A Assembleia da República marks the 50th anniversary of November 25th this Tuesday with a formal session similar to the one held in 2024 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of April 25th, preceded by a military parade in Lisbon.
Despite half a century passing since this day, it continues to generate controversy and division.
In the wake of the celebrations, various opinions were expressed, reflecting individual party or ideological beliefs.
The PCP has announced it will not attend the session, arguing it distorts history to diminish the significance of April 25th.
The PS declined to join the committee formed by the government for these celebrations, arguing it obscures “the central role” of Mário Soares and aims to “create a narrative of confrontation and polarization,” opting instead to organize its own commemorative program.
Generally, the Left accuses the Right of attempting to equate the incomparable and undermine the Carnation Revolution. The Right appears to seek a date to celebrate a victory it never achieved, a notion supported by writer Filipe Garcia in his book “Brief History of November 25th” and endorsed by Vasco Lourenço, one of the Captains of April and a prominent figure in the so-called Group of Nine—the victors of 1975, in an interview published today by Renascença.
“Farcical.” Nuno Melo “must have made a promise to his uncle”
For the 83-year-old colonel, “equating November 25th with April 25th is an affront to April 25th”; the April 25th triumph was, in fact, bolstered by the events of November 25th.
However, some wish to convey a different image. Vasco Lourenço criticizes the Minister of Defense and leader of the CDS-PP for organizing the November 25th celebrations. “He must have promised his uncle and is determined to celebrate”, he remarked in the same interview, referring to the familial connection of Nuno Melo to the late Canon Melo.
To the colonel, today’s celebrations are “a charade, a circus”: “The only distinctive feature of November 25th is being the last. They [Right] don’t celebrate September 28th, don’t celebrate March 11th, because those are occasions where the Right is defeated, and they want to celebrate November 25th because, theoretically, it’s only the Left that is defeated. Therefore, this is a circus to me, unjustifiable,” he stated.
Amid criticism (not only from Vasco Lourenço), Nuno Melo has declared that the 50th-anniversary celebrations of November 25th will be conducted without ideology, grounded in historical facts, serving to unite the military family and Portuguese society.
The Minister of Defense stated today that the 50th-anniversary celebrations of November 25th would be conducted without ideology, based on historical facts, intended to unite the military family and Portuguese society.
Lusa | 17:45 – 24/11/2025
April 25th “a major date,” but November 25th “also important”
Meanwhile, several candidates for the presidential elections on January 18, 2026, discussed the topic.
Luís Marques Mendes, supported by the PSD and CDS, argued that November 25th can and should be celebrated, without rewriting history or questioning that the “major date” was April 25th, 1974.
For the candidate for Belém, the date marked today “was also important, restoring purity to the ideals of April, placing moderation where there was radicalism, preventing the country from moving from a right-wing dictatorship to a far-left dictatorship”.
Presidential candidate Catarina Martins, supported by the Left Bloc (BE), argued against falsifying history, claiming that it was the April 25th, 1974, that changed everything, not November 25th.
“It’s crucial not to falsify history, and April 25th, indeed, was the turning point. That’s why we celebrate April 25th”, she stated.
“The President of the Republic should be present, not only out of institutional duty but also because he has the final say. And it’s wise to use that final say to remind that democracy was born from April 25th, which overthrew the dictatorship,” she emphasized.
Presidential candidate Catarina Martins, supported by the Left Bloc, argued today against falsifying history, claiming it was April 25th, 1974, that changed everything, not November 25th.
Lusa | 16:18 – 24/11/2025
Meanwhile, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo emphasized that both April 25th and November 25th “have their value”, so attempting to compare the importance of the dates “is a futile discussion”.
