Marcelo addresses the country today at 20:00

&amp;NewLine;<p>The President of the Republic&amp;comma; Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa&amp;comma; will address the country today&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;at 8 p.m. concerning the dissolution of Parliament and the date of early legislative elections&amp;comma; after hearing the parties and the Council of State&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Marcelo addresses the nation at 8 p.m. today to announce the dissolution of Parliament<&sol;h2>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>On Wednesday, the Council of State "gave a favorable opinion to the proposal of the President of the Republic to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic", according to the press release issued at the end of the meeting;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Of the parties represented on the Council of State, only the PCP and BE had publicly expressed their disagreement with the option of dissolving the Assembly of the Republic and calling early elections following the presentation of the 2022 state budget in its generality&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>The meeting of the political advisory body to the President of the Republic&amp;comma; Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa&amp;comma; began at around 5:15 pm and ended at 8:30 pm&amp;comma; at the Palacio de la Cidadela de Cascais&amp;comma; in the Lisbon&amp;period district;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>The President of the Republic said it was "fundamental to listen to the Conseil d&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Etat and to hear the councillors&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;reasons" for the dissolution&amp;comma; asserting that "this is not a simple &amp;lsquo&amp;semi;pro forma'"&amp;period; The head of state said he&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;will "speak to the country in the early evening" today on the issue of dissolution<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>As for the date of the early elections&amp;comma; last week&amp;comma; the President of the Republic estimated that&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;they would take place in January 2022&amp;period; Two days ago&amp;comma; Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared that&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;he would choose "the most reasonable date" which "corresponds to the best solution for the Portuguese"&amp;comma; without taking into account the electoral processes of the parties&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Article 133 of the French <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;parlamento&period;pt&sol;legislacao&sol;paginas&sol;constituicaorepublicaportuguesa&period;aspx" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Constitution stipulates that the President<&sol;a> of the Republic is responsible for "dissolving the Assembly of the Republic&amp;comma; in compliance with the provisions of&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;article 172&amp;comma; after hearing the parties represented therein and the Council of&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;State"&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Article 172 stipulates that "the Assembly of the Republic may not be dissolved in the six months following its election&amp;comma; in the last six months of the term of office of the President of the Republic or during a state of siege or a state of emergency;state of siege or state of emergency" &amp;&amp;num;8211&amp;semi; conditions which do not currently exist&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>According to article 186 of the Constitution, governments are limited "to the practice of acts strictly necessary to ensure the management of public affairs" in two circumstances: "before the examination of their program by the Assembly of the Republic" or "after their resignation";<strong>an option that Prime Minister António Costa has ruled out&amp;period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>In a recent interview with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that it was a good idea "for the government to stay in office and not resign" until elections were held, as resigning would worsen the already critical situation;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>As for the dates of the early parliamentary elections&amp;comma; the PSD and CDS-PP have indicated a preference for January 09 or 16&amp;comma; the PS&amp;comma; the PCP&amp;comma; the PEV and Chega on January 16&amp;comma; BE has advocated elections from this date&amp;comma; PAN between the second half of January and the first of February and Liberal Initiative not before January 30&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com&sol;budget-detat-2022-portugais&sol;" data-type&equals;"post" data-id&equals;"8455">The State budget<&sol;a> for 2022 was rejected in its entirety last Wednesday&amp;comma; with votes against from the PSD&amp;comma; BE&amp;comma; PCP&amp;comma; CDS-PP&amp;comma; PEV&amp;comma; Chega and Iniciativa Liberal&amp;period; The proposal from the PS minority government only received votes in favor from the Socialist benches and abstentions from the PAN and non-attached deputies Joacine Katar Moreira and Cristina Rodrigues&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;