Vasco da Gama Fernandes (Cape Verde, São Vicente, 4 November 1908 - 9 September 1991), was a Portuguese politician.[1]
He was named after his most remote relative Vasco da Gama.
He was a Licentiate in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and became a Lawyer and a Politician.
He distinguished since his times as a college student as an oppositioner to Estado Novo, being arrested for some times by the political police PIDE.
He was linked to the Aliança Republicana e Socialista (ARS) and to the Movimento de Unidade Nacional Antifascista. He was also one of the Founders of the Movimento de Unidade Democrática (MUD), of the Partido Trabalhista and in 1973 of the Socialist Party (PS).
After the Carnation Revolution he was elected a Deputy and Vice-President of the Constituent Assembly for PS and, when reelected to the Assembly of the Republic, he also became its 1st President from 29 July 1976 to 29 October 1978, also becoming inherently a Member of the Portuguese Council of State.
In 1979 he resigned from PS, joining then the Frente Republicana e Socialista (FRS) and later founded the Democratic Renovator Party (PRD). For this Party he was again elected Deputy in the Legislative Elections of 1985 and 1987.