Veteran politician Mario Soares, who steered Portugal from dictatorship to democracy, is set to bow out of the political arena he has dominated for decades following a crushing defeat in a weekend presidential election.
The 81-year-old former Socialist prime minister and two-time president finished third, behind the winner and sole centre-right candidate, Anibal Cavaco Silva, and Socialist lawmaker Manuel Alegre, who ran as an independent against the wishes of his party.
Cavaco Silva, a free-market reformer who served as prime minister between 1985 and 1995, captured 50,6% of the vote in Sunday’s election against 20,7% for Alegre.
Soares, the official candidate of the Socialist Party he helped found, captured just 780 000 votes or 14,3% of the ballot, his worst-ever showing in an election and a far cry from the 70,4% obtained in 1991 during the last presidential race in which he took part.
With no elections on the horizon in Portugal until 2009, it is highly unlikely that Soares will stand in an election again. But, in his concession speech, Soares said he will remain involved in civic activities.
”As I have always said, only those who give up fighting are defeated. And I will not give up fighting. My dedication to civic service will be total, as it has always been,” he said.
A lawyer by training, he was arrested several times and eventually exiled for his opposition to a right-wing dictatorship that ruled Portugal with an iron fist until it was finally toppled in a nearly bloodless coup in 1974.
He was prime minister between 1976 and 1978, in the turbulent years that followed the nation’s return to democracy, and again between 1983 and 1985.
Soares served two consecutive five-year terms as president between 1986 and 1996 and was a member of the European parliament between 1999 and 2004.
He ran for president of the European Parliament, but lost to French politician Nicole Fontaine.
Soares surprised many last year when he announced he would run for president in Portugal again to prevent Cavaco Silva from winning ”as if he was taking a walk in the park” due to the absence of a heavyweight contender on the left.
He added in an interview just before the election that he was seeking the presidency to help fight for a ”cultural, political and social Europe” that ”doesn’t accept becoming a selfish society based on money”.
”I am agnostic but I believe in man and the perfection of humanity,” he said.
Despite his advanced age, Soares proved he was still an agile campaigner who covered 40 000km to visit remote village squares where he greeted potential voters and effectively sparred with hecklers. But he struggled to find his place in the race, which featured six candidates.
Daily newspaper Publico said the election loss will not rob Soares of his place in history because ”he already won it a long time ago”.
”Mario Soares’s drama is another: he did not realise in time that his moment had passed and he did not want to listen to those who warned him of this,” it said in an editorial on Monday.
A business daily meanwhile faulted Soares for ”believing all that was needed for the crowds to appear was for him to simply appear”.
”That is not what happened and Soares has ended up leaving the scene by the back door,” it added. — AFP
