Aníbal Cavaco Silva

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Portuguese name Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Aníbal António Cavaco Silva Template:Post-nominals (Script error: No such module "IPA".; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October 1995.[1] His 10-year tenure was the longest of any prime minister since Salazar, and the longest for a freely elected prime minister in Portugal's republican history. He was the first Portuguese prime minister to win an absolute parliamentary majority under the current constitutional system (dating to 1974). He is most recognized for guiding Portugal into the European Union.

Early life and career

Aníbal António Cavaco Silva was born in Boliqueime, Loulé, Algarve.[2] He was initially an undistinguished student. As a 12-year-old, he failed the 3rd grade of the Commercial School, and his grandfather put him working on the farm as a punishment.[3] After returning to school, Cavaco Silva went on to become an accomplished student. Cavaco Silva then went to Lisbon, where he took a vocational education course in accounting from Instituto Comercial de Lisboa (Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa (ISCAL), today) in 1959. In parallel, he was admitted for university education at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras de Lisboa (ISCEF) of the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL) (currently the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) of the University of Lisbon), and obtained in 1964,[4] with distinction, a degree in economics and finance (he scored a mark of 16 out of 20). While studying in Lisbon, Cavaco Silva was an athlete of CDUL athletics department from 1958 to 1963. Between 1963 and 1964, he was drafted into the Portuguese Army Artillery for compulsory 11-month military service, serving in a battalion in Lourenço Marques in Portuguese Mozambique.[5] Cavaco Silva studied a graduate course at the University of York in England.[2]

Returning to Portugal, he took up a post as assistant professor in ISCEF (1974), professor at the Catholic University of Portugal (1975), extraordinary professor at the New University of Lisbon (1979) and finally director of the Office of Studies of the Bank of Portugal.[6]

Cavaco Silva has published several academic works in economics, including in subfields like monetary policy and monetary unions. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Scotland's Heriot-Watt University in 2009.[7]

Political career

Early years

Cavaco Silva joined the Social Democratic Party in 1974 and became the party leader in 1985.[2]

Prime minister

The 1985 legislative election was complicated by the arrival of a new political party, the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), which had been formed by the supporters of the President, António Ramalho Eanes. In the 250-member Assembly of the Republic, the nation's legislature, the PRD won 45 seats – at the expense of every party except Cavaco Silva's PSD. Despite winning less than 30 per cent of the popular vote, the PSD was the only traditional political party not to suffer substantial losses. Its 88 seats, in fact, represented a gain of 13 over the previous election. Accordingly, Cavaco Silva became prime minister on 6 November 1985.

Cavaco Silva headed a minority government. On most issues, his Social Democrats could rely on the 22 votes of the Social and Democratic Center Party (CDS), but the two parties' combined 110 votes fell 16 short of a parliamentary majority. The Socialists and Communists held 57 and 38 seats respectively; Cavaco Silva could govern if the 45 members of the PRD, who held the balance of power, abstained.

According to a contemporary report in The New York Times, Cavaco Silva's first government presided over an "economic boom". The article described him as "pro-American" and committed to the European Community.[2]

File:Reagan and Cavaco Silva in the Oval Office 1988-02-24.png
Prime Minister Cavaco Silva meeting with U.S. president Ronald Reagan at the White House, 1988

In 1987, the PRD withdrew its tacit support, and a parliamentary vote of no confidence forced President Mário Soares to call an early election. Cavaco Silva's Social Democrats captured 50.2 per cent of the popular vote and 148 of the 250 seats in the legislature. Far behind were the Socialists, with only 60 seats, and the Communists, with 31. The CDS and the PRD were virtually wiped out, left with only four and seven seats, respectively. This was the first time since the 1974 revolution that a single party had won an outright majority in the national parliament.[8] At the time, it was also the largest majority that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election.

Although the occurrence of economic growth and a public debt relatively well-contained as a result of the number of civil servants was increased from 485,368 in 1988 to 509,732 in 1991, which was a much lower increase than that which took place in the following years until 2011 marked by irrational and unsustainable State employment, from 1988 to 1993, during the government cabinets led by Cavaco Silva, the Portuguese economy was radically changed. As a result, there was a sharp and rapid decrease in the output of tradable goods and a rise in the importance of the non-tradable goods sector in the Portuguese economy.[9]

In the 1991 election Cavaco Silva's party had a majority even larger (50.6 per cent) than the one of four years earlier. He decided not to contest the 1995 election, and the PSD, lacking a leader of his stature, lost 48 seats and the election.

Post-premiership

Cavaco Silva contested the 1996 presidential election but was defeated by the Mayor of Lisbon, Jorge Sampaio, the Socialist candidate. Retiring from politics, he served for several years as an advisor to the board of the Banco de Portugal (Bank of Portugal) but retired from this position in 2004. He then became a full professor at the School of Economics and Management of the Catholic University of Portugal, where he taught the undergraduate and MBA programs.

He is a member of the Club of Madrid[10] and an honorary member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

President of the Republic

File:Cavaco Silva e Lula 04072007.jpg
President Cavaco Silva meets the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, in 2007.

On 20 October 2005, Cavaco Silva announced his candidacy for the 2006 presidential election. He was elected President of the Republic on 22 January 2006 with 50.6% of votes cast, avoiding a run-off. He is the first elected center-right president in Portugal since 1974. He is also the second former prime minister to be elected president, after Mário Soares.

File:The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting with the President of Portugal, Professor Anibal Cavaco Silva in New Delhi on January 11, 2007.jpg
President Aníbal Cavaco Silva with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, 11 January 2007

He was sworn in on 9 March 2006, becoming Portugal’s first right-of-centre head of state in three decades.[11] He is also the president of the Portuguese Council of State.

Cavaco Silva's term was initially marked by a mutual understanding with the government led by Socialist José Sócrates, which he referred to as "strategic cooperation".

The most controversial moment of his presidency was when the Assembly of the Republic passed a bill for the holding of a pre-legislative referendum on the legalization of abortion in Portugal without any restrictions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. After the parliamentary approval of the bill summoning the referendum, Cavaco Silva referred the matter to the Portuguese Constitutional Court, which declared both the proposed legalization and the referendum constitutional by a narrow 7-6 margin. Cavaco Silva, who could still have vetoed the referendum bill, decided to sign it into law and thus allowed the referendum. The majority of the Portuguese electorate abstained from the referendum, but the vote for legalization prevailed among those who chose to cast their ballot.

Cavaco Silva was reelected president of Portugal on 23 January 2011 with 52,92% of the vote, and he took office for his second five-year term on 9 March 2011.[12]

2015 constitutional crisis

At the general election on 4 October 2015 to the Assembly of the Republic, the unicameral Portuguese parliament, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho lost its majority, with centre-left and far-left opposition parties gaining more than half of the seats. As Passos Coelho's own Social Democratic Party remained the largest in parliament, and still had the support of the much smaller CDS – People's Party, Cavaco Silva allowed Passos Coelho to continue as prime minister, giving him the first chance to form a new government. Passos Coelho was unable to find any new partners and was widely expected to stand down, but on 22 October Cavaco Silva invited him to form a new government, even if it were a minority government. On 24 October Cavaco Silva explained his thinking:[13]

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In 40 years of democracy, no government in Portugal has ever depended on the support of anti-European forces, that is to say forces that campaigned to abrogate the Lisbon Treaty, the Fiscal Compact, the Growth and Stability Pact, as well as to dismantle monetary union and take Portugal out of the euro, in addition to wanting the dissolution of NATO.[13]

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António Costa, leader of the Socialist Party, called this a grave mistake and added "It is unacceptable to usurp the exclusive powers of parliament. The Socialists will not take lessons from Professor Cavaco Silva on the defence of our democracy." The Green politician Rui Tavares commented "The president has created a constitutional crisis. He is saying that he will never allow the formation of a government containing Leftists and Communists. People are amazed by what has happened." The opposition parties quickly announced their intention to bring down the new government in a motion of rejection.[13]

Eventually, Passos Coelho's government fell on a motion of no confidence, and the president appointed António Costa, the leader of the Socialists, as prime minister in his place.[14]

Family

Cavaco Silva married Maria Alves da Silva at the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, on 20 October 1963. The couple had a daughter Patricia, and a son Bruno.[2] He has five grandchildren, four of whom were born to his daughter.[15] One of them, António Montez, is a professional footballer.[16]

His brother, Rogério Cavaco Silva, is a businessman and a victim of the Dominion of Melchizedek scam.[17][18][19][20]

Honours

National honours

Source:[21]

Foreign honours

File:Coat of Arms of Aníbal Cavaco Silva (Order of the Seraphim).svg
Aníbal Cavaco Silva coat of arms as a knight of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim

Source:[22]

State visits

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File:CavacoSilva Presidential Trips.PNG
Foreign trips of Cavaco Silva.

Cavaco Silva made state visits to countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. In September 2006, on his first state visit, he visited Portugal's neighbour, Spain.[23][24]

Electoral history

File:Cavaco na California.jpg
Cavaco during his 2011 visit to the U.S.; pictured with John T. Chambers and Helder Antunes.

PSD leadership election, 1985

Ballot: 19 May 1985Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Candidate Votes %
bgcolor=Template:Party color| Aníbal Cavaco Silva 422 53.6
bgcolor=Template:Party color| João Salgueiro 365 46.4
Turnout 787
Source: Results[25]

Legislative election, 1985

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Ballot: 6 October 1985Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
style="background:Template:Party color;"| PSD Aníbal Cavaco Silva 1,732,288 29.9 88 +13
style="background:Template:Party color;"| PS Almeida Santos 1,204,321 20.8 57 –44
PRD Hermínio Martinho 1,038,893 17.9 45 new
style="background:Template:Party color;"| APU Álvaro Cunhal 898,281 15.5 38 –6
style="background:Template:Party color;"| CDS Lucas Pires 577,580 10.0 22 –8
UDP Mário Tomé 73,401 1.3 0 ±0
Other parties 128,846 2.2 0 ±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 145,319 2.5 – –
Turnout 5,798,929 74.16 250 ±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[26]

Legislative election, 1987

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Ballot: 19 July 1987Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
style="background:Template:Party color;"| PSD Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,850,784 50.2 148 +60
style="background:Template:Party color;"| PS Vítor Constâncio 1,262,506 22.2 60 +3
style="background:Template:Party color;"| CDU Álvaro Cunhal 689,137 12.1 31 –7
PRD António Ramalho Eanes 278,561 4.9 7 –38
style="background:Template:Party color;"| CDS Adriano Moreira 251,987 4.4 4 –18
Other parties 219,715 3.9 0 ±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 123,668 2.2 – –
Turnout 5,676,358 71.57 250 ±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[27]

Legislative election, 1991

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Ballot: 6 October 1991Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
style="background:Template:Party color;"| PSD Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,902,351 50.6 135 –13
style="background:Template:Party color;"| PS Jorge Sampaio 1,670,758 29.1 72 +12
style="background:Template:Party color;"| CDU Álvaro Cunhal 504,583 8.8 17 –14
style="background:Template:Party color;"| CDS Diogo Freitas do Amaral 254,317 4.4 5 +1
PSN Manuel Sérgio 96,096 1.6 1 new
PSR Francisco Louçã 64,159 1.1 0 ±0
Other parties 132,495 2.3 0 –7
Blank/Invalid ballots 110,672 1.9 – –
Turnout 5,735,431 67.78 230 –20
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[28]

Presidential election, 1996

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Ballot: 14 January 1996Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Candidate Votes %
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Jorge Sampaio 3,035,056 53.9
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,595,131 46.1
Blank/Invalid ballots 132,791 –
Turnout 5,762,978 66.29
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[29]

Presidential election, 2006

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Ballot: 22 January 2006Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Candidate Votes %
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,773,431 50.5
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Manuel Alegre 1,138,297 20.7
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Mário Soares 785,355 14.3
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Jerónimo de Sousa 474,083 8.6
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Francisco Louçã 292,198 5.3
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Garcia Pereira 23,983 0.4
Blank/Invalid ballots 102,785 –
Turnout 5,590,132 61.53
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[30]

Presidential election, 2011

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Ballot: 23 January 2011Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Election table/category
Candidate Votes %
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Aníbal Cavaco Silva 2,231,956 53.0
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Manuel Alegre 831,838 19.7
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Fernando Nobre 593,021 14.1
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Francisco Lopes 301,017 7.1
José Manuel Coelho 189,918 4.5
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Defensor Moura 67,110 1.6
Blank/Invalid ballots 277,593 –
Turnout 4,492,453 46.52
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[31]

Bibliography

  • Cavaco Silva, Autobiografia Política, in 2 Vols.

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  2. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Template:In lang Perfil de Cavaco SilvaScript error: No such module "Unsubst"., iol.pt
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Template:In lang Ás nas barreiras, Record
  6. ↑ Cavaco Silva – Perfil, source Agência Lusa; website UOL (January 2006)
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ David B. Goldey, "The Portuguese elections of 1987 and 1991 and the presidential election of 1991." Electoral Studies 11.2 (1992): 171-176.
  9. ↑ Template:In lang Maior queda nos bens e serviços transaccionáveis aconteceu entre 1988 e 1993, TSF (27 December 2012)
  10. ↑ Template:In lang The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members – 66 democratic former heads of state and government
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ a b c Eurozone crosses Rubicon as Portugal's anti-euro Left banned from power] in The Daily Telegraph dated 24 October 2015, online at telegraph.co.uk, accessed 25 October 2015
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ "Aníbal Cavaco Silva, o PSD e a Evolução da Democracia Portuguesa: o XI Governo Constitucional (1987-1991)", Nuno Marques Freire, UNIVERSIDADE DA BEIRA INTERIOR Faculdade de Ciências Socias e Humanas, October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Party political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check President of the Social Democratic Party
1985–1995 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byas Minister of Finance Template:S-bef/check Minister of Finance and Planning
1980–1981 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byas Minister of Planning Template:S-bef/check
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Prime Minister of Portugal
1985–1995 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check President of Portugal
2006–2016 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

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