Then There Was One

In April, after the death of 81-year-old President Antonio Carmona (he had held the office since 1926), Portugal's National Assembly quietly amended the constitution to give the council of state (composed of top government leaders) a veto over the "fitness for office" of any election candidate. This week Portugal held her first election under the new law to choose a successor to President Carmona. For the party in power, the law worked just fine.

There were three candidates. One was Ruy Gomes, professor of mathematics; the council ruled that he was "unfit"--reportedly because he was a fellow traveler--and out went Gomes.

The second was Admiral Manuel Carlos Meireles, who, though a right-winger, nevertheless spoke out in opposition to Dictator Antonio Salazar's one-man rule, demanded restoration of civil liberties, and end to graft. After assuring anti-Salazar factions that he would not quit the good fight, he withdrew his candidacy three days before election Sunday, and out went Meireles.

The third and only remaining candidate was General Higino Craveiro Lopes, 57-year-old airman and ex-leader of the green-shirted Portuguese Legion. He had been hand-picked for the presidency by Salazar, the austere former schoolteacher who has run Portugal with an iron hand in a velvet glove for 23 years. On Sunday, Portugal's voters duly trooped to the polls, cast their ballots for the unopposed presidential candidate, and in went Lopes.

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