President of Portugal
The President of the Portuguese Republic (Presidente da República Portuguesa, Portuguese pronunciation: [pɾɨziˈðẽtɨ ðɐ ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ]) is the head of state of Portugal.
Role
The Portuguese Third Republic is a semi-presidential system. Unlike many other European presidents, the Portuguese President is quite powerful. Although it is the Prime Minister of Portugal and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual day-to-day affairs, the Portuguese President wields significant influence and authority, especially in the fields of national security and foreign policy. The president holds the nation's most senior office, and outranks all other politicians.
The President's greatest power is his/her ability to choose the Prime Minister. However, since the Assembly of the Republic has the sole power to dismiss the Prime Minister's government, the Prime Minister named by the President must have the confidence of the majority of the representatives in the assembly, otherwise it may face a vote of no confidence. The President has the discretionary power to dissolve Parliament when he sees fit (colloquially known as the "atomic bomb" in Portugal), and President Sampaio made use of this prerogative in late 2004 to remove the controversial government of Pedro Santana Lopes, despite the absolute majority of MPs supporting the government.