Brussels, 11 September 2021 (TDI): Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, sends her condolences to those mourning the loss of Jorge Sampaio, a former two-term president of Portugal and one of his generation’s most renowned political personalities. Former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio died on Friday at the age of 81. The cause of death was not announced, however, Sampaio had been hospitalized with respiratory problems since 27 August.
Sampaio began his political career in the underground left-wing opposition. Following the 1974 revolution that restored democracy to Portugal, he established the Socialist Left Movement, but quickly abandoned the idea and joined the Socialist Party in 1978, eventually becoming its Secretary-General in 1989. He served as a mayor of Lisbon from 1990 until 1995, when he resigned to compete for president in the January 1996 election. He studied law at the University of Lisbon, and in the 1960s, he rose to popularity by representing political prisoners held by Antonio Salazar’s authoritarian dictatorship.
