President Dissolves Portugal Parliament

Portuguese President Antonio Ramalho Eanes dissolved Parliament on Friday and called elections for Oct. 6, amid speculation that outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Mario Soares would soon declare himself a candidate for the presidency in a later election.

Eanes, who steps down in January after 10 years in office, decided on dissolution and early elections as the only way out of a political impasse caused by the collapse of Soares’ ruling two-year coalition with the Social Democrats a month ago.

It was Portugal’s 15th--and longest-lived--government since the overthrow of half a century of right-wing dictatorship in the 1974 armed forces revolution.

Eanes, 50, who is prohibited from running for a third term, delayed dissolution until the 250-member assembly had ratified the treaty of Portuguese accession to the European Community, which it did by an overwhelming majority Thursday.

Eanes was also expected to accept the formal resignation of Soares, 60, three times prime minister and the man who set Portugal on the road to community membership eight years ago. He has already asked the government to stay on in a caretaker capacity.

Political commentators in the media and the state radio all carried speculation that Soares, who is also party secretary general, might soon make known his decision to stand for the presidency.