Portugal’s 11-day government toppled

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID

Eleven days after coming to power, Portugal’s center-right government has been forced to resign by a new anti-austerity coalition, local media reported.

In an unprecedented coalition, the Socialist Party joined the radical Left Bloc and the Communist Party to topple Pedro Passos Coelho’s government by winning a non-confidence vote on the minority government’s policy proposals.

Passos Coelho’s Social Democratic Party government will soon set the record for Portugal’s shortest-lived administration in the country’s post-war history.

Portugal’s immediate future is now in the hands of President Anibal Cavaco Silva, who is likely to ask the leftist alliance to form a new government under Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa.

“We present a coherent and credible program, with stable conditions… we will do what the PSD wasn’t able to - form an alternative with the majority of support to a minority government,” he said.

The left-wing bloc has promised to alleviate austerity measures put in place after Portugal received a $84 billion bailout in 2011.

Outside parliament, anti-austerity protestors celebrated the news while an opposing group demonstrated against the non-confidence vote and the new coalition.

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID

Eleven days after coming to power, Portugal’s center-right government has been forced to resign by a new anti-austerity coalition, local media reported.

Passos Coelho’s Social Democratic Party government will soon set the record for Portugal’s shortest-lived administration in the country’s post-war history.

Portugal’s immediate future is now in the hands of President Anibal Cavaco Silva, who is likely to ask the leftist alliance to form a new government under Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa.

The left-wing bloc has promised to alleviate austerity measures put in place after Portugal received a $84 billion bailout in 2011.

Outside parliament, anti-austerity protestors celebrated the news while an opposing group demonstrated against the non-confidence vote and the new coalition.