New Stability in Portugal

National election results in Portugal bode well for the Atlantic Community. For the first time in the 13 years since the dictatorship was deposed and democracy was restored, Portugal has a majority government. The center-right Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva, won at least 58% of the seats in parliament. This will strengthen him in his commitment as a forceful member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and in the economic reforms that are necessary to convert Portugal into full partnership in the European Economic Community. And it will increase the prospects for political stability in Portugal, which has had 17 governments in 13 years.

The two winners in the election were the Social Democrats, increasing their seats by at least 65%, and the Socialists, adding at least two seats to remain the second-largest party. The major losers were the parties farther to the left and right--the Communists, the Democratic Renewal Party led by former President Antonio Ramalho Eanes and the Christian Democrats. This result gives new power to the two parties that have led the nation to its new democratic vigor and guided the struggle to resist Communist efforts to take control as democracy was being restored.

Cavaco Silva is committed to continued close relations with Mario Soares, the Socialist president. Together they may now be able to accelerate the national economic recovery and also the revision of the constitution that was drafted under heavy Communist influence in the chaotic days of the 1974 revolution.