Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares (born December 7, 1924), Portuguese politician, was born in Lisbon, and graduated in history, philosophy and law from the University of Lisbon. He became a university lecturer in 1957, but his activities in opposition to the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar led to repeated arrests. He was active in resistance groups such as the Movement for Anti-Fascist National Unity and the Movement for Democratic Unity.

Soares is the son of João Lopes Soares, a teacher and anti-fascist republican activist who had been a Roman Catholic priest for a while before marrying Elisa Nobre, Mário Soares's mother.

Early life

While student in University, Soares joined the Portuguese Communist Party, being responsible for the youth section. In this capacity, he organised demonstrations in Lisbon to celebrate the end of WWII. He was first arrested by PIDE, the Portuguese political police, in 1946, when he was participating in the Central Committee of Movimento de Unidade Democrática (Movement for Democratic Unity), at the time chaired by Mário Azevedo Gomes. Soares was arrested twice in 1949. On those latter occasions, he was the secretary of General Norton de Matos, a candidate for the Presidency. However, he got estranged from Norton de Matos, when the latter discovered Soares's Communist sympathies.

Soares married Maria de Jesus Barroso Soares, an actress, in February 1949, while in the Aljube prison. They have a daughter and a son, politician João Soares.

Soares's multiple arrests for political activism made it impossible to continue with his career as a lecturer of history and philosophy. Consequently, he decided to study law and become an attorney.

Political activity during the Estado Novo

In 1958, Soares was very active in the presidential election supporting General Humberto Delgado. Later, he would become Delgado' family lawyer, when Humberto Delgado was murdered in 1965, in Spain, by PIDE's agents.

In April 1964, in Geneva, Switzerland, Soares together with Francisco Ramos da Costa and Manuel Tito de Morais created the Acção Socialista Portuguesa (Portuguese Socialist Action). He was already far from his former Communist friends (having quit the Communist Party in 1951); the option then was clearly of a social democratic nature.

In March 1968, Soares was arrested again by PIDE, and a military tribunal sentenced him to banishment in the colony of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea. His wife and two children, Isabel and João, accompanied him. They returned to Lisbon eight months later; in the meantime Salazar had already been replaced by Marcello Caetano.

In 1969, the democratic opposition (whose political rights were severely restricted) participated with two different lists. Mário Soares participates actively in the campaign supporting the Coligação Eleitoral de Unidade Democrática or CEUD (Electoral Coalition for Democratic Unity). CEUD is clearly anti-fascist, but they also reaffirmed their opposition to communism.

In 1970, Soares was exiled to Rome, Italy, but eventually settled in France, where he taught at the Universities of Vincennes, Paris and Rennes. In 1973, the Portuguese Socialist Action became the Socialist Party, and Soares was elected Secretary-General. The Socialist party was created under the umbrella of Willy Brandt's SPD in Bad Munstereife, Germany, on 19 April 1973.

Democracy

On 25 April 1974, elements of the Portuguese Army seized power in Lisbon, overthrowing Salazar's successor, Marcelo Caetano. Soares and other political exiles returned home to heroes' welcomes, to celebrate what was called the "Carnation Revolution."

In the provisional government which was formed after the revolution, led by the Movement of the Armed Forces (MFA), Soares became Minister for Overseas Negotiations, charged with organising the independence of Portugal's colonial empire. Among other encounters, he met with Samora Machel, the leader of Frelimo, to negotiate the independence of Mozambique.

Within months of the revolution, however, it became apparent that the Portuguese Communist Party, allied with a radical group of officers in the MFA, was attempting to extend its control over the government. The Prime Minister, Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves, was accused of being an agent of the Communists, and a bitter confrontation developed between the Socialists and Communists over control of the newspaper República.

Late in 1974 a ruling radical triumvirate of Gonçalves, General Francisco da Costa Gomes and the security chief, General Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, took power. Riots and demonstrations broke out in the conservative north of the country. Soares defended the gains of the revolution while firmly resisting the advance of the Communists and the attempts by the MFA to establish a permanent role for the military in government. In September 1975 Gonçalves was forced to resign.

Democratic government was finally established when national elections were held in April 1976. The Socialists won a plurality of seats and Soares became Prime Minister. But the deep hostility between the Socialists and the Communists made a majority left-wing government impossible, and Soares formed a weak minority government, which lasted only two years, until he resigned in 1978.

The wave of left-wing sentiment which followed the 1974 revolution had now dissipated, and a succession of conservative governments held office until 1983, when Soares again became Prime Minister, holding office until late 1985. His main achievement in office was negotiating Portugal's entry into the European Union.

Presidency

In the Portuguese presidential election, 1986, held in March, Soares was elected President of Portugal, beating Diogo Freitas do Amaral by less than 1% of the votes. He was the country's first civilian head of state for 60 years. He was reelected in 1991, this time with over 70% of the votes. The Portuguese presidency is a largely ceremonial role, which Soares used to promote human rights in Portugal and internationally. For most of his two terms in office Portugal was governed by the conservative Aníbal Cavaco Silva, but the Socialists returned to office under António Guterres in 1995.

He devised the so-called Presidência aberta (open Presidency) each addressing a particular theme, such as the Environment or a particular region of Portugal. Although generally well received by the public, some claimed that he was criticizing the government and exceeding his constitutional role. Others said these tours of the country were in the style of medieval courts. Yet the name stuck for today's presidential initiatives of the same type.

Post presidency

Soares retired in 1996, but in 1999 he headed the Socialist ticket in elections to the European Parliament, where he served until the 2004 elections. He ran for president, but lost to Nicole Fontaine.

In 1998 he headed the Independent World Commission on the Oceans. He is currently president of the Fundação Mário Soares (Mário Soares Foundation).

He is the recipient of a number of human rights awards and honorary degrees from many universities.

External links

• Fundação Mário Soares (http://www.fmsoares.pt) (In Portuguese)

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