Manuel Alegre

Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte, GCL (born 12 May 1936) is a Portuguese poet and politician, member of the Socialist Party, and a candidate to the 2006 Portuguese presidential election. He was a presidential candidate, in the 2011 presidential election,[1] this time being backed up by the Left Bloc[2] and the Socialist Party.[3] Alegre was awarded the Camões Prize in 2017.[4]

Manuel Alegre

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, 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 since 1975. He is currently one of the vice-presidents of Parliament, and sits in the President's advisory Council of State.

Several of his poems were made into songs, sung among others by Zeca Afonso and Adriano Correia de Oliveira, and played by Carlos Paredes.

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

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:[6]

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

Electoral results

2006 Portuguese presidential election
  Summary of the 22 January 2006 Portuguese presidential election results
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Aníbal Cavaco Silva Social Democratic Party, People's Party 2,773,431 50.54
Manuel Alegre Independent 1,138,297 20.74
Mário Soares Socialist Party 785,355 14.31
Jerónimo de Sousa Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" 474,083 8.64
Francisco Louçã Left Bloc 292,198 5.32
António Garcia Pereira Portuguese Workers' Communist Party 23,983 0.44
Total valid 5,487,347 100.00
Blank ballots 59,636 1.07
Invalid ballots 43,149 0.77
Total (turnout 61.53%) 5,590,132
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
 
 50.54%
Manuel Alegre
 
 20.74%
Mário Soares
 
 14.31%
Jerónimo de Sousa
 
 8.64%
Francisco Louçã
 
 5.32%
António Garcia Pereira
 
 0.44%
Blank/Invalid
 
 1.84%

2011 Portuguese presidential election
  Summary of the 23 January 2011 Portuguese presidential election results
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Aníbal Cavaco Silva Social Democratic Party, People's Party, Hope for Portugal Movement 2,231,956 52.95
Manuel Alegre Socialist Party, Left Bloc, Portuguese Workers' Communist Party 831,838 19.74
Fernando Nobre Independent 593,021 14.07
Francisco Lopes Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" 301,017 7.14
José Manuel Coelho New Democracy Party 189,918 4.51
Defensor Moura Independent 67,110 1.59
Total valid 4,214,860 100.00
Blank ballots 192,127 4.28
Invalid ballots 85,466 1.90
Total (turnout 46.52%) 4,492,453
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
 
 52.95%
Manuel Alegre
 
 19.74%
Fernando Nobre
 
 14.07%
Francisco Lopes
 
 7.14%
José Manuel Coelho
 
 4.51%
Defensor Moura
 
 1.59%
Blank/Invalid
 
 6.18%

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 ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
gollark: Oh, new suggestion: uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sᴉ pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎW.
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gollark: I mean, as I said, it would be much easier to have the server provide an API and stuff over websocket/HTTP thingies instead of messing with routing everything via SPUDNET.
gollark: Maybes omewhat ish?
gollark: SPUDNET is, er, not fast, and it would be much more convenient to develop if the apiosystem code communicated directly to the server.

References
  1. Público, "Manuel Alegre anuncia candidatura à Presidência da República ", "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2010-06-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (Portuguese) Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  2. Expresso, "Bloco apoia candidatura de Alegre a Belém", (Portuguese) Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  3. Económico, "Expressiva maioria do PS apoia Alegre com resignação", Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (Portuguese) Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  4. Luís Miguel Queirós (2017-05-08). "Manuel Alegre é o vencedor do Prémio Camões". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2017-06-11.
  5. "Cidadãos Nacionais Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  6. http://www.geneall.net/P/per_page.php?id=335730 Manuel Alegre in a Portuguese Genealogical site
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