The campaign of Luís Marques Mendes has announced that all scheduled campaign activities in the coming days will be canceled in respect to the memory of Francisco Pinto Balsemão, following the death of the PSD’s founding member and former prime minister. Balsemão passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88.
“All scheduled campaign actions for the coming days will be canceled out of respect for the memory of Francisco Pinto Balsemão, President of the Political Commission of this candidacy,” the statement reads.
Moreover, Luís Marques Mendes, former president of the PSD and member of the Council of State, is expected to make a statement to journalists today at 4 PM, near the Assembly of the Republic.
In his initial reaction to the death of the PPD’s founder, now known as PSD, Marques Mendes highlighted Balsemão’s remarkable political journey, emphasizing his role in the constitutional revision of 1982.
“It is perhaps the most significant and historic fact of his entire democratic life. The 1982 constitutional revision was historic for Portugal: it abolished the Council of the Revolution, established the civil consolidation of our regime, and aligned our regime with European standards and traditions. I believe he has not yet been properly honored for the outstanding role he played that year and in that constitutional revision,” he stated.
The former minister in Cavaco Silva’s government also described Francisco Pinto Balsemão as “an unquestionably prominent example and reference in the freedom of the press and information in Portugal.”
“As a journalist, founder of Expresso even before April 25th, and knowing the decisive contribution Expresso had in challenging the regime. He later founded SIC and was a great advocate for private initiative in television,” he added.
The news of the death of the PSD’s first militant was announced by the social-democratic president and prime minister, Luís Montenegro, during a national council meeting of the party in Lisbon.
Balsemão was the founder of the weekly newspaper Expresso in 1973 during the dictatorship, SIC as the first private television channel in Portugal in 1992, and the Impresa media group.
In 1974, following the April 25th Revolution, he founded the Democratic Popular Party (PPD), later the Social Democratic Party (PSD), alongside Francisco Sá Carneiro and Magalhães Mota. He led two governments after Sá Carneiro’s death, from 1981 to 1983, and has been a member of the Council of State, an advisory body to the President of the Republic.
