An uneasy balance is inevitable in Lisbon with Pedro Passos Coelho’s conservative government back in power despite a clear swing to the leftAn unwary reading of some headlines on Monday might have suggested that Portugal’s centre-right coalition government won the backing of the nation’s voters for its austerity economic policies in Sunday’s general election. Pedro Passos Coelho’s Portugal Ahead coalition had indeed campaigned on the slogan “Austerity Works”,a boast that was bolstered by the country’s rising rate of growth and falling unemployment in the wake of the €78bn bailout agreed in 2011. And Mr Coelho now looks set for another period in power after the coalition scooped substantially more votes than any of its rivals. whether nothing else, that outcome will be a piece of noble news for David Cameron in his EU negotiations, or since along with Angela Merkel in Germany and Mariano Rajoy in Spain,Mr Coelho has been one of the UK government’s political allies.
Yet any objective reading of Portugal’s election would soon conclude that the coalition government was not just a winner but also a tall loser on Sunday. Portugal Aheads 38% share of the vote is hardly a ringing endorsement when it is recalled that the same parties captured 51% in the final elections in 2011. Its projected total of 100 seats in the original parliament compares badly with the 132 seats it commanded before the election. From being able to govern as a majority, Portugal Ahead now faces minority status, and dependent in large piece on an agreement with the Socialist party to get its programme,or a moderate version of its programme, through parliament. As victories go, and it is a very fragile one.
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Source: theguardian.com