Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

Leader of the PSD, 1996–1999

Rebelo de Sousa was leader of the Social Democratic Party from 31 March 1996 to 27 May 1999 (some weeks before his election as party leader, he declared he wouldn't be a leadership candidate, "not even if Christ came down to Earth"). He created a center-right coalition, the Democratic Alliance, with the People's Party in 1998. He became, however, the Vice-President of the European People's Party–European Democrats. The coalition didn't please large parts of its own party, due to the role the People's Party leader, Paulo Portas, had in undermining Cavaco Silva's government while director of the weekly O Independente.

Rebelo de Sousa resigned after Portas, in a TV interview, described a private talk they had had concerning this matter. Portas claimed Marcelo, as an anonymous source for O Independente, described in great detail a dinner where he wasn't present, down to the menu (which included vichyssoise, a cold soup); when Paulo Portas later reneged on the decision of the coalition established between their parties — which was made before that dinner — the term "vichyssoise" became a reference to that "revenge served cold". For these and other inconsistencies, he was called by Manuel Maria Carrilho political gelatin. A speech, in which he condemned the Portuguese habit of expecting a Messiah and a Dom Sebastião, was not well taken. The failure of the coalition led to his public and televised demission.

Post-leadership

In other local elections, he also became the President of the Municipal Assembly of Cascais and the President of the Municipal Assembly of Celorico de Basto.

He had a weekly program of political analysis every Sunday on public TV station RTP after previously having a similar program on the private TV station TVI, where he was introduced as being "the wisest and most perspicacious political analyst of current times". His comments covered everything from politics to sports, including his famous presentations and comments on the newest published books, and they were sometimes controversial, some of the comments being seen as personal and political attacks.

In his analysis, still in TVI, he often attacked Pedro Santana Lopes, accusing him of being "truculent, a cudgeller and resentful", and not "having the profile to be a President of the Republic". This animosity remained until after Santana Lopes became Prime Minister, with a particular commentary on his performance finishing with the statement that he was "worse than the worst Guterres" and that he was "making Guterres look better and pushing them to Belém", leading to a response from Santana Lopes' Government Speaker Rui Gomes da Silva, who accused him of an "involuntary cabal". The president of the network, Miguel Pais do Amaral, asked in a private dinner that Marcelo be more moderate in his attacks, something that Marcelo took as a form of censorship, leading to his exit from the program and the channel. It was after that episode that he was hired by RTP.

Partially in consequence of these events, President Jorge Sampaio dissolved the Assembly of the Republic, a move that also meant dismissing the Government at a time when it had a stable coalition majority, and calling for anticipated elections, which led to the defeat of Santana Lopes and the election of the Socialists under José Sócrates.

President-elect Marcelo de Sousa delivers his victory speech on election night, 24 January 2016

In 2010, he left RTP and returned to TVI to do the same program that he had before.

He was made a Member of the Council of State, by President Cavaco Silva, and was sworn-in on 6 April 2006.^[4]

He was a leading figure on the pro-life side of the 2007 abortion referendum. He even founded a website titled "Assim Não" (Not like this), which was divulged with a famous introductory video.^[5] It become so well known that it was parodied in Saturday Night Live-fashion by famous humour group Gato Fedorento.^[6]

State visits

First state visit as President of Portugal (Vatican, March 2016)

President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa & President of Russia Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow, 20 June 2018.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as President of Portugal, has visited the Vatican, Spain, Mozambique and Morocco. The first visit was to the Vatican City to meet the Pope Francis and the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Health issues

On 28 December 2017, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was admitted at Curry Cabral Hospital, in Lisbon, where he was subjected to a surgery to treat an umbilical hernia.^[13] The procedure was performed by Eduardo Barroso,^[14] a veteran surgeon who is also a close friend of the President since early childhood. After the surgery, Barroso informed the press that all went well and that Marcelo's condition had been known for at least six years, also referring that the surgery was initially due to occur on 4 January 2018. However, on the morning of 28 December, the President felt abdominal pain, and an examination by his official physician, Daniel Matos, revealed that the hernia was incarcerated and required immediate surgery. On 29 December, the Presidency official website published a clinical report, informing that Marcelo was cheerful and recovering well.^[15] Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was discharged from hospital on 31 December by 12:45 PM, and left the premises by his own foot, while greeted and applauded by some hospital staff and other patients. He lauded the Portuguese National Health Service, considering it an important conquest of democracy.^[16]

On 23 June 2018, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa felt indisposed and collapsed after a visit to Bom Jesus do Monte sanctuary in Braga. He was transported to the hospital where, after several exams, it was revealed the incident was caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure alongside an acute gastroenteritis.^[17] He was discharged from hospital later on the same day and was told to rest for some days.^[18]

National orders

• Grand Master of the Honorific Orders of Portugal (2016 – present).
• Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (9 June 2005).^[19]
• Commander of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (9 June 1994).^[19]

Foreign orders

• Member Special Class of the Order of Muhammad of the Kingdom of Morocco (Morocco, 27 June 2016)^[20]
• Knights with Collar of the Order of Pius IX of the Vatican City State (Vatican, 7 July 2016).^[21]
• Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic (France, 26 August 2016).^[21]
• Knight with Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of the Kingdom of Spain (Spain, 25 November 2016).^[22]
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia, 25 January 2017).^[23]
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer of Greece (Greece 21 April 2017).^[24]
• Knight (single order) of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourg, 23 May 2017).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Netherlands, 10 October 2017).
• Knight Grand Cross with Cordon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 29 November 2017).^[25]
• Knight with Collar of the Order of Charles III of the Kingdom of Spain (Spain, 13 April 2018).^[26]
• Honorary Companion of Honour with Collar of The National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta (Malta, 15 May, 2018) ^[27]
• Knight with Collar of the Grand Order of King Tomislav of the Republic of Croatia (Croatia, 4 May 2018).^[27]