Lisbon – Voters sent the Socialist government packing, giving Social Democrats a green light to enact an austerity program that is expected to send the nation into a deep and lasting recession. The arrangement is part of a $114 billion bailout engineered by the finance ministers of the European Union to prop up a failing central banking system and keep the nation solvent and trading in Euros.
The new government took over before all results were in as Jose Socrates, prime minister for the past six years, conceded, saying “The Socialist Party lost these elections” in his speech. Social Democrats elected 105 lawmakers in the 230-seat Parliament.
The new lineup is just shy of an absolute majority in the nation's lawmaking body. Political observers labeled the vote as an “emphatic” endorsement and a strong mandate to enact new fiscal measures.
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