Costa, Afonso

(1871-1937)

   Leading political and government figure of the first parliamentary republic (1910-26), Portuguese Republican Party (PRP) leader, and notable lawyer. Afonso Costa, like so many Portuguese political figures in the 20th century, was trained as a lawyer and taught as a law professor at a university, in his case, Coimbra University. A brilliant student and a radical activist in student politics in his day, Costa soon both embodied and symbolized radical republican politics and the effort to replace the monarchy. As minister of justice in the 1910-11 provisional government of the turbulent First Republic, Afonso Costa was the author of radical anticlerical laws that helped to polarize the political struggles of the fledgling representative system.

   The leader of the radical wing of the PRP, known in that day as "The Democrats," Afonso Costa was the youngest cabinet officer in the provisional government, at age 39. A small but tenacious man, he was a strong speaker and debater in the noisy sessions of the republic's congress. Afonso Costa was prime minister three times during the First Republic (1913-14, 1915-16, and April-December 1917). His third premiership was abruptly ended with the Sidônio Pais military coup of 8 December 1917. Costa was arrested but soon went into exile in Paris. Except for a few visits to Portugal, Costa remained in Paris as an international lawyer with a lucrative practice. Although asked to "save the republic" by taking office again, Costa refused. Following a period in which he conspired from abroad to overthrow the dictatorship, he died in Paris in 1937.