FINANCIAL TIMES: José Sócrates, Portugal’s Socialist prime minister, was re-elected to a second term in the general election on Sunday, but his centre-left party lost its overall majority in parliament.
Mr Sócrates is expected to form a minority government and seek support for a government programme and the 2010 budget with parties to both the left and right.
However, his failure to win a comfortable majority raised the prospect of political instability and a weak government that could fall before completing a four-year term.
Only two minority administrations have survived a full term since Portugal returned to democracy in 1974. Before Mr Sócrates’ election in May 2005, the country had three governments in three years.
The Socialists won 37 per cent of the vote, down from 45 per cent in the previous election in February 2005. The centre-right Social Democrats (PSD), the main opposition party, polled 29 per cent, roughly equal to their previous result.
The Socialists’ clear win was a significant personal victory for Mr Sócrates, 52, whose popularity had been damaged by economic recession, scandal and unpopular reforms. >>> Peter Wise in Lisbon | Sunday, September 27, 2009
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