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Portugal election ruled out |
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 Portugal's president has rejected calls for an early general election following
the resignation of the Prime Minister, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. In a televised
address, Jorge Sampaio announced that he was inviting the ruling Social
Democrats to form a new
government. Mr Barroso is due to take over as President
of the European Commission. After Mr Sampaio's announcement, the leader of the
opposition Socialist Party said he was resigning. Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues,
whose party won last month's European poll, had lobbied for an early election.
He had said that in view of that result, and with Mr Durao Barroso going off to
Brussels halfway through his term, the centre-right Social Democrats had lost
their legitimacy to govern.
'Complex decision'
Announcing his decision, President Sampaio said he had ended up choosing what
was best for Portugal at a time when the country was still struggling to pull
out of recession. The Social Democrats and their right-wing coalition partners,
the Popular Party, had insisted that continuity had to be maintained at all
costs. "It has been a complex decision, given the controversy which arose
over the best way of dealing with the problem," Mr Sampaio said. Provided
the government retained its cohesion, "the resignation or permanent
incapacitation of the prime minister is not sufficient reason, on its own, to
impose the need for an early general election", he added. The president is
expected to appoint Lisbon Mayor Pedro Santana Lopes, the new leader of the
Social Democrats, as the new prime minister. EU leaders picked Mr Durao Barroso
as the next European Commission president at a special summit in Brussels last
month. His appointment as successor to Romano Prodi still has to be confirmed in
a vote at the European Parliament later this month.
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