Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes SoaresGColTE,GCC,GColL (European Portuguese:[ˈmaɾjualˈβɛɾtuˈnɔβɾɨˈlɔpɨʃsuˈaɾɨʃ]; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was aPortuguese politician, who served asprime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as thepresident of Portugal from 1986 to 1996. He was the first secretary-general of theSocialist Party, from its foundation in 1973 to 1986. A major political figure in Portugal, he is considered the father of Portuguese democracy.[2]
Soares was the son of João Lopes Soares (Leiria, Arrabal, 17 November 1879 –Lisbon, Campo Grande, 31 July 1970), founder of the Colégio Moderno in Lisbon,government minister and then anti-fascist republican activist who had been apriest before impregnating and marrying Elisa Nobre Baptista (Santarém, Pernes, 8 September 1887 –Lisbon, Campo Grande, 28 February 1955), Mário Soares's mother, at the 7th Conservatory of the Civil Register of Lisbon on 5 September 1934. His father also had another son by an unknown mother named Tertuliano Lopes Soares. His mother had previously been married and had two children, J. Nobre Baptista and Cândido Nobre Baptista. Mário Soares was raised as aRoman Catholic, but came to identify himself as arepublican,secular andsocialist.[citation needed]
Soares began his studies at Colégio Moderno, owned by his father. There, for a short period he was taughtgeography byÁlvaro Cunhal, who would later become the towering figure of Portuguese Communism and one of Soares' greatest political rivals.
Mário Soares in the 1950s.
While a student at university, Soares joined thePortuguese Communist Party, being responsible for the youth section. In this capacity, he organised demonstrations in Lisbon to celebrate the end ofWorld War II. He was first arrested byPIDE, the Portuguese political police, in 1946, when he was a member of the Central Committee of theMovement of Democratic Unity (Portuguese:Movimento de Unidade Democrática), at the time chaired byMário de Azevedo Gomes [pt]. Soares was arrested twice in 1949. On those latter occasions, he was the secretary of GeneralNorton de Matos, a candidate for the Presidency. However, he became estranged from de Matos when he latter discovered Soares's Communist sympathies.
Soares marriedMaria de Jesus Barroso Soares, anactress, on 22 February 1949, while in theAljube prison, at the Third Conservatory of the Civil Register of Lisbon. They had a son,João Soares, who later became Mayor of Lisbon, and a daughter, Isabel Barroso Soares (born in 1951), who now manages the Colégio Moderno.
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 GeneralHumberto Delgado. Later, he would become Delgado's family lawyer, when Humberto Delgado was murdered in 1965, inSpain, by agents of the dictatorship's secret police (PIDE). As a lawyer, he defended some of Portugal's political prisoners and participated in numerous trials conducted in the Plenary Court and in the Special Military Court. Represented, particularly,Álvaro Cunhal when he was accused of several political crimes, and along withAdelino da Palma Carlos he also defended the dynastic cause ofMaria Pia of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Braganza.
In March 1968, Soares was arrested again by PIDE, and a military tribunal sentenced him to banishment in the colony ofSão Tomé and Principe in theGulf of Guinea.[3] His wife and two children, Isabel and João, accompanied him. However, they returned to Lisbon eight months later for in the meantime dictatorSalazar had been replaced byMarcello Caetano. The new dictator wanted to present a more democratic face to the world, so many political prisoners, Soares among them, were released and allowed exile in France.[4]
In theOctober 1969 general election, which was rigged, the democratic opposition (whose political rights were severely restricted) entered with two different lists. Soares participated actively in the campaign supporting theColigação Eleitoral de Unidade Democrática or CEUD (Electoral Coalition for Democratic Unity). CEUD was clearly anti-fascist, but they also reaffirmed their opposition to Communism.
In 1970, Soares was exiled toRome, Italy, but eventually settled inFrance where he taught at theUniversities of Vincennes,Paris andRennes. In 1973, the 'Portuguese Socialist Action' became theSocialist Party, and Soares was elected Secretary-General. The Socialist party was created under the umbrella ofWilly Brandt's SPD inBad Münstereifel, Germany, on 19 April 1973.
On 25 April 1974, elements of thePortuguese Army seized power in Lisbon, overthrowing Salazar's successor,Marcello Caetano. Soares and other political exiles returned home to celebrate what was termed 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 withSamora Machel, the leader ofFrelimo, to negotiate the independence ofMozambique.
Mário Soares during a press conference atSchiphol airport, 1975.
Within months of the revolution however (and in spite of theApril 1975 Constituent Assembly election results which gave victory to theSocialist Party and clearly favored the pro-democracy political parties), it became apparent that thePortuguese 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 newspaperRepública.
PresidentFrancisco da Costa Gomes dismissed Vasco Gonçalves in September 1975 and a failedfar-left coup in late November ended the far-left influence in Portuguese government and politics. After the approval of the1976 Constitution, a democratic government was finally established when national elections were held on 25 April 1976.
The1976 legislative election gave the Socialists a plurality of seats in the newly createdAssembly of the Republic and Soares becameprime minister. 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 currency 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, with Soares'Socialist Party unsuccessful in the1979 special elections and1980 elections. Soares again became prime minister following the1983 elections, holding office until late 1985. His main achievement in office was negotiating Portugal's entry into theEuropean Economic Community. Portugal at the time was very wary of integrating itself into theEEC, and Soares almost single-handedly turned public opinion around.
He devised the so-calledPresidência Aberta (Open Presidency), a series of tours around the country, each addressing a particular issue, such as theenvironment 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 was a member of theClub de Madrid, an independent organization of more than 80 former democratic statesmen from around the world. The group works to strengthen democratic governance and leadership.[6]
In March 2005, he launched a petition urging theEuropean Union to start membership talks withCape Verde.
On 30 August 2005, he announced his candidacy torun for president in the election that occurred on 22 January 2006, when he was 81 years old. However, he lost the election toAníbal Cavaco Silva and was even behindManuel Alegre, receiving 14% of the vote. "The results went against my expectations. I accept this defeat with a feeling of mission accomplished,"he said. It was suggested (on the RTP1 TV programmePrós e Contras in March 2008) that one of the reasons for his weak support could be that the Portuguese were reluctant to elect any president for more than two terms (only allowed by thePortuguese Constitution of 1976 if non-consecutive).
Soares attending a rally in Lisbon to celebrate the 40th anniversary of theCarnation Revolution, 25 April 2014
In the TV programmeOs Grandes Portugueses (English: The Greatest Portuguese), he was voted 12th, the highest-placed among living people chosen by the public.
He was a member of the strongestMasonic lodge in Portugal.
After the Finnish general elections on 17 April 2011, Soares opined that "Finland has changed into an extremely conservative country, where solidarity is unknown." Soares evoked the memory ofKalevi Sorsa, contrasting his generosity with "those dwarfs, who now want to rule Finland, their ethical values and hostility to Portugal". According to Soares the Finns live in an illusion, believing that "speculative markets and credit criminals can destroy nations with nine hundred years' independent history".[7]
Soares died on 7 January 2017 at the age of 92.[8] He had been admitted to the hospital on 13 December, and although his condition at first showed slight signs of improvement, he lapsed into a coma on 26 December from which he never recovered.[9] ThePortuguese Government offered a state funeral and declared three days of national mourning. It was the first state funeral in Portugal after that of PresidentÓscar Carmona in 1951.[10] After lying in state atJerónimos Monastery during 9 January, his remains were transported toPrazeres Cemetery the next day, and now lie at the family vault next to those of his wife.