Carlos César

Carlos César
Carlos César (right) meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in November 2010
President of the Government of the Azores
In office 9 November 1996 – 6 November 2012
President	Jorge Sampaio Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Representative of the Republic	Mário Pinto Alberto de Sampaio da Nóvoa Álvaro Laborinho Lúcio José António Mesquita Pedro Catarino
Preceded by	Alberto Romão Madruga da Costa
Succeeded by	Vasco Cordeiro
Personal details
Born	Carlos Manuel Martins do Vale César (1956-10-30) 30 October 1956 Ponta Delgada (Azores), Portugal
Citizenship	Portuguese
Political party	Socialist Party
Spouse	Luísa César
Relations	Horácio do Vale César (brother)
Children	Francisco César
Alma mater	University of Lisbon

Carlos César (born 30 October 1956) is a Portuguese politician, former-President of the Regional Government of the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores (from 1996 to 2012), and (inherently) member of the Portuguese Council of State.

Early life

He was born at Ponta Delgada into a family with republican and democratic traditions and a history of participatory activism. His grand-uncle Manuel Augusto César was a social activist during the Portuguese First Republic, who edited the newspapers O Proletário, the weekly Federação Operária, the Protesto (the publication of the Centro Socialista Antero de Quental) and Protesto do Povo (another socialist publication).

Career

His civic knowledge, following the Carnation Revolution, was profoundly shaped by his brother Horácio do Vale César (also a journalist), and many of the socialist figures of the period, including Jaime Gama, Mário Mesquita and Medeiros Ferreira (all students of the school Liceu Nacional Antero de Quental).

He began public life in the opposition to the Estado Novo, in the last years of the regime, becoming a member of the Cooperativa Cultural Sextante, which was extinct by the National Assembly, in December 1972. In 1973, at 17 years of age, he became a member of the Comissão Dinamizadora da Comissão Democrática Eleitoral, in Ponta Delgada. On April 26, 1974 he founded the Associação de Estudantes do Liceu Antero de Quental (Antero Quental Students' Association) and, a month later, the Juventude Socialista (Socialist Youth) of the Azores. He was a member of the first Secretariat elected to the Socialist Party (PS) in Ponta Delgada, and was part of the delegation from the Azores in the First National Congress of the PS, participating in the party youth-wing, the Juventude Socialista (JS).

In 1975, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon, although he did not complete his licenciatura. During his period of studies, he also became involved in the Direcção da Associação Académica da Faculdade de Direito (Directorate of the Law Faculty's Academic Association). While in Lisbon he worked as administrative coordinator in a local cooperative responsible for documentation and culture. During this time he continued as the national leader of the JS (to this day he retains a national honorary status in the organization). He was an adjunct to the Secretary of State for Public Administration during the II Constitutional Government.

His political career did not slow down, when he returned to the Azores: in January 1981 he entered the Azorean Legislative Assembly at the age of 26. Shortly after, he became involved in the Direcção do Grupo Parlamentar (Directorate of the Parlimentary Group) of the PS, as well as various parliamentary commissions, as well as presiding over the commission on Economic Affairs. Between 1983 and 1985, he was elected as Regional Legislative Assembly's Vice-President, and took on the Presidency of PS Azores. He returned to national politics between 1987 and 1989, as a representative in the Assembly of the Republic, in the António Guterres government. Once again returning to the Azores, he became a member of the Municipal Assembly of Ponta Delgada, as well as the President of the Civil Parish of Fajã de Baixo. In 30 October 1994 (his 38th birthday) he was made the Presidente of the PS Azores, with 92% of the votes.

Presidency of the Azores

In 1996, he won the elections for the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores, by a narrow margin, winning 46% of the votes cast. The PS, under his leadership, would contest the regional legislative elections in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

Although these victories brought cohesion and stability, they also brought stresses associated with internal change. Under Cesar the Political statute of the Azores was changed to limit the number of successive mandate's occupied by the president, resulting in his announcement (in 2008) not to run as his party's candidate for the 2012 elections. This was a bit of a controversy, as it was unclear at the time that Carlos César would break his own promise not run again. Vasco Cordeiro was eventually chosen as his party's successor, inline with the politics established in César's leadership. The two other candidates for the position, José Contente and Sérgio Ávila, were possible successors, but easily abandoned by the PS: Contente was a recognized apparatchik of the party and about the same age as César, while Ávila was point-man in the Vice-Presidency (responsible for regional finances) and a Terceirense, which hurt his chances of succeeding on the vote-rich island of São Miguel, where the PSD leader and mayor of Ponta Delgada (Berta Cabral) could easily obtain an advantage.

References

Notes

Sources

• "Biografia: Carlos Manuel Martins do Vale César" (in Portuguese). Ponta Delgada, Azores: Presidência do Governo dos Açores. 2004. Retrieved 14 June 2010.