1.
LV Streets in Lisbon with chanting marchers carrying flags and sitting on poster-covered lorries (3 shots)
0.30

2.
TILT DOWN Massed crowds with banners chanting
0.34

3.
SV Portuguese dancers in street while procession continues along street (2 shots)
0.48

4.
SV Socialist party leader Mario Soares addressing rally, CU OF him speaking in Portuguese (2 shots)
1.34

5.
GV Massed crowds gathered and chanting
1.46




Initials AM/





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: With only a fortnight to go (5 October) to parliamentary elections in Portugal, an intense campaign struggle is under way between the country's ruling Democratic Alliance and the Socialist Party which is running with two other parties as the Republican-Socialist Front.

SYNOPSIS: The Socialist Front electoral campaign hit Lisbon streets on Saturday (20 September) with a mass march of supporters drawn from all over Portugal. The party hired special trains to bring supporters from the northern city of Oporto, Portugal's second largest. Thousand of people marched down one of Lisbon;s main avenues to the tunes of traditional folk songs, waving party banners and chanting slogans.

The Portuguese voter is being wooed by what correspondent s describe as an American-style campaign marked by a persistent smear against the Prime Minister, Dr Francisco Sa Carneiro. The Socialists lost 33 seats in the election of December, 1979, after several years as Portugal's leading party. They are hopeful of a return of power.

Socialist Part Leader Mario Soares told the crowd that both Socialists and Social Democrats refused to move towards the right and that the Democratic alliance of Dr Sa Carneiro had nothing to offer. He said the present government had made the rich ricker and the poor poorer. Voting for the Socialist and Republican Front was the only choice. Corespondents say the Socialists need a spectacular recovery to form a majority government, even with their new allies. If they regain votes, but not a workable majority, there may be a return to the days of minority, presidentially-appointed government subject to fall at the first hint of a crisis.