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Socialists win Portuguese election, lose majority
Socrates won about 37 percent of the vote, compared with 45 percent in 2005. That leaves him with the delicate task of having to opt to rule alone in a minority government, form a coalition, or negotiate in parliament on a case-by-case basis.
He kept his options open in his victory speech.
"The people voted and they spoke very clearly, the Socialist Party was chosen again to govern Portugal," Socrates said, adding it was "too early to talk about" coalitions or pacts.
Socrates will not only have to repair the economy after its deepest recession in decades but also rectify the long-term economic weaknesses that caused it to lag behind its European partners in the past decade.
Unemployment is 9.1 percent and rising, its highest since the 1980s.
Socrates is renowned for his table-thumping style and reputed quick temper. Trade unions have complained that his determination to change Portuguese ways has made him deaf to pleas for compromise. Strikes and large street protests by public sector workers punctuated his last four years in power.
His critics say his reform policies are more like those of a center-right party than a Socialist. He portrays himself as a liberal modernizer, pushing the European Union's reforming Lisbon Treaty during Portugal's presidency of the bloc in 2007 and driving forward his country's technological development. Portugal is in the vanguard of European countries developing clean energy.
Socrates also has stood up to the influential Roman Catholic church. His government legalized abortion in 2007, and Socrates said he would allow gay marriage if he was re-elected.
Socrates has been dogged by scandals which have taken the shine off his achievements. He has been accused of involvement in an allegedly murky deal to build a shopping mall, of fraudulently obtaining his university degree and of pressuring journalists who have criticized him. None of those accusations has been proven but have they have eroded his popularity and diverted attentions.
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