecute not only political opponents but also trade unionists and workers, contradicting the cause it theoretically defended.

It was also Afonso Costa who restricted the right to vote, allowing it only to men who could read and write, despite promises of universal male suffrage. The purpose of this measure was to exclude rural, conservative, and Catholic populations who opposed the Republic and secularisation. Costa stated that "individuals who do not know the boundaries of their parish nor have clear and accurate ideas about anything should not go to the ballot box."

The instability of the First Republic was immense, with 45 governments in 16 years, and Portugal’s involvement in the First World War worsened the situation of an already impoverished and worn-out country.

Sidónio Pais, a Republican but an opponent of Afonso Costa, brought brief calm to the country. He united various factions, restored voting rights, and reconciled the Church with the State, but was also assassinated by the Portuguese Republican Party, bringing an end to that short-lived stability.

The profound instability brought by the Republic resulted in the imposition of a military dictatorship, which paved the way for the Estado Novo, depriving the Portuguese of freedom and democracy for nearly half a century. This chapter of our national history, far from bringing benefits, proves that the main argument of the Republicans — the election of the head of state — is not sufficiently appealing in light of the disadvantages of a partisan and rotational head of state.

It is fallacious to claim that this regime is accessible to the common man when it is essentially an extension of partisan struggles, something that repels any liberal, and undermines the purpose of the head of state: Impartiality and Stability.

114 years after the “imposition of the Republic,” it remains unconstitutional to decide the form of the head of state, as the republican form of government is one of the fundamental and unalterable principles of the Constitution, expressed in Article 288.

This imposition is profoundly illiberal in a regime that was never validated, and the Portuguese should demand this change as an exercise of basic liberty.

Countries like Brazil, Greece, and Italy are examples where the people were allowed to decide their form of head of state through democratic referendums.


After 114 years of the Republic, with the legacy of a war, a near half-century dictatorship, countless blood crimes, and the impossibility of choice, what democracy are we celebrating on the 5th of October?

Author

Cláudia Nunes - Presidente of LOLA Portugal | Fellow Young Voices Europe."

Cláudia Nunes