Portugal Minority Leadership Ousted

Portugal's minority center-right prime minister, Passos Coelho, was voted out of power when a leftist coalition rejected his budget reform propositions on Nov. 11. Coelho, who was sworn into office after re-election just three weeks ago, has now been ousted by a vote of 127 to 107. In 2011, the government, headed by Coelho’s center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), imposed austerity measures that sent Portugal into a three-year recession. Since then, Portugal’s economy has rebounded and austerity measures have been called off; still, the center-right supports a tighter budget to further reduce national debt. The leftist coalition that ousted Coelho, headed by Antonio Costa and comprised of the Communist Party (PCP), Socialist Party (PS), and Greens (PEV), has taken a strong anti-austerity stance. Costa, who now hopes to assume the role of prime minister, engineered the alliance between the three leftist parties.

Such an alliance is not typical. Costa explained to Euronews, “The fact that for the first time a government may be formed by parliamentary agreement between PS [Socialist Party], PCP [Communist Party], and PEV [The Greens] is indeed something new.”

While this leftist bloc plans to reduce budget cuts, the policies proposed by each party differ considerably.  According to Coelho, these policy differences could pose significant challenges. Coelho remarked to Bloomberg Business that the new coalition “lacks identity, it lacks cement, so what is being announced is really a minority government.” For now, Portugal’s president Anibel Cavaco Silva will have the final say in nominating a prime minister after reviewing election results and parliamentary opinion.