Afonso Costa | |
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![]() Afonso Costa in 1921.
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Prime Minister of Portugal | |
In office 9 January 1913 – 9 February 1914 |
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President | Manuel de Arriaga |
Preceded by | Duarte Leite |
Succeeded by | Bernardino Machado |
In office 29 November 1915 – 15 March 1916 |
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President | Bernardino Machado |
Preceded by | José de Castro |
Succeeded by | António José de Almeida |
In office 4 September 1916 – 5 October 1916 Acting |
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President | Bernardino Machado |
Preceded by | António José de Almeida1 |
Succeeded by | António José de Almeida1 |
In office 25 April 1917 – 7 October 1917 |
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President | Bernardino Machado |
Preceded by | António José de Almeida |
Succeeded by | José Norton de Matos2 |
In office 25 October 1917 – 17 November 1917 |
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President | Bernardino Machado |
Preceded by | José Norton de Matos2 |
Succeeded by | José Norton de Matos2 |
In office 8 December 1917 – 11 December 1917 |
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President | Bernardino Machado |
Preceded by | José Norton de Matos2 |
Succeeded by | Sidónio Pais |
Personal details | |
Born |
Seia, Kingdom of Portugal |
6 March 1871
Died | 11 May 1937 Paris, France |
(aged 66)
Political party |
Portuguese Republican Party (later Democratic Party) |
Spouse(s) | Alzira Coelho de Campos de Barros Abreu |
Occupation | Lawyer, lecturer and professor of law and diplomat |
Signature | ![]() |
1 Effective 2 Acting |
Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈfõsu ˈkɔʃtɐ]; born in Seia, 6 March 1871; died in Paris, 11 May 1937) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor, and republican politician.
Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party, and he was one of the major figures of the Portuguese First Republic. He was a republican deputy in the Chamber of Deputies during the last years of the monarchy. After the proclamation of the republic, he was Minister for Justice during Teófilo Braga's short-lived provisional government, which lasted from 5 October 1910 to 3 September 1911.
During this period, Costa signed the controversial laws which expelled the Jesuits from Portugal, abolished all the religious orders, and established the separation of church and state. These things made him a symbol of the anticlericalism of the First Republic. Also, he was instrumental in the passage of many other progressive laws, such as those concerning divorce, family relations, civil registry of marriage, leases of property, judicial reorganization, industrial accidents, and censorship of the press.
He served as Prime Minister of Portugal three times. The first time, he was called by President Manuel de Arriaga to form the government, as the leader of the Republican Democratic Party. This term of office (which he combined with the role of Finance Minister) lasted from 9 January 1913 to 9 February 1914. He returned to power, as Prime Minister and Finance Minister, from 29 November 1915 to 16 March 1916.
Following more political instability Costa was yet again Prime Minister, from 25 April 1917 to 8 December 1917, in a national-unity government nicknamed the Sacred Union, to support Portugal's entrance into World War I. After Sidónio Pais's military coup d'état in December 1917, Costa went into exile in Paris, and though he did sometimes return briefly to Portugal, he never again lived there, even after Pais's assassination in 1918.