If the Executive loses it, as expected, the President of the Republic will have to decide whether to call for early elections a year after the previous ones or propose a new candidate as Prime Minister.

Portugal's prime minister proposed on Wednesday a confidence vote in his year-old minority government, risking his own dismissal as the main opposition parties vowed to defeat him.

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's cabinet has decided to go ahead with a motion of confidence in the centre-right government that is opposed by the main opposition parties, it said on Thursday, with a parliamentary vote expected to take place next Tuesday.