Portugal's new prime minister seeks alliance with far left, greens

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva on Monday met the leader of the main opposition Socialists, Antonio Costa, whose hopes of leading a new Socialist government backed by a left-wing majority in parliament hinge on the head of state.

Portugal's centre-right parties won a combined 38.6% of the popular vote in the elections under the banner of "Portugal Ahead", but only held power for two weeks before being ousted.

The new government will be formed mostly of Socialist MPs, but will be propped up by the country's Communist Party and Left Bloc in a so-called "triple alliance".

Costa's appointment as prime minister on Tuesday came after his unprecedented anti-austerity alliance with Communists, Greens and the radical Left Bloc toppled Portugal's 11-day-old conservative minority government this month, after a dramatic parliamentary vote in October. However, he criticized the outgoing government for being "submissive" in its dealings with the rest of Europe.

Costa will now choose his Cabinet and present the list to the president for approval.

He then did a short one-year stint at the European Parliament in 2004, resigning to become minister of state and internal administration in the government of Jose Socrates. The new occupant of the all-important position of Finance Minister, Mario Centeno, has made statements to reassure Portugal's creditors so far.

Costa, the former mayor of Lisbon, has insisted his government will meet global commitments on its budget and debts, a year and a half after it exited its bailout programme. Unemployment, which surged to a record 17% after 2011, had fallen to 12%.

Among the measures planned by the leftist alliance are giving back government workers' cut pay; unblocking pension increases; spending more on the national health service; providing free nursery schools for all 3-year-olds and free school books for all; reducing sales tax at restaurants from 23 percent to 13 percent; and restoring four public holidays that were scrapped to improve productivity.

Now the question remains whether he and his alliance will be up to the huge challenges facing them and effectively end weeks of political turmoil.