The World : Vote Backs Portugal Leader

Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva’s Social Democratic Party won a stunning victory in Portugal’s elections, gaining an unprecedented absolute majority in the nation’s Parliament. With about 90% of the vote counted, the official election center projected that the Social Democrats would win 144 seats in the 250-member Parliament, or 50.3% of the seats. The victory gives Portugal its first single-party majority in Parliament since a military uprising in 1974 ended a 48-year right-wing dictatorship and restored democracy. Cavaco Silva, who claimed victory in a late-night news conference, hailed the outcome as “a vote for political stability.”