He was a member of the
Portuguese Communist Party from his youth until the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which he staunchly opposed, in 1968. Today he's usually considered one of the most leftist members of the Portuguese
Socialist Party. He voted against all the revisions of the
Portuguese Constitution of 1976, and abstained at a commemorative vote for the 10th anniversary of the fall of
Berlin Wall, in 1999. While studying
law at the
University of Coimbra, Alegre was noticed for his opposition to
António de Oliveira Salazar's dictatorial government - the
Estado Novo regime. He was
conscripted, and sent to the
Azores and later to
Portuguese Angola, where his involvement in an attempt to military rebellion led to his imprisonment. After serving his prison term in
Luanda, he returned to
Coimbra, before going into exile in 1964. As a student at the University of Coimbra he was a very active figure of the
Associação Académica de Coimbra, the university's student's union, while member of the governing body, athlete and cultural agent (poetry and theatre). He would never graduate in law. He would live the next ten years in
Algiers, where he was one of the main voices of a radio station directed to Portugal,
Rádio Voz da Liberdade (''Freedom's Voice
), also called Rádio Argel'', from where he reportedly led a series of activities supporting African forces opposing the Portuguese military intervention in the
Portuguese Colonial War, including by airing privileged information regarding Portuguese strategy in the theater of war. The distribution of his first books was forbidden by Salazar's government, so they circulated in
samizdat form. Alegre returned to Portugal in 1974, one week after the
Carnation Revolution. He joined the Socialist Party almost immediately, and was elected to Parliament in every election from
1975 to
2005. He was also one of the vice-presidents of Parliament. Several of his poems were made into songs, sung among others by
Zeca Afonso and
Adriano Correia de Oliveira, and played by
Carlos Paredes. His words were set to music by Tony Haynes on world jazz ensemble
Grand Union Orchestra's 1997 album,
The Rhythm of Tides. One of his poems
Uma flor de verde pinho won 1976's
Festival RTP da Canção, who represented Portugal in
Eurovision Song Contest. In
2004, he lost to
José Sócrates a bid for the party leadership. In 2005, a statue in his honour was erected in
Coimbra. On 24 September 2005, he announced that he would be a candidate in the
2006 presidential election, despite his party's official support for former president
Mário Soares as a candidate. On the elections held 22 January 2006, he ended up collecting 20.7% of the valid votes (the second largest amount after the elected President,
Cavaco Silva, and ahead of his party's official candidate Mário Soares). He was also a Member of the
Portuguese Council of State, elected by the
Assembly of the Republic. ==Decorations==