Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes
GCC (; born 29 June 1956) is a
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
lawyer and politician, who is the current president of the Municipal Chamber of Figueira da Foz. He most notably served as
prime minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005.
Background and early life
Pedro Santana Lopes was born in Campo Grande,
Lisbon, to Aníbal Luís Lopes (b.
Lisbon, São Sebastião da Pedreira, 17 February 1933), a company administrator whose maternal grandfather's maternal grandfather was a relative of
João Brandão, and wife (m.
Lisbon, São Sebastião da Pedreira, 27 February 1954) Maria Ivone Risques Pereira de Santana (
Lisbon, São Sebastião da Pedreira, 3 May 1931 –
Lisbon, 23 March 1999), a half-great-great-great-niece of the 2nd
Baron of Brissos.
He graduated as a
Licentiate in law from the
Faculty of Law of the
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...
, where he was the leader of the Student Union, becoming a lawyer.
Political career
He joined the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(PSD) in 1976. There he started his career as a
deputy to the
Assembly of the Republic.
In 1979, he became a
legal advisor to Prime Minister
Francisco Sá Carneiro
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Nicknames
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...
, and has identified himself as a follower of his for all his political life.
In 1986, he became the assistant state secretary to Prime Minister
Aníbal Cavaco Silva, an office he left the next year to lead to PSD list to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, where he remained for two years of his five-year-term.
In 1990, Cavaco Silva appointed him to the government post of secretary of state for culture. He left the office in 1994, in disagreement with Cavaco, and returned to law practice. In the
1997 local elections, he ran successfully to become mayor of
Figueira da Foz
Figueira da Foz (), also known as Figueira for short, is a city and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. Practically at the midpoint of the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic coast, it is located at the mouth of the Mondego River, west ...
. He decided not to seek a second term there, and instead ran for
mayor of Lisbon
This is a list of mayors of Lisbon ( pt, Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, CML, literally: "President of the Municipal Chamber of Lisbon", and also pt, Presidente do Município de Lisboa, literally: "President of the Municipality of Lis ...
in the
2001 local elections, defeating the incumbent
João Soares and becoming one of the biggest surprises of the electoral night.
Prime minister
When
José Manuel Durão Barroso
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...
resigned in July 2004 to take up the
presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
, Santana Lopes became the president of PSD. At the time, his party had a
coalition government with the
CDS - People's Party
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
, which held a parliamentary majority, and therefore he was nominated
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
of the XVI Constitutional Government. His term as mayor of Lisbon was automatically suspended, with his deputy
Carmona Rodrigues taking over his duties.
The leadership of Santana Lopes was marked by a number of inherited economic and political problems. When his party took power, after the
2002 legislative elections, the country's economy was in a poor state, with a rising government-spending deficit, partially because of policies focused on public expenditure by the previous governments (led by
António Guterres of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
) and the
early 2000s recession
The early 2000s recession was a decline in economic activity which mainly occurred in developed countries. The recession affected the European Union during 2000 and 2001 and the United States from March to November 2001. The UK, Canada and Au ...
. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, "Portugal became the first country to breach the EU's 'excessive deficit' rule with a budget deficit of 4.4% of GDP in 2001, well above the 3% of GDP ceiling set by the EU's Stability and Growth Pact." The situation inherited by Santana Lopes was a little better, as the previous government led by Barroso had been able to comply with European Union directives regarding the deficit by selling State assets.
Santana Lopes himself failed to gain a reputation as a competent prime minister. His unusual rise to power, as Barroso's successor rather than by election, contributed to these difficulties, despite his nomination being entirely constitutional.
The short career of Santana Lopes as prime minister began with some members of government being shuffled between departments on the same afternoon as the government was being inaugurated. His minister of defense
Paulo Portas
Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas (born 12 September 1962, ) is a Portuguese media and political figure, who has, since the 1990s, been one of Portugal's leading conservative politicians. He was the leader of one of Portugal's right-wing parties, t ...
looked surprised during the ceremony when he was announced as the ''minister for national defense and sea affairs''. Portas' look of surprise when the name of his office was announced was broadcast live on television.
Santana Lopes' period in office was also marked by chaos in the allocation of teachers to schools (more than a month after classes officially started, and resulting from alleged incompetence of the IT provider (designated during the previous Government); the problem was swiftly solved by another small provider), and by claims of pressure exerted on the press, including arranging for the replacement of the information director of the public television channel
RTP, and pressing private television channel
TVI to tone down the criticism of him by a political commentator,
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic. He is the 20th and current president of Portugal, since 9 March 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended hi ...
, a former leader of his own party, who consequently left the channel.
The government of Santana Lopes received its death sentence on 30 November 2004 when President
Jorge Sampaio
Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th president of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. A member of the Socialist Party, a party which he led between 1989 a ...
, a member of the opposing party, announced that he was calling an early
Parliament election for February 2005, from which a new government would be formed, after Henrique Chaves, a Santana Lopes loyalist, resigned after four days as minister for sport, claiming that Santana Lopes lacked "loyalty and truth".
Santana Lopes announced the resignation of the government on 11 December so that his Government would assume just a caretaker role until the election. He went on to be defeated in the
2005 legislative elections which was won by the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
led by
José Sócrates
José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...
. Santana resigned as party leader two days later, although he still briefly assumed the informal position of
leader of the opposition, until the election of
Luís Marques Mendes
Luís Manuel Gonçalves Marques Mendes, GCIH (born 5 September 1957, in Guimarães, Azurém) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician, and a former Leader of the Social Democratic Party.
Background
He is a son of António Marques Mendes and wife ...
as new party leader.
Subsequent career and activities
Despite his defeat in the
2005 legislative elections, Santana Lopes retained his seat at the Assembly of the Republic. He would also resume his functions as mayor of Lisbon, which had been suspended since he took office as prime minister. However, he decided not to seek another term on the
2005 local elections, being succeeded by his deputy,
Carmona Rodrigues, who had replaced him during his premiership. In October 2007, after the election of
Luís Filipe Menezes as leader of the Social Democratic Party, he was invited to lead the PSD Parliamentary Group, a position he held until Menezes' resignation in June 2008.
On the
2009 local elections, Santana Lopes ran again for mayor of Lisbon, supported by his party and by the
CDS - People's Party
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
, the
Earth Party
The Earth Party ( pt, Partido da Terra, ), previously called The Earth Party Movement (, abbreviated MPT, hence called ''MPT – Partido da Terra''), is a green-conservative political party in Portugal, founded on 12 August 1993. Its main poli ...
and the
People's Monarchist Party. This coalition was, however, unable to prevent the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
, led by
António Costa, to achieve a big victory. Santana Lopes assumed the position of leader of the opposition in the municipality.
In September 2011, Santana Lopes was nominated by Prime Minister
Pedro Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 118th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) b ...
to assume leadership of
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa
The Lisbon Holy House of Mercy MHIH ( pt, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa) is a Portuguese charitable organisation that, in modern times, serves also as the national lottery and off-course betting operator. In spite of its historical links ...
, a charity that runs Portugal's national lottery. In March 2016, the new prime minister,
António Costa, nominated Santana Lopes for a new term.
In October 2017, Santana Lopes announced the intention to
run again for the leadership of the Social Democratic Party. He resigned leadership of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa in order to do so, but was defeated by
Rui Rio
Rui Fernando da Silva Rio (born 6 August 1957) is a Portuguese economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He was the Mayor of Porto from 2002 to 2013. Between 2018 and 2022, he was President of the PSD and Leader of the Opp ...
. After the internal election, both Rio and Santana tried to cooperate on several levels within the party, an effort which was not successful from Santana's point of view. He grew increasingly disgruntled with the course of action imposed by Rui Rio, and in June 2018 he announced he would be ending his 42 years of party membership and would seek to create a new political party.
Alliance (2018–2021)
On 18 August 2018, it was revealed the new party headed by Santana Lopes was to be called
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
( pt, Aliança). The party underwent the legal registration process with the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
and was officially registered on 23 October.
Immediately after the official registration, the party started working on the campaign for the
2019 European Parliament election
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...
. Santana Lopes had already said, even before the party was registered, that he would not be running in the election, and that its top candidate would be announced in the near future. On 2 December 2018, the party formally announced Paulo de Almeida Sande, a professor of European affairs and advisor of the President
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic. He is the 20th and current president of Portugal, since 9 March 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended hi ...
, as its top candidate. While being generally considered to have a profound knowledge of European issues, Paulo Sande lacked recognition next to the general public, and relied heavily on Santana's personal popularity to engage with supporters and potential voters. In March 2019, Santana Lopes said that the party's objective would be to elect at least one
MEP, with three being a good result. Paulo Sande fared well in the televised debates, but the party suffered a heavy blow to its campaign when, on 15 May 2019, both Santana and Sande suffered a car crash on the
A1 motorway
A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to:
Education
* A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
* Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects
* A1, a ...
. The two were heading to a campaign rally in
Cascais after an event in
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
when, between
Soure and
Pombal, Santana fell asleep and lost control of the vehicle, a
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
rented in name of his law firm. The car started to slid slowly to the left, hit the central reservation barrier and then veered abruptly to the right, going out of the road and tumbling several times before coming to a standstill in an overturned position. No other vehicles were involved in the accident, but other drivers witnessed it and alerted the emergency services. Paulo Sande was able to get out of the wrecked car by his own means; he tried to release Santana but was unable to help him. He would only be removed from the wreckage by the emergency services, and was transported by helicopter to
Coimbra hospital, to where Sande was also taken by ambulance. The accident was reported by several media outlets, which prompted Alliance to immediately suspend its campaign. Paulo Sande, who suffered only minor injuries, was discharged from the hospital a few hours later, while Santana Lopes spent the night in observation, being discharged on the next day after several exams revealed no significant lesions; he was, however, told by doctors to rest for some days in order to ensure a full recovery. This meant that, with little more than a week to election, Paulo Sande was largely left to campaign for himself, although Santana appeared on a video three days before the election to urge people to vote. The party obtained 1,86% of the vote and elected no MEPs.
Next on the schedule were the
2019 legislative elections. The party made a campaign of clear opposition to the
incumbent government led by
António Costa. Santana Lopes said that Alliance hoped to elect two to three MPs in Lisbon district, and eventually some more in Porto and Braga districts; he also stressed that his party would never support a government of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
even in the event of a
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
. Santana's predictions for the election were based at the party's results in the European elections. During a campaign event in
Lisbon, he told that Alliance obtained 3% in the district at the European elections, and that the same result would allow the party to elect two MPs in the legislatives. This line of thought proved to be flawed as the party performed considerably worse, obtaining only 0,77% of the vote on national level and electing no MPs. Even on Lisbon district, where is easier for a small party to elect a MP, the party scored 1,27% of the vote, considerably lower than the 3% anticipated by Santana. On the election night, he admitted for the first time that he could relinquish party leadership.
Without further national elections in the near future, and with all the objectives unachieved, Santana Lopes suspended his executive functions as Alliance's leader on 15 May 2020, and announced a period of reorganisation of the party. On 28 August 2020, it was announced that he would not seek re-election as party leader at the next congress, where he was succeeded by Paulo Bento. On 25 January 2021, Alliance announced that Santana Lopes had sent a request for his party membership to be terminated. He considered that Alliance could only have a future without him, citing the fact that many people still link him to the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
as the main reason.
Independent politician and return to Figueira da Foz
After Santana's announcement that he was leaving Alliance leadership, rumours started circulating that he could be preparing a return to the Social Democratic Party. In October 2020, at least one media outlet reported that its leader, Rui Rio, wanted Santana Lopes to be the party candidate for mayor of
Sintra
Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populat ...
; in March 2021, it was reported that he had declined to be the party candidate for mayor of
Torres Vedras
Torres Vedras () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon in the Oeste region, in the Centro of Portugal. The population was 83,075, in an area of .
History
In 1148, Afonso I took ...
. His return to the Social Democratic Party was ruled out when it became known, in late March 2021, that he would seek to create a citizen's group in order to run for mayor of Figueira da Foz, a position he held between 1998 and 2002. His candidacy, leading a list called Figueira The First ( pt, Figueira a Primeira), was confirmed in May and generated significant interest, with opinion polls giving him real chances of winning. The candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Pedro Machado, launched on 10 August a legal action to invalidate Santana's candidacy due to alleged irregularities in its submission, which was rejected by the local court three days later.
Figueira a Primeira would effectively become the winner, obtaining 40,39% and four councillors, against 38,39% for the Socialist Party, also with four councillors. The Social Democratic Party scored 10,83%, electing only one councillor. Under Portuguese law, the top candidate of the most voted list automatically becomes the mayor, but Santana will have to negotiate with other political groups in order to implement his agenda, since he didn't win a majority. He nevertheless considered the result "an extraordinary feat".
Outside politics
After resigning as secretary of state of culture, Santana Lopes successfully ran for
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of
Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...
.
Despite being in office for less than a year, the club won the
1994–1995 Taça de Portugal
The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...
in
football under his leadership.
Electoral history
Municipal elections for Lisbon, 2001
*
(Source
Honours
*
![BRA - Order of the Southern Cross - Grand Cross BAR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/BRA_-_Order_of_the_Southern_Cross_-_Grand_Cross_BAR.svg)
Grand-Cross of the
National Order of the Southern Cross,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(28 August 1991 and 31 December 2003)
*
![Ordre_de_l%27Ouissam_Alaouite_GC_ribbon_(Maroc)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Ordre_de_l%27Ouissam_Alaouite_GC_ribbon_%28Maroc%29.svg)
Grand-Cross of the
Order of Ouissam Alaouite
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
(20 February 1995)
*
![HUN_Order_of_Merit_of_the_Hungarian_Rep_(civil)_1class_BAR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/HUN_Order_of_Merit_of_the_Hungarian_Rep_%28civil%29_1class_BAR.svg)
Grand-Cross of the
Order of Merit,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
(27 October 2002)
*
![AUT_Honour_for_Services_to_the_Republic_of_Austria_-_2nd_Class_BAR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/AUT_Honour_for_Services_to_the_Republic_of_Austria_-_2nd_Class_BAR.png)
Grand-Cross in Gold of the
Order of Merit,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
(11 November 2004)
*
![PRT_Order_of_Christ_-_Grand_Cross_BAR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/PRT_Order_of_Christ_-_Grand_Cross_BAR.svg)
Grand-Cross of the
Order of Christ,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
(19 January 2010)
Bibliography
* Co-author with
José Manuel Durão Barroso
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...
: Sistema de Governo e Sistema Partidário, Livraria Bertrand, 1980
* Portugal e a Europa: Que Futuro?, 1989
* Os Sistemas de Governos Mistos e o actual Sistema Português, Difel Editorial, 2001
* Figueira, a Minha História'', 2005
* Palavras Escritas, Elo, 2005
* Percepções e Realidade, Alêtheia Editores, 2006
* A Cidade é de todos, Livros d'Hoje, 2009
* Pecado Original, D. Quixote, 2013
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana Lopes, Pedro
1956 births
Living people
Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)
Mayors of Figueira da Foz
Mayors of Lisbon
Prime Ministers of Portugal
Portuguese Roman Catholics
Portuguese football chairmen and investors
Social Democratic Party (Portugal) politicians
Sporting CP presidents
University of Lisbon alumni
20th-century Portuguese lawyers