March 23, 2014 a Decree was signed by President Yaroslav Mar, proclaiming the 24th of March the day of National Mourning in the Federal Republic of Lostisland, commemorating the death of the Most Excellent Adolfo Suárez, the Duke of Adolfo Suárez, Grandee of Spain and the country’s first democratically elected Prime Minister after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
Born in Cebreros, Castille and Leon on 25 September 1932, Adolfo Suárez graduated from the Salamanca University and started his political career in 1958 by joining the only then legal Spanish party Movimiento Nacional (National Movement), serving, among other important offices, as the Civilian Governor of Segovia and Director General of the Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation).
Known for his democratic ideas, Adolfo Suárez was recommended by Torcuato Fernández-Miranda to the King of Spain as Prime Minister (President of Government), office which he assumed on 3 July 1976, overseeing what was later called the Spanish political reform of 1977.
On 15 June 1977, Adolfo Suárez as a candidate from the Unión de Centro Democrático (English: Union of the Democratic Centre) won the first Spanish general election, receiving support from 34,44% of the voters, later in 1978 overseeing the implementation of the new constitution which guaranteed equal rights and civil liberties for Spanish citizens. Suárez was reelected Prime Minister on the next general election of 1979, but was soon forced to resign under the pressure of more right-aligned members of the UDC.
In 1981, in recognition of his role in the transition to democracy, Adolfo Suárez was raised into the Spanish nobility by King Juan Carlos of Spain and given the hereditary title of Duque de Suárez (Duke of Suárez), together with the title Grande de España (English: Grandee of Spain). In 1996, Suárez was awarded the Príncipe de Asturias a la Concordia for his role in Spain’s early democracy. On 8 June 2007, during the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections, King Juan Carlos appointed Suárez the 1,193rd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease since 2005, Adolfo Suárez passed away as a result of a respiratory infection on 23 March 2014, aged 81. In honor of the Spain’s first democratic Head of Government, a day of mourning has been declared in the Federal Republic of Lostisland.