Aníbal Cavaco Silva

In 1987, the PRD withdrew its tacit support, and a parliamentary vote of no confidence forced President Mário Soares to call an early election. Cavaco Silva's Social Democrats captured 50.2 percent of the popular vote and 148 of the 250 seats in the legislature. 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 four and seven seats, respectively. This was the first time since the 1974 revolution that a single party had won an outright majority in the national parliament.^[7] At the time, it was also the largest majority that a Portuguese party had ever won in a free election.

Although the occurrence of economic growth and a

In the 1991 election Cavaco Silva's party had a majority even larger (50.6 percent) than the one of four years earlier. He decided not to contest the 1995 election, and the PSD, lacking a leader of his stature, lost 48 seats and the election.

Post-premiership

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 is a member of the Club of Madrid^[9] and an honorary member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

President of the Republic

On 20 October 2005, Cavaco Silva announced his candidacy for the 2006 presidential election. He was elected President of the Republic on

He was sworn in on 9 March 2006, becoming the Portugal’s first right-of-centre head of state in three decades.

Cavaco Silva's term was initially marked by a mutual understanding with the government led by Socialist José Sócrates, which he referred to as "strategic co-operation".

The most controversial moment of his presidency was when the Assembly of the Republic passed a bill for the holding of a pre-legislative referendum on the legalization of abortion in Portugal without any restrictions in the 10 first weeks of pregnancy. After the parliamentary approval of the bill summoning the referendum, Cavaco Silva referred the matter to the Portuguese Constitutional Court, which declared both the proposed legalization and the referendum constitutional by a narrow 7-6 margin. Cavaco Silva, who could still have vetoed the referendum bill, decided to sign it into law, and thus allowed the referendum. The majority of the Portuguese electorate abstained from the referendum, but the vote for legalization prevailed among those who chose to cast their ballot.

Cavaco Silva was reelected president of Portugal on 23 January 2011 with 52,92% of the vote, and he took office for his second five-year term on 9 March 2011.^[11]

2015 constitutional crisis

At the general election on 4 October 2015 to the Assembly of the Republic, the unicameral Portuguese parliament, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho lost its majority, with center-left and far-left opposition parties gaining more than half of the seats. As Passos Coelho's own Social Democratic Party remained the largest in parliament, and still had the support of the much smaller CDS – People's Party, Cavaco Silva allowed Passos Coelho to continue as prime minister, giving him the first chance to form a new government. Passos Coelho was unable to find any new partners and was widely expected to stand down, but on 22 October Cavaco Silva invited him to form a new government, even if it were a minority government. On 24 October Cavaco Silva explained his thinking:^[12]

In 40 years of democracy, no government in Portugal has ever depended on the support of anti-European forces, that is to say forces that campaigned to abrogate the Lisbon Treaty, the Fiscal Compact, the Growth and Stability Pact, as well as to dismantle monetary union and take Portugal out of the euro, in addition to wanting the dissolution of NATO.^[12]

Eventually, Passos Coelho's government fell on a motion of no confidence, and the president appointed Antonio Costa, the leader of the Socialists, as prime minister in his place.[13]

Family

Cavaco Silva married Maria Alves da Silva at the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, on 20 October 1963. The couple had a daughter Patricia, and a son Bruno.^[2] He has five grandchildren, four of whom were born to his daughter.^[14] One of them, António Montez, is a professional footballer.^[15]

His brother, Rogério Cavaco Silva, is a businessman and a victim of the Dominion of Melchizedek scam.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Honours

National honours

Source:^[20]

• Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (5 July 2022)
• Grand Collar of the Order of Liberty (9 March 2016)
• Grand Collar of the Military Order of the Tower and Sword (9 March 2011)
• Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders (9 March 2006)
• Military Order of Christ
  (29 November 1995)

Foreign honours

Source:^[21]