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'Aníbal António Cavaco Silva', GCC (pron. IPA []; 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

Early career

Decade in power: 1985-1995

Out of office: 1995 - 2006

Presidential candidacy and term

State visits

Timeline

Biography

External links

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.

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.

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

Presidential candidacy and term

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.

State visits

Spain (September 25 to September 28, 2006)

President Cavaco Silva was invited to visit Spain by King Juan Carlos in March, through Prince Felipe. His visit was overshadowed by the announcement of Princess Letizia's pregnancy.

India (January 11 to January 17, 2007)

During this visit, President Cavaco Silva received an honorary degree by the Goa University on January 14 and participated in several initiatives on economic themes.

United States (June 19, June 23 2007)

During this visit, President Cavaco Silva plans to open an exhibition concerning Portugal's role in the discovery and convergence of diverse cultures, and to contact some Portuguese communities on the North American Eastern Seaboard, including the city of Fall River, Massachusetts whose Portuguese-descended population (43.9 percent at the 2000 census) is the highest of any municipality in the United States. Fall River features a replica of "The Gates of the City of Ponta Delgada" or "Portas da Cidade" in Portuguese.

Timeline

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Period = from:1935 till:2015
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ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1970
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at:1939 text:15 July - born in Boliqueime
at:1974 text:Graduates with Doctorate from University of York
at:1980 text:Finance Minister under Francisco Sá Carneiro
at:1985 text:2 June - President of Social Democratic Party
from:1985 till:1995 text:Prime Minister
at:1996 text:Contests Presidential election; loses to Jorge Sampaio
at:2006 shift:(25,-5) text:22 January - Elected President
from:2006 till:2011 text:President of Portugal

Biography

★ ''Cavaco Silva, Autobiografia politica, vol I and II.''

External links

★ Official Site of the President of the Republic