Even after a leftist coup had been put down in November 1975, it was not known if the armed forces would respect the assembly and allow work on the constitution to go forward.

The Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA, English: Armed Forces Movement) and leftist groups pressured and cajoled the assembly, and there was much discussion of establishing a revolutionary and socialist system of government.

After prolonged deliberation, the Constituent Assembly eventually adopted a constitution that provided for a democratic, parliamentary system with political parties, elections, a parliament, and a prime minister.

The document also established an independent judiciary and enumerated and provided for the protection of several human rights.

Workers' Committees were given the right to supervise the management of enterprises and to have their representatives elected to the boards of state-owned firms.

Next, the military was given great political power through the role given by the constitution to the MFA-controlled Revolutionary Council that made the MFA a separate and practically co-equal branch of government.

The council was to be an advisory body to the president (who was at first likely to come from the military itself), and would function as a sort of constitutional court to ensure that the laws passed by parliament were in accordance with the MFA's desires and did not undermine the achievements of the revolution.

The council was a concession to the MFA for allowing the Constituent Assembly to sit and promulgate a new "basic law."

It was widely seen in political circles as a compromise document in which all the parties contributing to it had been able to incorporate in it provisions they found vital.

Objections to the document centered on its ideological content, its restrictions on certain economic activities, and its institutionalization of the military's role in the country's governance.

The centre-right conservative coalition Democratic Alliance, formed by the PSD, the CDS, and the People's Monarchist Party, the PPM, was in power; the PS had been voted out of office, and the PCP was politically isolated.

Although many of the economic provisions of the constitution had not been implemented and were, in effect, ignored, there were not yet enough votes to reach the required two-thirds majority needed for their amendment.

Another important change reduced the president's power by restricting presidential ability to dismiss the government, timeline to dissolve parliament, or veto legislation.

The preamble to the Constitution consists of the enacting formula: On the 25th of April 1974 the Armed Forces Movement crowned the long resistance and reflected the deepest feelings of the Portuguese people by overthrowing the fascist regime.

Freeing Portugal from dictatorship, oppression and colonialism represented a revolutionary change and the beginning of an historic turning point for Portuguese society.

In the exercise of those rights and freedoms, the people's legitimate representatives are gathered to draw up a Constitution that matches the country's aspirations.

The Constituent Assembly affirms the Portuguese people's decision to defend national independence, guarantee citizens' fundamental rights, establish the basic principles of democracy, ensure the primacy of a democratic state based on the rule of law and open up a path towards a socialist society, with respect for the will of the Portuguese people and with a view to the construction of a country that is freer, more just and more fraternal.

It refers to the status of the previous law, to the transitory existence of the districts, to the criminalization and judgement of the former officers of the PIDE/DGS, to the re-privatization of the goods nationalized after the 25 April 1974, to the transitory regime applicable to bodies of local government, to the referendum about the European Treaty and to the date and entry in force of the Constitution.

[7] It is credited as the first constitution of any recognized country embracing corporatist principles (though predated significantly by the Charter of Carnaro), espousing a bicameral parliament, including a western-styled National Assembly, elected directly every four years, and the Corporative Chamber, representing different "corporations", schools, universities, colonies and local municipalities, in effect appointed by the National Assembly after its inaugural.

The role of the Corporative Chamber was limited to that of an advisory body, while all legislation was handled by the Assembly under the direction of its only party or "movement", the National Union, an ideology-lacking beacon completely subordinate to the Salazar administration.

In practice, he mostly turned day-to-day control of the government to Salazar, to the point that the president's prerogative to remove him from office was the only check on his power.

Carmona's successor, Craveiro Lopes, showed an independent streak that led Salazar to replace him with Américo Tomás in 1958.