João Manuel Ildefonso Dias (born 16 July 1973) is a Portuguese politician and former member of the Assembly of the Republic, the national

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

of Portugal. A

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, he represented Beja from March 2018 to March 2024.

Early life

Dias was born on 16 July 1973 in

Serpa Serpa (), officially the Municipality of Serpa (), is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality in the Districts of Portugal, district of Beja District, Beja in Alentejo region, southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 15,623, in an area of ...

. He has a degree in nursing and

post-graduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

qualifications in rehabilitation nursing and

wound treatment The history of wound care spans from prehistory to modern medicine. Wounds naturally heal by themselves, but hunter-gatherers would have noticed several factors and certain herbal remedies would speed up or assist the process, especially if it wa ...

and tissue viability.

Career

Dias was a nurse by profession. He was a nurse at the Unidade Local de Saúde do Baixo Alentejo (ULSBA) from 1996 to 2018. He also worked at the Unidade de Cuidados Continuados do Centro de Saúde de Beja. He was a visiting assistant professor at the

University of Évora A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Un ...

(2012 to 2018),

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

(2018 to 2018) and Escola Superior de Enfermagem São José de Cluny (2015). He also taught at the Escola Superior de Saúde da Cruz Vermelha (2017) and Escola Superior de Saúde Lopes Dias (2016 to 2018). He has worked with the Portuguese

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, the

University of Minho The University of Minho (''Universidade do Minho'') is a public university in Minho Province, Portugal. It is divided into the following campuses: * Largo do Paço (rectorate), in Braga * Campus of Gualtar, in Braga * Convento dos Congregados, i ...

and the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute. Dias has been active in politics since 1996 and is a board member of the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

's Beja branch. He was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

in Beja from 2017 to 2021. At the 2015 legislative election Dias was placed third in the

Unitary Democratic Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition (, CDU) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party () and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" ( Portuguese: Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" or PEV). The coalition also integrates ...

(CDU)'s

list A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...

of candidates in Beja but the alliance only won a single seat in the constituency. He was appointed to the Assembly as permanent member in March 2018 following the resignation of

João Ramos João is a given name of Portuguese origin. It is equivalent to the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the s ...

. He was re-elected at the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

legislative elections. At the 2024 legislative election Dias was placed first in the CDU's list of candidates in Beja but the alliance failed to win any seats in the constituency.

Electoral history

Personal life

Dias is married to Lina Maria Sousa dos Santos Dias.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, João 1973 births Academic staff of the University of Coimbra Academic staff of the University of Évora Living people Local politicians in Portugal Members of the 13th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 14th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 15th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) People from Beja, Portugal Portuguese Communist Party politicians Portuguese nurses