PORTUGAL: COMMUNISTS HOLD MORALE BOOSTING RALLY BUT LATER CONCEDED CABINET SEATS TO OPPOSITION POPULAR DEMOCRATS.

Record ID: 215523

  • Title: PORTUGAL: COMMUNISTS HOLD MORALE BOOSTING RALLY BUT LATER CONCEDED CABINET SEATS TO OPPOSITION POPULAR DEMOCRATS.
  • Date: 18th September 1975
  • Summary: 1. GV PAN ZOOM INTO Banners of Communist supporters 0.13 2. CU Pro-Communist signs and flags (2 shots) 0.26 3. LV ZOOM INTO GV Crowd 0.29 4. SV Cunhal chanting and urging crowd 0.35 5. GV ZOOM INTO Crowd cheering and clapping 0.42 6. SV PAN Cunhal and officials applauding 0.50 7. CU Cunhal 0.53 8. SV & MV ZOOM OUT TO
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 1975 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAMPO PEQUENO BULLRING, LISBON, PORTUGAL
  • Country: Portugal
  • Reuters ID: LVA4W06Z0ABUDSKYDQEMCFE923WT
  • Story Text: As the delicate negotiations to form a new Portuguese government continue, the country's Communist Party indulged in a large show of strength in Lisbon on Tuesday night (16 September).

    The Communists have been on the retreat since ex-Premier Vasco Goncalves was ousted earlier in the month so Party Secretary General Alvaro Cunhal clearly thought it was an opportune time for Tuesday's mass rally in the Lisbon bullring.

    Although the rally was meant to show the party's opponents that morale and supports are still high, the communists had made another step down during the day. They had been insisting on having as many cabinet seats in the new government as the Popular Democrat Party (PPD), but the PPD had been refusing because they received over twice as many votes as the Communists in last April's General election.

    The argument had been the main obstacle blocking Admiral Jose Phinherio de Azevedo's attempts to form a new government, but the Communists have now dropped their claim.

    Mr. Cunhal made no mention of parity with the PPD during Tuesday's rally and observers noted that the Soviet press has praised the Portuguese Communists' "tactical compromise" -- indicating that flexibility was the order of the day.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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