ABSTRACT
The first edition of this article was entitled ‘Still Looking for Links’ (Leston-
Bandeira 2002a). Ten years on, the Portuguese parliament, the Assembleia da
Repu´blica (AR), is an interesting example to investigate how a strongly party-
based parliament that abides by a national mandate develops direct links with citi-
zens. It shows a different model of relationship between parliament and citizens;
one not as clear as the traditional constituency-based one, but one that works
within specific parameters. Although the nature of the representative mandate
in Portugal is still dominated by the party unit, we have seen the development
over the last decade of specific mechanisms aiming to promote public engage-
ment. A long way from the reality of long-standing democratic parliaments,
the Portuguese legislature does however show some developments of a more
specific type of representation and a higher engagement with citizens, namely
through the expansion of means of communication facilitated by new media.
