Socialist win in Portugal

Portugal's opposition Socialists won clear control of parliament in Sunday elections, ousting the prime minister after only seven months in power, according to exit polls.

The Socialists led by former environment minister Jose Socrates polled 46.9 per cent to 50.7 per cent of the vote, according to a poll for SIC television.

The results give them the absolute majority needed to implement their platform to boost the lagging economy in western Europe's poorest country.

The exit poll showed the Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes with 23.3 to 27.8 per cent.

They were trailed by the Communists with 7.5 to 9.3 per cent and the rightist Popular Party and the small Left Bloc each with up to 7.9 per cent backing.

A TVI television exit poll put the Socialists' support at 44.2 to 48.2 per cent and the Social Democrats at 26.1 to 30.1 per cent.

Pollsters put 45 per cent as the cut-off for Socialists to control the 230-seat parliament. The Socialist win gives a single party control of the assembly for the first time in a decade.

Mr Socrates' administration will be the fourth in three years for the Iberian nation of 10 million.

His new government will face the challenge of boosting an economy slowing down as it recovers from recession and of closing a stubborn budget deficit that breached euro currency zone limits in 2001.

Before the election, opinion polls showed that many Portuguese were sceptical that any government elected could resolve economic woes, including joblessness at a seven-year high of more than seven per cent.

Mr Santana Lopes replaced Jose Manuel Barroso as prime minister in July when he left to become president of the European Commission. President Jorge Sampaio dissolved parliament in December, citing lack of confidence in the centre-right coalition government.

Mr Socrates, 47, has vowed to boost economic growth to three per cent a year through technological investment. The central bank has forecast growth this year at 1.6 per cent, below the European Union average for the fifth year in a row.

Mr Socrates also has said he would cut public spending, now nearing half of gross domestic product, by reducing the public work force through attrition.