Sampaio, Jorge Fernando Branco de [key], 1939–, Portuguese politician, president of Portugal (1996–2006), b. Lisbon. Sampaio, who comes from a prominent and intellectually distinguished Lisbon family, is a lawyer. A member of the Socialist party from 1978, he was first elected to parliament in 1979 and was reelected four times; he headed the Socialist party from 1989 to 1992. Sampaio was a popular mayor of Lisbon from 1989 to 1995. Elected to the presidency in 1996, he promised to promote stability, rid Portugal of political corruption, aid the disadvantaged, and fight rising unemployment. He was reelected in 2001.
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