Cavaco Silva, Anibal (1939– )

Portuguese politician, prime minister and Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader 1985–95, and president from 2006. Under his leadership Portugal joined the European Community in 1985 and the Western European Union in 1988, and there was economic expansion, stimulated.by tax cuts and deregulation.

Born in the Algarve region, Cavaco Silva studied economics in the UK and the USA, and was a university teacher and research director in the Bank of Portugal. In 1978, with the return of constitutional government, he entered politics. As finance minister 1980–81, he introduced liberalizing measures, and he became PSD leader and prime minister in 1985. His first government fell in 1987, after the Party for Democratic Renewals withdrew its support from the minority coalition, but an election later that year gave him Portugal's first absolute majority since the restoration of democracy. He was re-elected in 1991 but became an increasingly divisive figure. He stepped down as leader of the PSD before the 1995 elections, which the party lost to the Socialists. In 1996 he was defeated in the presidential election contest and returned to teaching at university, before being elected president in January 2006.