Portugal's Diogo Freitas do Amaral dead at 78

Diogo Freitas do Amaral, a conservative politician who played a leading role in establishing democracy following Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution, died on Thursday aged 78, the Portuguese government said.

In a statement announcing his death, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Freitas do Amaral was "one of the founders of our democratic system," adding that his countrymen should "bow in homage" to him.

Freitas do Amaral was a co-founder and first leader of the Christian Democratic Party, formed about three months after the army coup on April 25, 1974. He later became president of the UN General Assembly.

The coup leaders ousted a four-decade dictatorship and promised to introduce parliamentary democracy in the country, but their efforts were hindered by political turmoil.

Freitas do Amaral's party helped to counter the far-left, led by the Portuguese Communist Party, which surged after the ouster of the dictatorship set up in the 1930s by Antonio Salazar.

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Steering Portugal away from Moscow

He played a key role in helping to steer Portugal away from its radical course in the post-revolution years, which coincided with the Cold War and sparked fears in Western Europe and the US that the country, a NATO member, might align with Moscow.

Costa, a former colleague of Freitas do Amaral, recalled how much he had "learned from his legal knowledge, political experience and clarity and his deeply felt sense of state and democratic culture."

After Portugal's first parliamentary elections with universal suffrage in 1976, Freitas do Amaral served in a number of governments as deputy prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister.

He was a key member of the Democratic Alliance, which drew moderates from a range of parties to stand together in a 1979 election. It won a majority in parliament.

A new post-revolution Constitution

Freitas do Amaral, who was also a professor of law, was one of the driving forces behind a new constitution approved in 1982.

The initial post-revolution constitution of 1976 was inspired by Marxism, calling for the nationalization of the means of production. It also provided for the coup's military leaders to have an unelected power-sharing role in government.

The 1982 reform removed the ideological references, closed the military's path to power, opened up the economy and created the Constitutional Court.

In 1986, Freitas do Amaral narrowly lost the presidential election to Socialist Party candidate Mario Soares, gaining 49% of the vote.

He served as president of the UN General Assembly between 1995 and 1996, where he pressed member nations — especially the United States — to pay their outstanding dues.

He was also a vocal opponent of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The government said it would declare a national day of mourning on the day of the funeral, the date of which has not yet been announced.

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