The formal session marking November 25 will commence at 11:00 AM, featuring a distinctive alteration from the ceremony held in 2024 for the 50th anniversary of April 25: white roses will decorate the hemicycle instead of red carnations.
Otherwise, the session will echo the previous celebration with similar floral arrangements, flags and banners, budget allocations, and hemicycle configuration.
In the proceedings, each parliamentary group will be allotted five minutes and thirty seconds for presentations, while individual deputies will have three minutes and thirty seconds. The order of speeches will follow the customary ascending order of parliamentary representation: JPP, PAN, BE, CDS, PCP (not attending), Livre, IL, PS, Chega, and PSD.
The session will also feature speeches by José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, President of the Assembly of the Republic, and the final address by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
This year, unlike last year’s event where attendees were in the galleries, the key institutional guests, such as the presidents of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Justice, the Chief of the Armed Forces, and the Attorney General, will be seated in the semicircle of the hemicycle, as is customary in April 25 sessions.
The gallery attendees will mirror those present at the 50th anniversary of April 25, with a small change: the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon is expected to attend, as indicated by the ceremony protocol.
As in the April 25 session, individuals such as former Presidents of the Republic, former Prime Ministers, the Governor of the Bank of Portugal, ex-Councilors of the Revolution, and MEPs are anticipated in the galleries.
After the formal session concludes with the national anthem performed by the National Republican Guard (GNR), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and José Pedro Aguiar-Branco will engage in the Passos Perdidos for the unveiling of a special edition of postal stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of November 25, alongside the executive president of CTT.
Before departing the Assembly, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, accompanied by Aguiar-Branco, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, and Carla Montenegro, will pause by a canvas commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, also observed on November 25.
The similarities between the November 25 sessions and the April 25 event have been advocated by Chega, IL, and CDS-PP and criticized by left-wing parliamentary parties, who accuse the right of diminishing the Carnation Revolution and equating incomparable events.
The PCP has confirmed its decision not to participate in the session, consistent with its stance last year, stating it will not partake in the “ongoing operation around the 50th anniversary of November 25 aimed at diminishing April 25, its achievements and values, nor to make November 25 what it never was, despite some wishing otherwise.”
