– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green)The Third Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: Terceira República Portuguesa) is a period in the history of Portugal corresponding to the current democratic regime installed after the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, that put an end to the paternal autocratic regime of Estado Novo of António de Oliveira Salazar and Marcelo Caetano.

A new constitution was drafted, censorship was prohibited, free speech declared, political prisoners were released and major Estado Novo institutions were closed.

Eventually the country granted independence to its African colonies and began a process of democratization that led to the accession of Portugal to the EEC (today's European Union) in 1986.

In Portugal, 1926 marked the end of the First Republic, in a military coup that established an authoritarian government called Estado Novo, that was led by António de Oliveira Salazar until 1968, when he was forced to step down due to health problems.

The revolution was mainly the result of the work of a group of young officers unified under the Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA).

The legacy of considerable borrowing from earlier years became an almost unsustainable debt for the Portuguese economy, bringing the country to the verge of bankruptcy by 2011.

[21] In January 2011, Anibal Cavaco Silva was easily re-elected as President of the Republic of Portugal for a second five-year term in the first round of the election.

[22] In 2011, Portugal applied for EU assistance, as the third European Union country after Greece and Ireland, to cope with its budget deficit caused by the financial crisis.

In November 2015, The Socialist leader Antonio Costa became Portugal's prime minister, after forming an alliance with Communist, Green and Left Bloc parties.

[30] In January 2021, Portugal's centre-right president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won re-election, after taking 60.7% of the votes in the first round of the election.

[32] The ruling Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister António Costa, won an outright majority in the January 2022 snap general election.

[33] On 2 April 2024, the new center-right minority government, led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, took office, resulting from the slim victory of the Democratic Alliance in the snap election.