José Sócrates

…to the Socialists, whose leader, José Sócrates, became prime minister. In 2006 Cavaco Silva returned to politics with a successful run for the presidency, scoring a victory on the first ballot against a split Socialist ticket.

In March 2011 Sócrates’s proposal for a new round of spending cuts and tax increases (the fourth such austerity package in a year) was soundly rejected by the parliamentary opposition, prompting the prime minister’s resignation and setting the stage for a snap election. In early May Sócrates’s caretaker…