President Mario Soares Role Politician Name Antonio Carneiro Rank General officer | Preceded by Jose Lemos Ferreira Alma mater Military Academy | |
 | ||
Succeeded by Antonio Carlos Fuzeta da Ponte | ||
Political party Democratic Alliance Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva | ||
António da Silva Osório Braga Soares Carneiro, (25 January 1928 - 28 January 2014) [ɐ̃ˈtɔniu suˈaɾɨʃ kɐɾˈnɐjɾu]) was a Portuguese military officer. A General in the Portuguese Army, he was Governor of a southern province of Portuguese Angola at the time of the Carnation Revolution which deposed the Estado Novo 25 April 1974.
In the presidential election of 1980, the right-wing Democratic Alliance, a coalition consisting of the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic and Social Centre, and the People's Monarchist Party, nominated Soares Carneiro as its candidate. Two of his leading supporters, Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro (no relation) and Defence Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa died in a plane crash while heading for a rally in Porto two days before the election. Most polls suggest that this deaths didn't have much influence in the result of the presidential elections, since they predicted the reelection of President, General António Ramalho Eanes, who had 56% of the votes, while Soares Carneiro had 40%.
Soares Carneiro later served as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, under the presidency of Mário Soares.
He died in Lisbon, January 28, 2014
