Mário Soares
Mário Soares| |- | Prime Minister of Portugal|- | Order: | 107th and 114th (53rd and 60th of the Republic, 5th and 12th since the Carnation revolution)>- | Term of Office | st) July 23, 1976 - August 28, 1978
(2nd) June 9, 1983 - November 6, 1985>- Predecessor: | st) José Pinheiro de Azevedo
(2nd) Francisco Pinto Balsemão>- Successor: | st) Alfredo Nobre da Costa
(2nd) Aníbal Cavaco Silva>- President of Portugal|- | Order: | 18th (4th since the Carnation revolution)>- | Term of Office | March 9, 1986 - March 9, 1996>- | Predecessor: | António Ramalho Eanes>- | Successor: | Jorge Sampaio>- | Date of Birth | December 17, 1924 | | Place of Birth: | Lisbon |
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| Nickname | Bochechas (Cheeks, pejorative) |
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| Wife: | Maria de Jesus Barroso Soares |
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| Occupation: | Lawyer, historian, professor |
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| Political Party: | Socialist |
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Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares GCOTE, GCOC, KOE (
pron. IPA //; born
December 7,
1924),
Portuguese politician, was born in
Lisbon, and graduated in history, philosophy and law from the
University of Lisbon. He became a university lecturer in
1957, but his activities in opposition to the dictatorship of
António de Oliveira Salazar led to repeated arrests. He was active in resistance groups such as the Movement for Anti-Fascist National Unity and the Movement for Democratic Unity.
Soares is the son of João Lopes Soares, a teacher and anti-fascist republican activist who had been a
Roman Catholic priest for a while before marrying Elisa Nobre, Mário Soares's mother.
Soares began his studies at Colégio Moderno, owned by his father. where for a short period he was taught Geography by
Álvaro Cunhal, who would later became the towering figure of Portuguese communism and one of Soares' greatest political rivals.
While a student at University, Soares joined the
Portuguese Communist Party, being responsible for the youth section. In this capacity, he organised demonstrations in
Lisbon to celebrate the end of
WWII. He was first arrested by
PIDE, the Portuguese political police, in
1946, when he was a member of the Central Committee of the
Movement of Democratic Unity (
Portuguese: Movimento de Unidade Democrática), at the time chaired by
Mário Azevedo Gomes. Soares was arrested twice in
1949. On those latter occasions, he was the secretary of General
Norton de Matos, a candidate for the Presidency. However, he became estranged from Norton de Matos, when the latter discovered Soares's Communist sympathies.
Soares married
Maria de Jesus Barroso Soares, an actress, in February
1949, while in the
Aljube prison. They have a daughter and a son, politician
João Soares.
Soares's multiple arrests for political activism made it impossible for him to continue with his career as a lecturer of history and philosophy. Therefore, he decided to study law and become an attorney.
In
1958, Soares was very active in the presidential election supporting General
Humberto Delgado. Later, he would become Delgado's family lawyer, when Humberto Delgado was murdered in
1965, in
Spain, by agents of the dictatorship's secret police (PIDE).
In April
1964, in
Geneva,
Switzerland, Soares together with
Francisco Ramos da Costa and
Manuel Tito de Morais created the
Acção Socialista Portuguesa (
Portuguese Socialist Action). At this point he was already quite distant from his former Communist friends (having quit the Communist Party in
1951); his views were now clearly inclined to democratic socialism.
In March
1968, Soares was arrested again by PIDE, and a military tribunal sentenced him to banishment in the colony of
São Tomé in the
Gulf of Guinea. His wife and two children, Isabel and João, accompanied him. However, they returned to Lisbon eight months later for in the meantime dictator
Salazar had been replaced by
Marcello Caetano. The new dictator wanted to present a more democratic face to the world, so many political prisoners, Soares among them, were released.
In the
1969 general election, which was rigged, the democratic opposition (whose political rights were severely restricted) entered with two different lists. Mário Soares participates actively in the campaign supporting the
Coligação Eleitoral de Unidade Democrática or CEUD (
Electoral Coalition for Democratic Unity). CEUD is clearly anti-fascist, but they also reaffirmed their opposition to communism.
In
1970, Soares was exiled to
Rome,
Italy, but eventually settled in
France where he taught at the Universities of
Vincennes,
Paris and
Rennes. In
1973, the Portuguese Socialist Action became the
Socialist Party, and Soares was elected Secretary-General. The Socialist party was created under the umbrella of
Willy Brandt's SPD in
Bad Münstereifel,
Germany, on
19 April 1973.
On
25 April 1974, elements of the
Portuguese Army seized power in Lisbon, overthrowing Salazar's successor,
Marcelo Caetano. Soares and other political exiles returned home to heroes' welcomes to celebrate what was called the "
Carnation Revolution."
In the provisional government which was formed after the revolution, led by the Movement of the Armed Forces (MFA), Soares became Minister for Overseas Negotiations, charged with organising the independence of Portugal's overseas colonies. Among other encounters, he met with
Samora Machel, the leader of
Frelimo, to negotiate the independence of
Mozambique.
Within months of the revolution however, it became apparent that the
Portuguese Communist Party, allied with a radical group of officers in the MFA, was attempting to extend its control over the government. The Prime Minister,
Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves, was accused of being an agent of the Communists and a bitter confrontation developed between the Socialists and Communists over control of the newspaper
República.
Democratic government was finally established when national elections were held in April
1976. The Socialists won a plurality of seats and Soares became
Prime Minister. But the deep hostility between the Socialists and the Communists made a left-wing majority government impossible, and Soares formed a weak minority government. Vast fiscal and current account deficits generated by previous governments forced Soares to adopt a strict austerity policy, which made him deeply unpopular. Soares had to resign from office after only two years, in
1978.
The wave of left-wing sentiment which followed the
1974 revolution had now dissipated, and a succession of conservative governments held office until
1983, when Soares again became Prime Minister, holding office until late
1985. His main achievement in office was negotiating Portugal's entry into the
European Union. Soares almost single-handedly turned public opinion around, for Portugal at the time was very wary of integration into the
EU.
|
Mário Soares as President of the Republic |
In the
Portuguese presidential election, 1986, held in March, Soares was elected President of Portugal, beating
Diogo Freitas do Amaral by less than 1% of the votes. He was reelected in
1991, this time with almost 70% of the votes. For most of his two terms in office Portugal was governed by the
Social Democratic Party, led by
Aníbal Cavaco Silva.
He devised the so-called
Presidência aberta (open Presidency), a series of tours around the country, each addressing a particular issue, such as the
Environment or a particular region of Portugal. Although generally well received by the public, some claimed that he was criticizing the government and exceeding his constitutional role. Others stated that the tours were in the style of medieval courts. Yet the name stuck for today's presidential initiatives of the same type.
*Soares retired in
1996, but in
1998 he headed the Independent World Commission on the Oceans.
*In
1999 he also headed the Socialist ticket in elections to the
European Parliament, where he served until the
2004 elections. He ran for President of the Parliament, but lost to
Nicole Fontaine.
*He is currently president of the
Fundação Mário Soares (Mário Soares Foundation).
*In March 2005, he launched a petition urging the
European Union to start membership talks with
Cape Verde.
*On
30 August 2005, he announced his candidacy to
run for President in the election that occurred in
January 22,
2006, when he was 81 years old. However he lost the election to
Aníbal Cavaco Silva and was even behind
Manuel Alegre, receiving 14% of the vote.
"The results went against my expectations. I accept this defeat with a feeling of mission accomplished," he said,
conceding defeat.
*
Fundação Mário Soares (In Portuguese)
*
Official site of the candidate for the Portuguese elections of 2006 (In Portuguese)
