PORTUGAL: Portuguese presidential candidates wrap up their election campaign with centre-right Silva well ahead in polls.

Record ID: 347018

  • Title: PORTUGAL: Portuguese presidential candidates wrap up their election campaign with centre-right Silva well ahead in polls.
  • Date: 21st January 2006
  • Summary: CAVACO SUPPORTERS MARCHING AND CHANTING
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Portugal
  • Country: Portugal
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAWMVT6F4LG78BSQA2E8VXU5ET
  • Story Text: Portugal will narrowly elect its first right-of-centre president since the 1974 revolution on Sunday (January 22) if opinion polls prove correct.
    A former prime minister, Anibal Cavaco Silva has vowed to help solve an economic crisis and is running against a splintered left, which has held the presidency for the 32 years since democracy was set up in western Europes poorest country.
    Fearing a Cavaco Silva win, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates is increasingly backing 81-year-old political legend Mario Soares in the elections, which are designed to be less partisan than parliamentary polls.
    One minister said a Cavaco Silva victory would amount to a constitutional coup detat since he would overreach his legitimate power if elected.
    The president has limited powers but heads the armed forces and can veto laws, appoint prime ministers, preside over the cabinet and dissolve parliament.
    Cavaco Silva, 66, has lost ground in recent days but polls show he is just over the 50 percent minimum needed to win in the first round and defeat his five leftist opponents.
    The former finance ministers take-charge attitude has found an eager audience among voters worried about a stagnant economy and joblessness at an 18-year high.
    Almost 78 percent of Portuguese believe Cavaco Silva, who oversaw steady growth as prime minister from 1985 to 1995, is the best candidate for an economic turnaround, according to an Aximage poll this month.
    A Social Democrat, he is urging weary voters facing their third election in less than a year to turn out, fearing abstention could block a knock-out win.
    A Marktest poll in Diario de Noticias newspaper on Thursday showed Cavaco Silva with 52.7 percent support in the race.
    He is trailed by Manuel Alegre, a Socialist lawmaker who defied Prime Minister Socrates to run, at 19.2 percent. Soares, a two-time president, is at 14.1 percent.
    Three other leftists round out the poll. A second round is set for Feb. 12 if no candidate wins at least 50 percent.
    Candidates on the left have focused in large part on attacking Cavaco Silva in order to force a second round.
    Incumbent Jorge Sampaio fired the Social Democratic government in 2004 and called elections last February that led to a Socialist administration.
    Cavaco Silva, an economics professor known for attention to detail, is likely to press Socrates to the limit of his constitutional powers, analysts said.
    Anibal Cavaco Silva Born 1939. Joined Social Democratic Party in 1974. Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995. Stood for president against Jorge Sampaio in 1996, and returned to his post as professor of economics after losing.
    Manuel Alegre Born 1936. Joined Socialist Party in 1974. MP for Coimbra from 1974 to 2002 and for Lisbon since 2002. Deputy Speaker since 1995. He has won several literary prizes.
    Mario Soares Born 1924. Exiled during Salazar's regime. Founder of Socialist Party and its secretary-general from the outset in 1973. Foreign minister in 1974-75. Prime minister 1976-78 and 1983-85. President 1986-1996.
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