José Baptista Pinheiro de Azevedo

José Pinheiro de Azevedo
Prime Minister of Portugal
In office 19 September 1975 – 23 July 1976
President	Francisco da Costa Gomes
Preceded by	Vasco Gonçalves
Succeeded by	Mário Soares
Minister of National Defence
In office 19 September 1975 – 23 July 1976
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Silvano Ribeiro
Succeeded by	Mário Firmino Miguel
Chief of the Navy General Staff
In office 26 April 1974 – 28 November 1975
Preceded by	Armando Júlio de Roboredo e Silva
Succeeded by	António Egídio de Sousa Leitão
Personal details
Born	(1917-06-05)5 June 1917 Luanda, Portuguese Angola
Died	10 August 1983(1983-08-10) (aged 66) Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Independent (before 1976) Christian Democratic (from 1976)
Alma mater	Portuguese Navy School
Occupation	Naval officer
Military service
Allegiance	Portugal
Branch/service	Portuguese Navy
Years of service	1937–1976
Rank	Admiral

Admiral José Baptista Pinheiro de Azevedo GCL (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ βaˈtiʃtɐ piˈɲɐjɾu ðɨ ɐzɨˈveðu]; 5 June 1917 – 10 August 1983) was a Portuguese political figure, reformer and revolutionary. He helped overthrow Marcelo Caetano in 1974. He served as the 104th Prime Minister of Portugal between 19 September 1975 and 23 June 1976. He ran for president in 1976, and lost.

Pinheiro de Azevedo was born on 5 June 1917 in Luanda, but moved to Portugal several years later. In the 1960s, he joined the Movement for Democratic Unity and was a supporter of the Presidential candidacies of José Norton de Matos, Manuel Quintão Meireles and Humberto Delgado.

Pinheiro de Azevedo served in the Portuguese Colonial War, as an admiral in charge of the maritime defense of Portuguese Angola.

After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, he was appointed to the National Salvation Junta, and was committed to the cause of democratization in Portugal.

On 29 August 1975 he became Prime Minister of the Sixth Provisional Government replacing ousted Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves.

At the end of his tenure as Prime Minister, he was replaced for the final 30 days by Vasco Almeida e Costa, Minister of Internal Administration. Pinheiro had suffered a heart attack on 23 June while campaigning in Oporto for the Portuguese presidency as one of the independent candidates in the 27 June presidential election. He was taken to a hospital and was still recovering when President António Ramalho Eanes appointed Mario Soares as the new premier.

Electoral history

Presidential election, 1976

Main article: 1976 Portuguese presidential election

Ballot: 27 June 1976

Candidate		Votes	%
	António Ramalho Eanes	2,967,137	61.6
	Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho	792,760	16.5
	José Pinheiro de Azevedo	692,147	14.4
	Octávio Pato	365,586	7.6
Blank/Invalid ballots		63,495	–
Turnout		4,881,125	75.47
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições