2015 Paulo Portas agreed to an electoral alliance between his CDS-PP party and its government coalition partner PSD party as to jointly maximize their numbers of elected members of Parliament on 4 October 2015 Portuguese legislative elections. The alliance (PAF, Portugal in Front) came first in the elections but fell short of a parliamentary majority. Despite upfront opposition from the new majority-holding parties, the PAF alliance accepted to form a minority government and Paulo Portas was re-conducted on 30 October 2015 as Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal's XX Constitutional Government. However, he stayed in office less than a month as his government's program was predictably rejected in Parliament and replaced by a Socialist Party government supported by the far-left parties. Retirement from CDS-PP Party Leadership, 2016 Having ceased his functions as Deputy Prime-Minister on 26 November 2015, Paulo Portas presented himself in Parliament the following day to take up the position for which he had been elected on 4 October by the Lisbon electoral district. However, one month later (28 Dec. 2015) he announced his resignation from the CDS-PP Party leadership and from his elected position in Parliament on the grounds that "it was time for a new political cycle (...) and for a new generation" to take over the party leadership. Accordingly, on March 13 2016, Paulo Portas stepped down in acclaim at a special convention of his CDS-PP party where he was replaced by his longtime protégée and former government colleague Assunção Cristas. Shortly afterwards, he became vice-president of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce—a non-remunerated position that allowed him to continue traveling to promote Portuguese enterprises abroad as he had been doing in the government. He left Parliament in June 2016 to return to political commentary on TV with a weekly show on TVI Portugal. Controversies Ministry of Defence In 2002, Portas became Minister of Defence and made a historic seafront fort of São Julião da Barra his "official residence". Paulo Portas was the first Minister of Defence to openly move into the fort, which resulted in the closing of most of the historic monument to the public and in new remodeling and upkeep costs for Portas's occupancy. He defended his move to the fort as "a gain for the State." Upon becoming Minister of Defence in 2002, Paulo Portas also rescinded a previous contract for the purchase of nine EC-635 helicopters from European manufacturer Eurocopter Group on