Aníbal Cavaco Silva

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Aníbal Cavaco Silva

Former Prime Minister of Portugal
Order:	115th (61st of the Republic, 13th since the Carnation revolution)
Term of Office	November 6, 1985 - October 28, 1995
Predecessor:	Mário Soares
Successor:	António Guterres
President of Portugal (in office)
Order:	20th (6th since the Carnation revolution)
Term of Office	March 9, 2006 - Incumbent
Predecessor:	Jorge Sampaio
Successor:	Incumbent
Date of Birth	July 15, 1939
Place of Birth:	Boliqueime, Loulé
Wife:	Maria Alves da Silva
Occupation:	Economist, Lecturer and Professor of Economics, Director of the Department of Economical Studies of the Bank of Portugal, Investigator for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Financial adviser for the Bank of Portugal
Political Party:	Social Democratic

Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC (pron. IPA [ɐ'nibaɫ kɐ'vaku 'siɫvɐ]; born in Boliqueime in Loulé municipality in the Algarve region, on July 15, 1939) is the President of the Portuguese Republic, having won the Portuguese presidential election on January 22, 2006. Cavaco Silva was sworn in on March 9, 2006.

He was previously Prime Minister of Portugal from November 6, 1985 to October 28, 1995. His tenure of ten years was the longest of any democratically elected Prime Minister in Portuguese history, and he was the first Portuguese Prime Minister to have won an absolute parliamentary majority, a feat which he achieved twice.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Decade in power: 1985-1995 3 Out of office: 1995 - 2006 4 Presidential election, 2006 5 Timeline 6 Biography 7 External links

[edit] Early career

With his background as a professor of economics and a doctorate from the University of York, Cavaco Silva was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro in 1980. He gained a reputation as an economic liberalizer, gradually dismantling regulations inhibiting free enterprise. He refused to serve in the Center Bloc coalition of Socialists and Social Democrats (PSD) that governed from 1983 to 1985, and his election to the leadership of the PSD on 2 June, 1985, portended the end of the coalition.

[edit] Decade in power: 1985-1995

The election that followed was complicated by the arrival of a new political party, the Party for Democratic Renewal (PRD) 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 percent of the vote and 88 seats, 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. Cavaco Silva became Prime Minister on 6 November 1985.

Tax cuts and economic deregulation, along with the arrival of EU funds, spurred several years of uninterrupted economic growth, which increased Cavaco Silva's popularity. He was hampered, however, by a parliament controlled by the opposition. 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, as they frequently did. In 1987, however, the PRD withdrew its tacit support, and a parliamentary vote of no confidence forced president Mário Soares to call an early election.

The results of the election stunned even the most optimistic of Cavaco Silva's supporters. His Social Democrat party captured 50.2 percent of the popular vote and 148 of the 250 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. 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 4 and 7 seats, respectively. This was the first time in Portuguese history that a single party had won an outright parliamentary majority.

The 1991 election was another triumph for Cavaco Silva, which yielded a majority even larger (50.4 percent) than the one of four years earlier. However, the 1993 European economic crisis, sparking a high unemployment rate, and the country's mistrust of long-spanning governments, eroded his popularity. He decided not to contest the 1995 election, and the PSD, lacking a leader of his stature, lost 48 seats and the election.

[edit] Out of office: 1995 - 2006

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 teaches the undergraduate and MBA programs.

He declined to support Pedro Santana Lopes in the parliamentary election of 2005, despite pressure from within his party.

[edit] Presidential election, 2006

On October 20, 2005, Cavaco Silva announced his candidacy to the Presidential election. He was elected president on January 22, 2006 with 50.6% of votes cast, avoiding a second-round run-off. He is the first elected Centre-right president in Portugal since 1974. He is also the second former Prime Minister to be elected to the Presidency, following in the footsteps of Mário Soares.

He was sworn-in on March 9, 2006.

[edit] Timeline

[edit] Biography

• Cavaco Silva, Autobiografia politica, vol I and II.