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Outgoing president thanks all Portuguese on last day in office

Xinhua, March 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva thanked the Portuguese and wished them "great success" on his last day in office on Tuesday.

"At this moment that I step down as President of the Republic, I'd like to leave a message to all the Portuguese. It is not a political message but a personal message," the statement published on the official website read.

"Serving the country as president has been an honour. The Portuguese, twice, gave me that honour. During ten years, I tried to correspond to the confidence they put in me, acting with a sense of responsibility and independence, working with rigour, seriousness and determination in the defence of the superior national interest," he added.

Following two five-year terms, Cavaco Silva said it was a "privilege" to "contact directly with "thousands of Portuguese" and that it was his duty to thank the Portuguese specially, even those who didn't support him.

Cavaco Silva also said he wished Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is taking office on Wednesday, "the greatest success in the exercise of his mandate."

The center-right President Rebelo de Sousa won the presidential elections on Jan. 24.

Currently the country is ruled by an alliance of anti-austerity parties after parliamentary elections gave way to a Socialist-led government backed by the Left Bloc and Communist Party.

The government is trying to reverse austerity after years of austerity imposed by a center-right government led by former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho when the country signed a 78 billion euro bailout.

Rebelo de Sousa, a former TV commentator, former center-right politician and former professor at a Law faculty in Lisbon, will take office at parliament on Wednesday, and festivities will go on throughout the day. Enditem