Socialist Party leader appointed new Portuguese PM

LISBON -- Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva has appointed General Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) Antonio Costa as the country's new prime minister, bringing an end to the country's political stalemate after the Oct. 4 general election.

"The president of Portugal, after hearing from the political parties with seats in parliament, has appointed Mr Antonio Costa as prime minister," said a statement issued by the presidential palace on Tuesday.

The statement said that keeping the center-right minority government led by Pedro Passos Coelho in office does not correspond to Portugal's national interests.

Cavaco Silva on Monday asked Costa to clarify issues including approval of the budget for 2016, compliance with budgetary rules applied to all eurozone countries, as well as respect for international commitments of Portugal in the framework of collective defense organizations.

The coalition, led by leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Prime Minister Passos Coelho, and CDS-PP leader Paulo Portas, won most votes in the Oct. 4 election, gaining 107 seats in the 230-seat parliament, but lost an outright majority.

The center-right minority government was ousted in a parliamentary vote of motion by main opposition PS and its leftist alliance only 11 days after it was sworn in on Oct. 30, making it the shortest-lived government since Portugal turned into a democracy after a bloodless coup in 1974.

The PS has managed to forge a leftist alliance with the Left Bloc, the Portuguese Communist Party and the Green Party after the general election, which has a 122-seat majority in the parliament.

Costa, 54, a graduate from the Law School of Lisbon University, was Lisbon mayor between 2007 and 2015. He was elected PS general secretary in December 2014.