Portuguese PM announces resignation of his government

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana announced Saturday the resignation of his government, one day after Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio said he would dissolve parliament and call an early vote.

Santana made the announcement in a televised address to the nation after an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday evening.

President Sampaio said Friday he was dissolving Parliament, and officially called a snap election for Feb. 20, more than a year before originally scheduled.

"It would be bad if after last night's words from the president we kept the same posture and attitude," Santana said, adding that he was acting "to defend the honor" of his government."

"We will undertake out responsibilities, but as a caretaker government" until a new government was named after the election, said the prime minister, whose center-right Social Democratic Party was well behind the opposition Socialists in polls.

If the government stays in office up to the Feb. 20 vote, it could still have enacted legislation already approved by parliament. But a caretaker status would limit the government's power to only managing the day-to-day running of the country.

Santana said he would meet Sampaio on Monday to formalize the government's resignation.

Santana, 48, the former Lisbon mayor, became prime minister in July after his predecessor Jose Manuel Durao Barroso left to become the head of the European Commission.

At the time, the president, elected in 2001, rejected appeals from opposition parties for a general election, saying that the parliamentary majority of last July had guaranteed the continuity of a "stable, consistent and trustworthy government," so the departure of the then prime minister was not "reason enough" to dissolve parliament.

But since his taking office, Santana loosened an austerity program that Barroso had designed to close a budget gap that breached euro zone limits in 2001. His 2005 budget prompted Standard & Poor's to downgrade its outlook for Portugal.

The political crisis culminated in late November when Youth and Sports Minister Henrique Chaves resigned after only four days in office, accusing Santana Lopes of being disloyal and untruthful.

Sampaio said Friday he had been forced to act because of the problems in the government and insisted that the measures taken are "the best thing for the country" as Portugal is now in an " unbearable situation."

Sampaio had said he hoped the winners in the elections know how to face "with greater determination" the present budget crisis of the country.

The Socialists, led by new leader Jose Socrates, are considered to have a good chance of taking power in the February election.

Source: Xinhua