In a communication to the country, from the Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced last night that he will dissolve the parliament and call early legislative elections, but with "the guarantee of the indispensable economic and social stability that is provided by the prior vote on the Budget of the State for 2024, even before the dismissal of the current prime minister was formalized in early December".

"The approval of the Budget will allow us to meet the expectations of many Portuguese people and monitor the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) which does not and cannot stop the Government from becoming a management Government or later with the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic", he defended.

The State Budget proposal for 2024 is under discussion in parliament, with the final global vote scheduled for November 29th.

This idea received some reception, despite the contestation of the content of the Government's proposal, which in general only had votes in favor of the absolute majority of the PS, with abstentions from PAN and Livre and votes against from PSD, Chega, Initiative Liberal, BE and PCP.

Article 195, paragraph 1, paragraph b) of the Constitution establishes that "the acceptance by the President of the Republic of the resignation presented by the Prime Minister" is one of the circumstances that "entail the resignation of the Government".

However, the resignation of the Government "due to the acceptance of the resignation presented by the Prime Minister" will only be official with the publication of a decree by the President of the Republic published in the Diário da República.

In previous cases, the publication of the decree took place on the day of the prime minister's resignation, the following day or a week later, but there have also been longer intervals before this officialisation through decree.

This officialisation determines the moment from which, in accordance with article 186, no. 5 of the Constitution, "after his dismissal, the Government will limit itself to the practice of acts strictly necessary to ensure the management of business public".