Aníbal Cavaco Silva

(Portugal Twitter)-Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, born 15 July 1939), is the President of Portugal. He won the Portuguese presidential election on 22 January 2006 and was re-elected on 23 January 2011, for a second five-year term. Cavaco Silva was sworn in on 9 March 2006.

He was previously Prime Minister of Portugal from 6 November 1985 to 28 October 1995. His tenure of ten years was the longest of any Prime Minister since Salazar, and he was the first Portuguese Prime Minister to have won an absolute parliamentary majority under the current constitutional system (which was established after the country's redemocratization following the Carnation Revolution).

Family

He married at the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, on 20 October 1964 Maria Alves da Silva (b. Silves, São Bartolomeu de Messines, 31 October 1938), daughter of Francisco dos Santos Silva and wife Adelina de Jesus Pincho, with whom he has had two children:

Bruno Alves Cavaco Silva, married to Perpétua da Conceição Gomes Anacleto, and has one son:

João Vicente Anacleto Cavaco Silva (b. Lisbon, 13 January 2009)

Patrícia Maria Alves Cavaco Silva, married to Luís Manuel de Sá Montez, and has four children:

Mariana Cavaco Silva de Sá Montez (b. 1996)

Afonso Cavaco Silva de Sá Montez (b. 1998)

António Luís Cavaco Silva de Sá Montez (b. 2001)

João Maria Cavaco Silva de Sá Montez (b. 2004)

Personal quotes

To those who want to delay the development of the country, to those who nothing did in the past, when they had the opportunity of doing for the development of the country, I say only: let us work, let us work! (in a public speech)

When I make a decision, I never am wrong, and I seldom have doubts. (in an interview to Expresso)

It's wait for them to die. (concerning the excess of civil servants)

Two people in good faith with the same technical information obligatorily must agree.

Early life and career

He was born in Boliqueime, Loulé, Algarve, the son of Teodoro Gonçalves Silva (Loulé, Boliqueime, Maritenda, 30 August 1912 - 30 September 2007) and wife (m. Loulé, Boliqueime, 4 March 1935) Maria do Nascimento Cavaco (b. Loulé, Boliqueime, Maritenda, 27 December 1912), Aníbal António Cavaco Silva was an undistinguished student at school. As a 13-year-old, he flunked at the 3rd grade of the Commercial School, and his grandfather put him working on the farm as a punishment. After returning to school, Cavaco went on to become an accomplished student. Cavaco Silva then went to Lisbon enrolling at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras de Lisboa (ISCEF) of the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL) (currently the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) of the Technical University of Lisbon), and obtained in 1964, with distinction, a degree in economics and finance (he scored a mark of 16 out of 20).

Presidential candidacy and term

On 20 October 2005, Cavaco Silva announced his candidacy in the election, 2006.He was elected president on 22 January 2006 with 50.6% of votes cast, avoiding a 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 president, following in the footsteps of Mário Soares.

He was sworn-in on 9 March 2006. He is also the Head of the Portuguese Council of State.

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". He also avidly encouraged the suppression of partisan differences between the political parties in parliament, as a means of working towards the greater national good, despite the absolute majority held by the Socialist Party. This has led to several controversies, with some branding Cavaco Silva, a practising Roman Catholic and a self-described believer in Fátima apparitions, as a traitor to the center-right and to some of his own personal beliefs. Nevertheless, this seems to have been a misconception with respect to his presidency. He has, in effect, resorted to his veto power more than Mário Soares, who as a President was largely seen as too conflicting with the Government, in the latter's first term.