Portuguese government survives no-confidence vote

On July 18, the Portuguese government led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho survived a vote of no confidence in parliament, as he tried to prevent early elections as people protested demanding the government's resignation.

The motion to hold a vote of no confidence in the government, initiated by the opposition Green Party, received only 87 votes in favor, while there were 131 votes against in the 230-seat parliament. This is the fifth vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Coelho's government since he took office in 2011.

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho speaks before the vote in the National Assembly. (Source: THX/TTXVN)

Speaking in the Portuguese Parliament before the vote, Prime Minister Coelho stressed that the current government's top priority is to maintain political stability to fully implement Lisbon's commitments to international creditors in exchange for bailout.

Mr. Coelho also called on political parties to make efforts to find a common voice to quickly bring the country out of the current dire economic crisis.

Portugal was plunged into political crisis when Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar and Foreign Minister Paulo Portas resigned earlier this month. However, the crisis was temporarily eased when the two main parties in the ruling coalition reached an agreement.

Portugal is implementing austerity measures in exchange for a 78 billion euro (about 101 billion USD) bailout package from the "troika" of the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB).

The government's austerity policies have sparked months of protests and deepened divisions among Portugal's political parties.

According to official figures, the Portuguese economy will shrink by 2.3% this year and the unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 18.2%./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT