Manuel Alegre

Manuel Alegre
Manuel Alegre in 2017
Member of the Council of State
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 April 2022
Appointed by	Assembly of the Republic
President	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
In office 2005–2016
Appointed by	Assembly of the Republic
President	Jorge Sampaio Aníbal Cavaco Silva Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
In office 1996–2002
Appointed by	Assembly of the Republic
President	Jorge Sampaio
Personal details
Born	Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte (1936-05-12) 12 May 1936 Águeda, Portugal
Political party	Socialist Party
Children	3

Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte, GCL (born 12 May 1936) is a Portuguese poet and politician, member of the Socialist Party, and a candidate for the 2006 Portuguese presidential election. He ran again in the 2011 presidential election, this time backed by the Left Bloc and the Socialist Party. Alegre was awarded the Camões Prize in 2017.

Background

He is the son of Francisco José de Faria e Melo Ferreira Duarte, brother of sportsman Mário Duarte, son of the 1st Baroness of a Recosta, maternal grandson of the 1st Baron of Cadoro and matrilineal great-grandson of the 1st Viscount of o Barreiro, and wife Maria Manuela Alegre. His sister Maria Teresa Alegre de Melo Duarte is also a Deputy and is the widow of another Deputy, António Jorge Moreira Portugal (1931–1994). Their son is journalist Manuel Alegre Portugal. As he once stated, his ancestors were hanged and beheaded at the Praça Nova, Porto, during the Liberal Wars.

Career

He was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party from his youth until the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which he staunchly opposed, in 1968. Today he's usually considered one of the most leftist members of the Portuguese Socialist Party. He voted against all the revisions of the Portuguese Constitution of 1976, and abstained at a commemorative vote for the 10th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall, in 1999.

While studying law at the University of Coimbra, Alegre was noticed for his opposition to António de Oliveira Salazar's dictatorial government - the Estado Novo regime. He was conscripted, and sent to the Azores and later to Portuguese Angola, where his involvement in an attempt to military rebellion led to his imprisonment. After serving his prison term in Luanda, he returned to Coimbra, before going into exile in 1964. As a student at the University of Coimbra he was a very active figure of the Associação Académica de Coimbra, the university's student's union, while member of the governing body, athlete and cultural agent (poetry and theatre). He would never graduate in law.

He would live the next ten years in Algiers, where he was one of the main voices of a radio station directed to Portugal, Rádio Voz da Liberdade (Freedom's Voice), also called Rádio Argel, from where he reportedly led a series of activities supporting African forces opposing the Portuguese military intervention in the Portuguese Colonial War, including by airing privileged information regarding Portuguese strategy in the theater of war. The distribution of his first books was forbidden by Salazar's government, so they circulated in samizdat form. Alegre returned to Portugal in 1974, one week after the Carnation Revolution.

He joined the Socialisty Party almost immediately, and was elected to Parliament in every election from 1975 to 2005. He was also one of the vice-presidents of Parliament.

Several of his poems were made into songs, sung among others by Zeca Afonso and Adriano Correia de Oliveira, and played by Carlos Paredes. His words were set to music by Tony Haynes on world jazz ensemble Grand Union Orchestra's 1997 album, The Rhythm of Tides.

One of his poems Uma flor de verde pinho won 1976's Festival RTP da Canção, who represented Portugal in Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2004, he lost to José Sócrates a bid for the party leadership.

In 2005, a statue in his honour was erected in Coimbra.

On 24 September 2005, he announced that he would be a candidate in the 2006 Portuguese presidential election, despite his party's official support for former president Mário Soares as a candidate. On the elections held 22 January 2006, he ended up collecting 20.7% of the valid votes (the second largest amount after the elected President, Cavaco Silva, and ahead of his party's official candidate Mário Soares).

He is also a Member of the Portuguese Council of State, elected by the Assembly of the Republic.

Decorations

• Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty, Portugal (GCL, 19 May 1989)
• Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, Portugal (GCSE, 20 May 2016)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Camões, Portugal (GCCa, 15 April 2024)

Family

He was once married to Isabel Sousa Pires, born in Figueira da Foz, without issue, and is now married to Mafalda Maria de Campos Durão Ferreira, born in Lisbon, 13 December 1947, daughter of António Durão Ferreira and wife Fernanda Furtado de Antas de Campos and only sister of António Miguel de Campos Durão Ferreira (b. 21 January 1946, unmarried), and has three children:

• Francisco Durão Ferreira Alegre Duarte
• Afonso Durão Ferreira Alegre Duarte (b. 1976)
• Joana Durão Ferreira Alegre Duarte (b. 1985)

Electoral history

PS leadership election, 2004

Main article: 2004 Portuguese Socialist Party leadership election

Ballot: 25 and 26 September 2004

Candidate		Votes	%
	José Sócrates	18,432	78.6
	Manuel Alegre	3,903	16.7
	João Soares	927	4.0
Blank/Invalid ballots		175	0.7
Turnout		23,437
Source: Resultados

Presidential election, 2006

Main article: 2006 Portuguese presidential election

Ballot: 22 January 2006

Candidate		Votes	%
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	2,773,431	50.5
	Manuel Alegre	1,138,297	20.7
	Mário Soares	785,355	14.3
	Jerónimo de Sousa	474,083	8.6
	Francisco Louçã	292,198	5.3
	Garcia Pereira	23,983	0.4
Blank/Invalid ballots		102,785	–
Turnout		5,590,132	61.53
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Presidential election, 2011

Main article: 2011 Portuguese presidential election

Ballot: 23 January 2011

Candidate		Votes	%
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	2,231,956	53.0
	Manuel Alegre	831,838	19.7
	Fernando Nobre	593,021	14.1
	Francisco Lopes	301,017	7.1
	José Manuel Coelho	189,918	4.5
	Defensor Moura	67,110	1.6
Blank/Invalid ballots		277,593	–
Turnout		4,492,453	46.52
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Bibliography

Poetry

• Praça da Canção (1965)
• O Canto e as Armas (1967)
• Um Barco para Ítaca (1971)
• Letras (1974)
• Coisa Amar, Coisas do Mar (1976)
• Nova do Achamento (1979)
• Atlântico (1981)
• Babilónia (1983)
• Chegar Aqui (1984)
• Aicha Conticha (1984)
• Obra Poética, Vol. I, O Canto e as Armas (1989)
• Obra Poética, Vol. II, Atlântico (1989)
• Rua de Baixo (1990)
• A Rosa e o Compasso (1991)
• Com que Pena (1992)
• Sonetos do Obscuro Quê (1993)
• Coimbra Nunca Vista (1995)
• Trinta Anos de Poesia (1993)
• As Naus de Verde Pinho (1996)
• Alentejo e Ninguém (1996)
• Che (1997)
• Senhora das Tempestades (1998)
• Pico (1998)
• Rouxinol do Mundo (1998)
• Obra Poética (1999)
• Livro do Português Errante (2001)
• Diálogos = Cristina Valada + Manuel Alegre (2001)

Prose

• Jornada de África (1989)
• O Homem do País Azul (1989)
• Alma (1995)
• Contra a Corrente (1997)
• A Terceira Rosa (1998)
• Uma Carga de Cavalaria (1999)
• Arte de Marear (2002)
• Cão Como Nós (2002)
• Um Velho em Arzila (2003)
• Rafael (2004)
• O Quadrado (2005)
• Tudo é, e não é (2013)

External links

• Official site of the candidate (in Portuguese)
• "Poema com h pequeno" from O Canto e as armas translated and recited in French, Catalan, Occitanian and Greek