Prime Minister António Costa’s Socialist party has emerged as the winner of the parliamentary elections in Portugal.
The party has secured a strong mandate for Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who is already a champion of balanced public accounts.
In victory speech, Costa said, “An absolute majority doesn’t mean absolute power. It doesn’t mean to govern alone. It’s an increased responsibility and it means to govern with and for all Portuguese.”
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Costa’s father’s family comes from Goa; his grandfather was born in the former Portuguese colony and lived there for the majority of his life.
His father, Orlando da Costa, was a writer who was born in Mozambique, a Portuguese colony, and whose works displayed strong Goan roots, including pieces on Rabindranath Tagore.
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António Costa is known in India as “Babush,” a Konkani name that means “a young loved one.”
Costa received the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman in January 2017 while visiting his ancestral home in Goa.
Costa, a skillful negotiator, became known in Portugal as the “Gandhi of Lisbon” for his work as mayor of Portugal’s capital city in turning around a crime-infested neighbourhood.
(With inputs from agencies)
