The PSD spokesman was commenting on the decision by Portugal's president, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, to tap Socialist Party (PS) leader António Costa as the country's new prime minster, two weeks after parliament voted to bring down a minority right-of-centre government in which the PSD was the largest party.


"While respecting the president's decision, we want to be sure to stress, however, that this new government solution will not have our political support," he said at a news conference at PSD headquarters. The party would, instead, "hold to account the PS and the radical left parties that have committed to sustaining the future government politically in parliament."


The president, he noted, "had to find a fallback solution to respond to a grave and political crisis [that was] unprecedented in these 40 years of democracy and whose alternatives could represent a greater cost for Portugal."


That is a reference to the possibility of leaving the incumbents in power in a caretaker capacity, unable to approve a budget for next year. Because parliament may not be dissolved in its first six month, the president's term ends in march, and the new president must give 60 days' notice for a snap election, such an election is not possible before June.


"The PSD, despite its clear position of not supporting [the new government], wants to make sure to democratically wish all the best for the performance of the future government, in the interest of the Portuguese," he added.


On the fate of the PSD's leader and outgoing prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, he said that he "is not a politician who deserts nor who flees" and "will be where is necessary" with "his firm attitude and character in defence of the national interest."