Talk:Mário Soares

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[edit] Soares role as president

  • You (Velho) describe this as nonsense: "The Portuguese presidency is a largely ceremonial role." Does Portugal have an executive presidency like the USA? Who runs the country, the President or the Prime Minister?
  • You describe this as POV: "which Soares used to promote human rights in Portugal and internationally." So far as I know that is true. What is your objection to this?

Adam 04:12, 24 November 2005 (UTC)


There is a huge difference between being "a largely ceremonial role" and not being "an executive presidency like the USA". Portuguese presidents have the power to dissolve the Parliament (and many did do it; Sampaio did it six months ago), to veto Parliament and Government acts, to call for an appreciation of laws by the Constitutional Court (they do it often), to decide whether to call for referendums (following a proposal by the parliament), to put down the Government without dissolving the parliament, etc. If you think this is "largely ceremonial", we have a divergent reading of "ceremonial". Some people classify the Portuguese political system as "semipresidential". The role of the Portuguese president has no resemblance to those of UK's Queen or of Germany's and Italy's president.
As to the "promotion of human rights", I really don't think it has any "dense" descriptive value. Not even the closest supporters and friends of Soares use that phrase to describe his presidency. I don't know what someone has in mind by saying it, and therefore it really sounds to me like a pure pov.
By the way, I even voted for him on his second election for president... Velho 04:46, 24 November 2005 (UTC)
I have to agree with Velho. By the way Adam, we seem to have some of the same ancestor, so that makes cousins in a way... ! Bye. The Ogre 13:15, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] History, POV

There's a lot on Soares' life in this article - but nothing in terms of evidence. Will someone please cite enough valid sources here? Thanks – Tintazul msg 12:01, 19 March 2007 (UTC)