Post by Bozur on Feb 26, 2005 18:48:58 GMT -5
Europe - AP
Opposition Socialists Win in Portugal
Mon Feb 21, 4:06 PM ET Europe - AP
By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal - Socialist leader Jose Socrates was expected to take his first formal step Tuesday toward becoming Portugal's fourth prime minister in three years, meeting with the country's president after his center-left party won in a landslide.
The Socialists, who have promised to modernize Portugal's backward economy, earned 45 percent of the vote Sunday to secure 120 seats in the 230-seat legislature — the party's biggest win at the polls.
The election brought defeat for the Social Democratic Party and the Popular Party, whose three-year conservative coalition government failed to lift Portugal out of an economic crisis and angered many by backing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
President Jorge Sampaio office said Monday he would hold separate talks with all the parties elected to Parliament. Sampaio is to formally invite Socrates before the end of the week to form a government. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for mid-March.
Portugal's unemployment rate has risen to a six-year high of 7.1 percent. Statistics show the country of 10.3 million lags economically behind the rest of the European Union.
In his victory speech, Socrates said his first measure as prime minister would be to draw up a job program for university graduates, who make up more than 35,000 of Portugal's almost 469,000 unemployed.
The Socialists are to govern for the next four years.
Socrates says he is committed to closer foreign policy cooperation among EU nations. He opposed the Iraq invasion but says he values warm relations with the United States.
"I want this victory to mean we can assert ourselves within Europe and internationally at the service of peace, justice and development," Socrates said after the results were announced.
Sampaio, the head of state, dissolved Parliament and called an election in December, angry at missteps by the government of Social Democrat leader Pedro Santana Lopes, who took over as prime minister last year after Jose Manuel Barroso quit to become European Commission President.
Socrates is to be Portugal's fourth prime minister in three years.
Other leftist parties also gained from public dissatisfaction with the conservatives, including the Communist Party/Green Party alliance and the Left Bloc.
Four seats decided by postal ballots are still to be allocated.
Portugal has long based its growth on low-skill, low-pay sectors such as textiles and footwear, and those sectors are now up against higher-skilled, lower-paid competition from new EU members in eastern Europe and from outside the 25-nation bloc.
Socrates says he wants the private sector to join him in engendering a broad modernization of Portugal's backward economy. He says he will focus on education, professional retraining and technological innovation.
Opposition Socialists Win in Portugal
Mon Feb 21, 4:06 PM ET Europe - AP
By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal - Socialist leader Jose Socrates was expected to take his first formal step Tuesday toward becoming Portugal's fourth prime minister in three years, meeting with the country's president after his center-left party won in a landslide.
The Socialists, who have promised to modernize Portugal's backward economy, earned 45 percent of the vote Sunday to secure 120 seats in the 230-seat legislature — the party's biggest win at the polls.
The election brought defeat for the Social Democratic Party and the Popular Party, whose three-year conservative coalition government failed to lift Portugal out of an economic crisis and angered many by backing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
President Jorge Sampaio office said Monday he would hold separate talks with all the parties elected to Parliament. Sampaio is to formally invite Socrates before the end of the week to form a government. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for mid-March.
Portugal's unemployment rate has risen to a six-year high of 7.1 percent. Statistics show the country of 10.3 million lags economically behind the rest of the European Union.
In his victory speech, Socrates said his first measure as prime minister would be to draw up a job program for university graduates, who make up more than 35,000 of Portugal's almost 469,000 unemployed.
The Socialists are to govern for the next four years.
Socrates says he is committed to closer foreign policy cooperation among EU nations. He opposed the Iraq invasion but says he values warm relations with the United States.
"I want this victory to mean we can assert ourselves within Europe and internationally at the service of peace, justice and development," Socrates said after the results were announced.
Sampaio, the head of state, dissolved Parliament and called an election in December, angry at missteps by the government of Social Democrat leader Pedro Santana Lopes, who took over as prime minister last year after Jose Manuel Barroso quit to become European Commission President.
Socrates is to be Portugal's fourth prime minister in three years.
Other leftist parties also gained from public dissatisfaction with the conservatives, including the Communist Party/Green Party alliance and the Left Bloc.
Four seats decided by postal ballots are still to be allocated.
Portugal has long based its growth on low-skill, low-pay sectors such as textiles and footwear, and those sectors are now up against higher-skilled, lower-paid competition from new EU members in eastern Europe and from outside the 25-nation bloc.
Socrates says he wants the private sector to join him in engendering a broad modernization of Portugal's backward economy. He says he will focus on education, professional retraining and technological innovation.