Portuguese PM, opposition leader hold televised debate before general elections

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and opposition Socialist leader Antonio Costa on Wednesday held their only televised debate in the campaign before the general elections slated for Oct. 4.

The debate was kicked off with Costa, former Mayor of Lisbon, accusing Passos Coelho of failing to reduce the country's debt and of cutting public employees salaries.

Passos Coelho, leader of Portugal's ruling center-right coalition dismissed the charges, pointing out that the previous government, led by ex-Prime Minister Jose Socrates, had caused public debt to rise from 96 billion euros (some 106 billion U.S. dollars) to 195 billion euros (about 217 billion dollars).

When questioned on employment, the Socialist leader insisted he wanted to "create dignified work with quality and future," but failed to put forward numbers.

Passos Coelho has been applying harsh austerity, but Portugal still has one of Europe's highest debt levels, currently at around 130 percent of gross domestic product.

On Wednesday, Passos Coelho accused Costa during the debate, which took place at Lisbon's Electricity Museum, of convincing the Portuguese that the sitting government believed austerity measures applied had been "virtuous."

In fact, it was the previous Socialist government led by Socrates to ask for a bailout when the country was on the verge of bankrupt, Passos Coelho stressed.

Exports have "broken records" and Portugal could be among the world's top 10 competitive countries, he added.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro (86-billion-U.S.-dollar) bailout program in 2011 and has been applying harsh austerity to meet the targets set by its international lenders.

Costa was ironic throughout a great part of the debate, and at one point he asked Passos Coelho if he "missed debating with Socrates" over the prime minister's referring several times to the former prime minister, who has recently been released from prison. Socrates was detained last year amid allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax fraud.

Regarding the national health service, Passos Coelho admitted the government had not managed to assign a family doctor to each family, but said the service today had more quality.

According to a poll by Aximage published in a financial daily on Wednesday, the center-right coalition took a lead over the Socialists, but both have been running almost neck-and-neck. Endi