Portuguese Socialists Recover, Yet Trail Opposition: Angus Reid Global Monitor

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/35855/portuguese_socialists_recover_yet_trail_opposition/

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Portugal’s ruling Socialist Party (PS) has rebounded from a sharp drop last month but continues to trail the conservative opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), according to a poll by Marktest released by Diario de Noticias and TSF. 37.3 per cent of respondents would vote for the PSD in the next legislative election, down 10.4 points since June.

The ruling PS is close behind with 33.3 per cent, up 9.2 points. Support is lower for the Leftist Bloc (BE), and the Unitarian Democratic Coalition (CDU)—which includes the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Environmental Party "The Greens" (OV).

The Socialists won the February 2005 parliamentary ballot, garnering 45.3 per cent of the vote and electing 121 lawmakers to the 230-seat Assembly of the Republic. Socialist leader Jose Socrates took over as prime minister in March. In May 2008, Manuela Ferreira Leite was elected as the new leader of the right-leaning PSD.

In the September 2009 election, the Socialists secured 36.6 per cent of the vote and 97 seats, earning a minority mandate. Socrates was ratified as prime minister.

In March, Socrates presented the government’s austerity plan, which seeks to bring Portugal’s public deficit to 2.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2013, in line with European Union (EU) standards. In late March, Pedro Passos Coelho took over as PSD leader from Ferreira Leite following a leadership review.

On Jul. 31, Socrates rejected a PSD proposal to "scale back" the national health care system, declaring that it is "nowadays up to the highest international standards," and adding, "Those who want to scale it back are not realistic. It’s just an ideological proposal that would bring no good to the nation."