Reacting to four months of political and administrative turmoil for the conservative government, Portuguese President Jorge Sam-paio decided to dissolve parliament and hold a new election.
Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes -- who took over when Jose Manuel Barroso resigned to take up the top job with the EU -- announced Sampaio's decision on Tuesday. An election, previously scheduled for 2006, is now likely in February.
Recent opinion polls have put the main opposition Socialist Party far ahead of the Social Democratic Party which heads a coalition government with the Popular Party.
Among other measures, the Socialists have opposed the government's backing for US policy in Iraq where Portugal has about 120 police. If they won the election, the Socialists likely would withdraw that contingent.
The move came at a difficult time for Portugal which is struggling to find a way out of an economic recession that was the worst in the EU last year as the economy contracted by 1.3 percent.
The president's decision came after weeks of feuding within the Cabinet, public gaffes and organizational foul-ups which had beset Santana Lopes' administration since it took office, causing political unrest.
Sampaio, a Socialist, had wanted to avoid political instability but Portugal could get its third prime minister in eight months if Santana Lopes is not returned in the election.
A Sampaio spokesman, Joao Gabriel, told the national news agency Lusa the president's decision was based on "an overall political analysis" of the situation and not any single incident or policy.
Sampaio concluded the government was no longer able to "mobilize Portugal and the Portuguese in a coherent, disciplined and stable manner," Lusa reported.
Santana Lopes was vice president of the Social Democratic Party when Barroso left to become president of the European Commission. The Social Democrats won the 2002 election.
Sampaio rejected appeals from opposition parties for a general election when Barroso quit and allowed the Social Democrats to appoint Santana Lopes who took office in July.
However, Santana Lopes' term in office has been riddled with problems and Sampaio reportedly was angered by the prime minister's clumsy handling of state issues.
The school year was delayed by weeks because the Education Ministry was late assigning teachers to schools.
The Finance Minister Antonio Bagao Felix publicly disagreed with Santana Lopes over tax cuts.
The government has also locked horns with the media for allegedly trying to muzzle its critics at newspapers and TV networks.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was