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Portuguese PM unveils new cabinet members

Xinhua, October 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Tuesday unveiled his new cabinet members after the Oct. 4 general election which saw his coalition's victory but losing an outright majority in parliament.

Among the 16 ministers, half of them including Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas, Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque and Foreign Minister Rui Machete served in the previous government under Passos Coelho and three new ministries of Culture, Equality and Citizenship, of Parliamentary Affairs were created.

Portuguese President Cavaco Silva said in a statement the new government will be sworn in on Friday.

He announced in a televised address to the nation on Thursday night that he reappointed leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Passos Coelho as the new prime minister.

The coalition won the Oct. 4 general election but fell short of an outright majority in the parliament.

The minority government led by Passos Coelho will present his four-year program to the parliament 10 days after taking office. If the program is rejected in the parliament the government will fall.

The main opposition Socialist Party (PS), led by Antonio Costa, and two other leftist parties of the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party, which make up a majority in parliament, vowed to reject the program.

After the general election, the PS negotiated with the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party for an alternative government.

The coalition led by PSD leader Passos Coelho and CDS-PP leader Paulo Portas won most votes in the Oct. 4 election and gained 107 seats in the 230-seat parliament, but lost the majority while the PS got 86 seats.

According to the Portuguese constitution, another general election will not be allowed within six months. Endit