Events in the year 1996 in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Incumbents

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portugal, Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the List of Presidents of P ...

(until 9 March);

Jorge Sampaio Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

Events

January to June

*6 January – Two children aged 9 and 11 are killed after a three-story building collapses in Lisbon following weeks of heavy rain. Occupied by approximately 600 unauthorised squatters, the building was one of many older structures in the capital to be progressively weakened and fail from the ongoing inclement weather. *14 January –

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

is elected

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic (, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister ...

with 53.8% of the vote, defeating the

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

candidate and former Prime Minister

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...

. Following the Socialist Party's success in the parliamentary elections in 1995, Sampaio's victory marks the first time since the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

in 1974 that voters have elected both a President and a Prime Minister from the same political party. *24 January – Two Portuguese soldiers are killed alongside an Italian soldier after an accidental bomb explosion occurs at a barracks in the Bosnian capital of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. Despite the deaths, which come as part of NATO peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia, both President Mario Soares and Prime Minister

re-iterate Portugal's involvement in the region. *9 March –

is sworn in as the new President of Portugal in a ceremony held in the Assembly of the Republic, replacing the outgoing

after ten years in office. *18 May – Portugal participates in the

1996 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the in Oslo, Norway. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NRK) and presented by Ingvild Bryn and ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

with singer

Lúcia Moniz Ana Lúcia Pereira Moniz (born 9 September 1976) is a Portuguese singer and actress. Moniz represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and has released five music albums She has also acted in several television shows, in theat ...

performing the song "O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor". Moniz finishes the competition in sixth position, the highest placing achieved by a Portuguese contestant until

Salvador Sobral Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral (; born 28 December 1989) is a Portuguese singer, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 for with the song "", written and composed by his sister, Luísa Sobral. In doing so, he gave its first ever win in t ...

's victory in 2017. *4 June – The government and French automobile manufacturer

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

announce a deal which sees the government purchase a Renault-owned car assembly plant in

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

in exchange for the sale of government assets in Renault-owned ventures within the country. The deal ends three years of negotiation between the government and Renault over the Setúbal factory, which since 1993 has seen the loss of more than 450 jobs. *23 June – In

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, the Portuguese national team are eliminated from

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

after a 1–0 loss to the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.

July to September

*2 August – At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

held in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Fernanda Ribeiro Maria Fernanda Moreira Ribeiro, GCIH (; born 23 June 1969), is a long-distance runner born in Penafiel, Portugal. The pinnacle of her career was at the 1996 Summer Olympics when she won the women's 10000 m gold medal, establishing a new Olympi ...

wins the women's 10,000-metre event in a new Olympic record time of 31 minutes 1.63 seconds, becoming the third Portuguese athlete to achieve an Olympic gold medal. *13 October: ** Azorean regional election: The Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party each win 24 seats in the

Legislative Assembly of the Azores The Legislative Assembly of the Azores () is the regional assembly/legislature of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. History The regional legislative assembly, since it was first instituted, has maintained its seat in the city of Ho ...

. The Socialist Party led by

Carlos César Carlos Manuel Martins do Vale César, Order of Christ (Portugal), GCC (born 30 October 1956) is a Portuguese politician and former President of the Regional Government of the Portugal, Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. He currently ser ...

subsequently forms a minority government with the support of the

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party (, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

, ending two decades of Social Democratic governance. ** Madeiran regional election: The Social Democratic Party achieves a majority in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, winning 41 of the 59 available seats with 56.9% of the vote. The Socialist Party finishes as the second largest party in one of its strongest results in the Madeiran Assembly, securing thirteen seats with a vote share of 24.8%. *6 December – A series of events are held marking the 500th anniversary of the expulsion of Jews from Portugal by

Manuel I Manuel I may refer to: *Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned ov ...

. Speaking in the National Assembly, President Jorge Sampaio describes the 1496 expulsion as "iniquitous act with deep and disastrous consequences", and joins

Dan Tichon Dan Tichon (; 5 January 1937 – 30 September 2024) was an Israeli politician. Biography Tichon was born in Kiryat Haim during the Mandate era. He served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces before graduating with an economics and intern ...

, the

Speaker of the Knesset The speaker of the Knesset (, ) is the presiding officer of the Knesset, the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Speaker also acts as President of Israel when the President is incapacitated. The current speaker is Amir Ohana, who ...

in Israel, and leaders of the

Portuguese Catholic Church The Portuguese Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Portugal, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome, under the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. The Catholic Church is the world's largest Christian organi ...

in a session of prayers at the Lisbon Synagogue.

Arts and entertainment

*7 March –

Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 Portugal was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "" composed by Pedro Osório, with lyrics by José Fanha, and performed by Lúcia Moniz. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, (RTP), organised the national final ...

(

Festival da Canção (; "Song Festival") or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival produced and broadcast by (RTP) to select for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was first held in 1964. History Like most music festivals in isolated ...

) *5 December – The cable television channel

Canal Panda Canal Panda is a Portuguese pay television channel, the first one dedicated to kids programming, mostly animated series for children aged 6–14. The channel was founded in 1996 as ''Panda Club'' in Spain and Portugal, but the name was changed ...

launched, then known as Panda Club.

Sports

*8-14 April – 1996 Estoril Open (tennis) *22 September –

1996 Portuguese Grand Prix The 1996 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 September 1996 at Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal. It was the 15th and penultimate race of the 1996 Formula One season. Williams' Jacques Villeneuve won the race ...

(Formula One) *Establishment of the Taça Nacional Sénior de Futsal Feminino.

Births

* 25 March – Afonso, Prince of Beira, son of

Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza '' Dom'' Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (, born 15 May 1945), commonly known simply as Dom Duarte, is the current Duke of Braganza and a claimant to the defunct Portuguese throne, as the head of the House of Braganza. The Miguelist Braganzas, to w ...

* 1 November –

Daniela Melchior Daniela Melchior dos Reis Lopes Pereira (; born 1 November 1996) is a Portuguese actress. Born in Almada, Setúbal, she launched her career in 2014 with a role in telenovela . She went on to appear in the teen drama ' (2016) and telenovelas '' ...

, actress * 7 November –

André Horta André Filipe Luz Horta (born 7 November 1996) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Primeira Liga club Braga. He made over 200 Primeira Liga appearances for Vitória de Setúbal, Benfica and Braga, winning a le ...

, footballer * 29 November –

Gonçalo Guedes Gonçalo Manuel Ganchinho Guedes (; born 29 November 1996) is a Portuguese professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger or Forward (association football), forward for club Wolverhampton Wa ...

, footballer * 4 December –

Diogo Jota Diogo José Teixeira da Silva (born 4 December 1996), known as Diogo Jota, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for club Liverpool and the Portugal national team. Jota is known for his clinical finis ...

, footballer

Deaths

*1 March – Vergilio Ferreira, writer (born

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

). *1 April –

Alfredo Nobre da Costa Alfredo Jorge Nobre da Costa (; 10 September 1923 – 1 April 1996) was a Portuguese engineer and politician who briefly served as prime minister of Portugal from August to November 1978. A moderate independent center-left politician, he was ...

, engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (1978) (born

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

). *16 June – David Mourao-Ferreira, writer and poet (born

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

). *13 August –

António de Spínola António Sebastião Ribeiro de Spínola (; 11 April 1910 – 13 August 1996) was a Portuguese military officer, author and conservative politician. During the Estado Novo he became one of the most senior military commanders, leading milita ...

, military officer, politician and writer (born

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

References

{{Year in Europe, 1996 1990s in Portugal

Years of the 20th century in Portugal