PORTUGAL: Mr Antonio Sousa Franco, head of Portugal's opposition Socialist Party list in the European elections, and a former finance minister, died of a heart attack yesterday.
Mr Sousa Franco (61) collapsed shortly after making a campaign stop in the town of Matosinhos, 300 km north of Lisbon.
Mr Sousa Franco, known as "the father of the euro" for having steered Portugal into the currency zone, was taken to hospital and died a few minutes later, Mr Herminio Loureiro, the hospital's clinical director, said.
Political parties either suspended or halted campaigning for Sunday's European Parliament elections, and the centre-right coalition government broke off a cabinet meeting.
"There are no words that convey this loss. This is a moment of sorrow for everyone," Prime Minister Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso, a Social Democrat, said in a statement.
A law professor, Mr Sousa Franco was finance minister from 1979 to 1980 under prime minister Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo. He held the same post from 1995 to 1999 under prime minister Antonio Guterres.
Mr Durão Barroso's ruling coalition had accused Mr Sousa Franco of designing policies including public spending hikes that led to Portugal breaching the euro currency zone deficit limit in 2001.
Mr Sousa Franco's death comes as the opposition Socialists are well ahead in polls. A Marktest survey last week showed them with 49.2 per cent backing, trailed by Mr Durão Barroso's coalition of Social Democrats and the Popular Party, with 37.4 per cent.
Party leaders floated Mr Sousa Franco's name on Tuesday as a possible candidate for president in 2006 elections.
The Socialists have attacked the ruling coalition on economic policy and for backing the US-led Iraq war.