PORTUGAL-ELECTION/PROFILE PASSOS COELHO Portuguese PM Coelho remains confident ahead of election

Record ID: 136087

  • Title: PORTUGAL-ELECTION/PROFILE PASSOS COELHO Portuguese PM Coelho remains confident ahead of election
  • Date: 30th September 2015
  • Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (FILE - JUNE 21, 2011) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SWEARING IN CEREMONY OF PEDRO PASSOS COELHO AS PRIME MINISTER OF PORTUGAL PASSOS COELHO SWEARING AND SIGNING LISBON, PORTUGAL (FILE) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS MARCHING AND PLAYING DRUMS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING IN PORTUGUESE "NO TO TROIKA" PROTESTERS CHANTING IN PORTUGUESE "PEOPLE J
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Portugal
  • Country: Portugal
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABQLN8LAYBDUNAA8AMYYKIKMY3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Portugal's Prime Minister and presidential candidate for the centre-right coalition Pedro Passos Coelho is promising voters stability.
    Passos Coelho has steered Portugal through an acute debt crisis, implementing painful austerity under an international 78 billion euro bailout after being elected in June 2011.
    The belt-tightening contributed to the worst recession since the 1970s before allowing the country to exit the rescue programme in 2014 with the economy growing again.
    Passos Coelho, who took power as the country requested the bailout package, faced the citizens' angry response to austerity. In an unusual attitude from the traditionally quiet and conciliatory Portuguese, numerous street demonstrations in 2013 ended up in clashes between police and angry anti-austerity protesters.
    His government was also hit by a corruption scandal last year that led to the resignation of Interior Minister Miguel Macedo over an investigation into alleged corruption linked to the issuing of so-called "golden visas" to wealthy foreigners.
    Macedo denied wrongdoing and said his departure was to save damage to the government.
    Passos Coelho has said tight budget controls remain essential.
    "Portugal have been through a very tough programme in the recent years and now we must regain our capacity, our ability to have a stronger recovery as we can see already in the recent days. And I think truly that the next years can be stronger and happier for everybody in the country, but of course this will depend on the result of the election, and I'm very confident of the result of the election," Passos Coelho told voters during the launch of his campaign in Lisbon earlier this month.
    Often criticised by the opposition for having willingly applied tougher measures than required by the so-called Troika of EU/IMF lenders, Passos Coelho has acknowledged that he wanted "to go beyond the Troika" to swiftly reconquer investor confidence.
    Passos Coelho also says voters understand that the measures he took were necessary.
    "People understand, even those who still don't have a job or still can't see a better situation regarding their income, that the country is recovering in all aspects of its economy," he said during the rally on September 20 where he was joined by his junior coalition partner Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas.
    In 2011 Passos Coelho triggered a snap election to oust a minority Socialist government promising that there would be no tax hikes or pension cuts under his administration as it would cut spending instead.
    His government imposed the largest tax hikes in living memory and cut pensions, while spending was trimmed only slightly.
    Generally reserved and not prone to emotional or humorous comments, Passos Coelho is known for the phrase "To hell with elections, what matters is saving Portugal" uttered at the height of the crisis in 2012 as he defended his highly unpopular austerity measures.
    Pedro Magalhaes, a political science professor at Lisbon University, said voters perceive Passos Coelho as a sincere man.
    "I think that in general people perhaps see him as somebody who speaks the truth. He tries to, in a sense, reinforce this view by saying that he wants to do what needs to be done, that he doesn't care about elections. We may or may not believe that, but I think that's the image he wants to project," said Magalhaes.
    Passos Coelho has formed a majority government with the rightist CDS-PP. The coalition survived an internal crisis in 2013 and the two parties are running in this election as an alliance with opinion polls pointing it could win, if short of parliament majority.
    At age 14, Passos Coelho stepped into politics at the PSD's youth branch and quickly rose to become its leader.
    He re-emerged from relative political obscurity in 2008 after working in consultancies and as an executive at a company run by a fellow Social Democrat. He also lectured applied economics to future teachers.
    If Passos Coelho wins on October 4, he will be the first leader of a bailed out EU country to be re-elected.
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