Portugal's Antonio Costa, shrewd dealmaker poised for re-election
Portugal's Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa, tipped to win a second term in an election on Sunday, is a shrewd tactician who balanced the budget without losing the support of hard-left parties that propped up his minority government.
The white-haired former mayor of Lisbon, of Indian descent, enjoys a comfortable poll lead, bucking the trend of declining centre-left fortunes elsewhere in Europe.
Born on July 17, 1961 in Lisbon, Costa was raised in the intellectual circles frequented by his parents, Orlando da Costa, a communist writer descended from a family from Goa, Portugal's former colony in India, and Maria Antonia Palla, a journalist and women's rights advocate.
Nicknamed "babush", a term of endearment to address a little boy in Konkani, a dialect in Goa, Antonio Costa joined the youth wing of the Socialist party in 1975 at the age of 14, just one year after a coup toppled a decades-long right-wing dictatorship.
"Antonio Costa is a skilled negotiator. He is very pragmatic .