Jorge Sampaio
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| President of Portugal | |
| Order: | 19th (5th since the Carnation revolution) |
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| Term of Office | March 9, 1996 - March 9, 2006 |
| Predecessor: | Mário Soares |
| Successor: | Aníbal Cavaco Silva |
| Date of Birth | September 18, 1939 (age 69) |
| Place of Birth: | Lisbon |
| Wife: | Maria José Rodrigues Ritta (previously married to Karin Schmidt Dias) |
| Occupation: | Lawyer |
| Political Party: | Socialist |
| Religion: | Agnostic |
Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio, GColTE, GCIH, GColL (pronounced [ˈʒɔɾʒ(ɨ) sɐ̃ˈpaiu]; listen ) is a Portuguese lawyer, politician, and the former President of the Republic.
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[edit] Background
Sampaio was born in Lisbon on September 18, 1939. The Sampaio family lived abroad in the United States and England for some years, due to the professional activity of his father, a doctor. His maternal grandmother was a of Sephardi Jew from Morocco of Portuguese origin, and his maternal grandfather was a naval officer and later the Foreign Minister of Portugal; Sampaio himself is agnostic[1]. He started his political career as college student of the Law School of the University of Lisbon. Jorge Sampaio was involved in the student contestation against the fascist regime and was leader of the Lisbon students union between 1960 and 1961. Following his graduation in 1961, Jorge Sampaio started a notable career as a lawyer, often involved in the defence of many political prisoners.
After the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, Sampaio funded MES (Portuguese acronym for Social Left Movement) but abandoned the political project soon after. In 1978 he joined PS, the Socialist Party, where he remains to present day. His first election as a deputy for Lisbon in the Portuguese National Parliament is in 1979. Between this year and 1984, he was a member of the European Commission for Human Rights, where he developed important work on these topics. Between 1986 and 1987 he was president of the parliamentary bench of the Socialist Party. In 1989, he was elected president of this political group, an office he held until 1991. Also in 1989, Jorge Sampaio was elected mayor of Lisbon and re-elected in 1993.
[edit] Presidency
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In 1995, Jorge Sampaio announced his wish to run for the presidency of the Republic. He won the election of January 14, 1996 in the first round against Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the former prime-minister by then, and became president on March 9. After a non-controversial first mandate, he was re-elected as President on January 14, 2001.
As President, Sampaio's actions were focused on social and cultural affairs. In the international political scene, he oversaw the return of Macau to China in December 1999 and he also gave important publicity to the cause of East Timor's independence.
It is generally considered that Sampaio's presidency were marked by a firm sense of prudence and moderation, an approach which earned him a remarkably uneventful first term in office. In 2004, however, his refusal to hold early elections following Social Democrat Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso's resignation met with vigorous protest from all left-wing parties and even led to the stepping down of Socialist leader Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues. Sampaio made this decision to ensure political stability at a time when the country was facing economic recession, and he appointed Pedro Santana Lopes as Prime Minister. However, only four months afterwards, on November 30, Sampaio concluded that the new cabinet was not achieving the desired stability, but quite the opposite, and he therefore dissolved the Parliament, calling new elections for February 2005.
On February 24, 2005, Sampaio called on José Sócrates, as the nation's next prime minister, to form a government.
Sampaio's successor was chosen in the Portuguese presidential election, 2006, that occurred on January 22. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the man he defeated in 1996, succeeded Sampaio on March 9, 2006.
Member of the Club of Madrid[2]. [2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ See[1], retrieved from the Jerusalem Post of the 7th of November, 2003:
Jerusalem Post: I understand that you have Jewish ancestry in your family. What is your personal connection to the Jewish people? Do you consider yourself to be a Jew?.
Jorge Sampaio: My grandmother belonged to a Jewish family that came from Morocco in the beginning of the 19th century. She married a non-Jewish naval officer who later was Foreign Affairs minister. I am naturally very proud of this ancestry and of all those that I call my "favorite Jewish cousins," one of whom is the president of the Lisbon Jewish Community, as I am proud of the ancestry on my non-Jewish father's side. Personally, I am agnostic, and I do not consider myself a Jew; but I am proud, as I said, of my ancestors.
- ^ (English) [http://www.clubmadrid.org 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Mário Soares |
President of Portugal 1996–2006 |
Succeeded by Aníbal Cavaco Silva |
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Sampaio, Jorge |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Branco de Sampaio, Jorge Fernando (full name) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | President of Portugal |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 18, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lisbon, Portugal |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
