Pedro Passos Coelho was handed the task yesterday of implementing a drastic austerity package for Portugal when the President named him as the new Prime Minister after his recent election win.
Passos Coelho, leader of the centre-right Social Democrat party, pledged to form a coalition government quickly, recognising there was no time to waste to tackle the country’s economic woes.
It is the first time the party has participated in a coalition and it is expected to go into government with the rightwing CDS-PP as a junior partner.
The 46-year-old Passos Coelho handed the Socialists, in power since 2005, their worst election result since 1987 in the legislative election on June 5.
Since then President Anibal Cavaco Silva has held talks with party leaders although there was never any real likelihood that anyone but the Social Democrats would take charge.
“After having listened to all the political parties represented in parliament, the president of the republic has named the president of the Social Democrat party, Pedro Passos Coelho, as Prime Minister,” said a statement from Silva’s office.
Passos Coelho’s main challenge will be to implement a programme of spending cuts and economic reforms Lisbon agreed to last month in exchange for a €78-billion bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The official coalition agreement will be signed at a public ceremony today, Passos Coelho told journalists shortly before the President’s announcement.
He also promised to quickly form a new government “to take stock of the urgent situation in the country.”
According to the still provisional results, the Social Democrats won 38.6 per cent of the vote, while the Socialists took 28 per cent.
The complete results are set to be released, after counting ends for all ballots cast outside the country, which affect the result on four seats in the 230-member Parliament.
The Social Democrats have won 105 of the 226 seats declared so far while the CDS-PP have 24 seats, giving the new coalition partners a comfortable absolute majority of 129. The Socialists won 73 seats.