Guterres, António Manuel de

(1949- )

   Socialist Party leader, engineer, and politician, prime minister of Portugal (19952002). Born in Lisbon in a lower-middle-class family with roots in Beira Alta district (central Portugal), Guterres was trained as an electrical engineer and physicist. In his twenties, he abandoned academic pursuits to enter politics and was active in the university Catholic youth movement. Following the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Guterres became active in the Socialist Party (PS) leadership and joined several administrations' ministries during provisional governments (1974-75). From 1976 to 1983, he was an elected deputy for the Assembly of the Republic and was reelected to the same body as a deputy in 1985, serving until 1988. In the late 1980s, he reached the top rungs of the PS leadership. He directed the PS's electoral campaign of 1987. When the PS defeated the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in both the general legislative elections of 1995 and 1999, Guterres was named and served as prime minister.

   Following the PSD's defeat of the PS in the December 2001 municipal elections, Guterres unexpectedly resigned as chief of the PS and became a caretaker prime minister as President Jorge Sampaio called for parliamentary elections in March 2002. Guterres was replaced as PS leader and candidate for prime minister by Ferro Rodrigues. In the 17 March 2002 elections, the PSD defeated the PS, but only by a slim margin. Guterres left the premiership and withdrew from active politics.