Portugal minister resigns over deadly wildfires

News24xx.com - Portugal’s interior minister resigned on Wednesday after wildfires killed more than a hundred people in the past four months.

His resignation letter was given to Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Wednesday (18/10/2017) afternoon local time.

In his explanation, Sousa said he had no desire to serve in his position since the latest deaths were released.

Hundreds of fires have raged across northern and central Portugal since Sunday after the driest summer in nearly 90 years, killing at least 41 people and overwhelming firefighting and rescue services. In June, a forest fire killed 64 people.

The government, which has enjoyed strong approval ratings due to an improving economy, faces a no-confidence vote next week over its slow response to the fires and a failure to prevent heavy loss of lives.

Although the motion is unlikely to pass, the Socialist government has been weakened by the public clamor over the fires and a further reshuffle may be on the cards, some analysts believe.

The Social Democrats, the main opposition, on Wednesday threw their support behind the no-confidence motion launched by a relatively small centre-right party CDS-PP.

Due to this terrible forest fire, Portugal established a period of national mourning for three days.*

news24xx.com