Antonio Costa named as Prime Minister of Portugal

Atonio Costa, the leader of Portugal’s Socialist Party was named Prime Minister of Portugal.
He was appointed as PM by President Anibal Cavaco Silva and has tasked him to form a new government due to political instability caused by an inconclusive 2015 general election results.
With this, for the first time in history of Portugal Socialist government came to power with the support of Communists parties after dictatorship was overthrown in 1974.
Background
After Portugal’s 2015 general election, moderate Socialist Party in coalition with the Communist Party and Left Bloc was able to secure a 122-seat majority in the 230-seat parliament. This coalition had forced then ruling centre-right coalition government led by Pedro Passos Coelho to resign as the election mandate did give a clear majority to any Party.

About Antonio Costa

• Atonio Costa was born on 17 July 1961 in Lisbon, Portugal. By profession he is lawyer.
• He traces his paternal roots to Goa (India) and is son of Orlando Costa, an accomplished poet and writer. His grandfather, Luis Afonso Maria da Costa hailed from Goa.
• Earlier, he had held several positions in previous governments and in the European Union (EU) including Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (1997-1999), Minister of Justice (1999-2002) and Minister of State and Internal Administration (2005-2007).
• In 2004 he was elected as one of the 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament and also had served on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
• He was Mayor of Lisbon City from 2007 to 2015. He was elected as Secretary-General of the Socialist Party in September 2014.

Interesting Fact: Portugal was the first western country to colonise some parts of India in the early sixteenth century and the last to leave in 1961.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2015