( CNN ) -- Pedro Passos Coelho , a businessman and opposition leader , is set to succeed Jose Socrates as Portugal 's prime minister after his party scored a convincing victory in Sunday 's election . According to official results posted online that accounted for more than 99 % of all ballots , Coelho 's Social Democratic Party had just under 39 % of the vote . Socrates ' Socialist Party was running a distant second at 28 % , while the Popular Party had nearly 12 % of the overall vote . In his victory speech , Coelho announced the Social Democrats , which won 105 parliamentary seats , would form a coalition government with the Popular Party , which won 24 seats . He also promised to tackle Portugal 's burgeoning financial crisis , including taking steps to meet European Union requirements for deficit reduction and revenue hikes in order to receive bailout funds . `` This is a night for Portugal to celebrate this change , '' he said . `` We have our work cut out , but we are n't afraid of working . '' Nearly 59 % of Portugal 's registered voters hit the ballot box Sunday , compared to a 61.5 % turnout in 2002 . In a speech Sunday night , Socrates -- who was first elected in 2002 , and re-elected in 2009 -- acknowledged the loss and resigned as head of his party . `` We have lived through extraordinary national and international circumstances but the facts are the facts : We lost , '' said Socrates , who wished Coelho and Portugal well going forward . The early election was triggered by Socrates ' resignation in March after the country 's parliament rejected his austerity plan intended to ease the financial crisis . He remained on as the caretaker prime minister and hoped to muster more support in Sunday 's election . During the campaign , Socrates criticized `` the obstruction '' to his austerity plan as `` intolerable . '' But Coelho , in a March 30 guest column in the Wall Street Journal , headlined `` Our Plan to Fix Portugal , '' criticized Socrates ' plan for failing to spur growth while `` imposing unacceptable sacrifices on the most vulnerable members of society . '' `` We voted against the ... austerity measures not because they went too far , but because they did n't go far enough , '' wrote the 46-year-old Coelho . `` It was too much tax and not enough cost reduction . '' He said his party plans to reduce Lisbon 's public deficit to 4.6 % of gross domestic product in 2011 ( a figure that was 7 % last year ) and , by 2013 , down further to 2 % of GDP . He added that he supported reforms aimed at making Portuguese businesses more competitive internationally . His plan , he said , would do so by reducing costs , increasing productivity and pushing viable industries by instituting `` predictable tax policies , effective conflict resolution and reducing bureaucracy . '' `` We now have new hope for getting new growth in our economy , to show everyone that we are absolutely committed to reach the ( EU mandates ) , '' Coelho said Sunday night . `` I hope this is a new step for Portugal to re-establish confidence . '' Coelho , who was born in Coimbra and spent five years of his childhood in the then-Portuguese colony of Angola , will bring a business background when , as expected , he assumes the prime minister 's job from Socrates in the coming weeks . Active in Portuguese politics since 1980 , most of those in Parliament and since 2010 as his party 's leader , he has also made a name for himself in business . Since 2007 , he has been executive director of Forment Invest , a firm focused on investing in environmentally friendly projects . Like Greece and Ireland , the Portuguese government has already asked for outside help to address its budget crisis , one that 's gotten worse in the worldwide economic downturn . That request to the European Commission was made in April . The cost of Portugal 's borrowings has gone up drastically since Socrates resigned in March . Portugal was due to repay more than 4 billion euros ( $ 5.68 billion ) to investors in April , followed by payments of almost 5 billion in mid-June . CNN 's Nina Dos Santos and Isa Soares contributed to this report .
NEW : Jose Socrates , a Social Democrats , says , `` We are n't afraid of working '' NEW : To be Ireland 's prime minister after his party forms coalition government . Incumbent Pedro Passos Coelho , whose party got just under 39 % of the vote , admits defeat . Coelho , a businessman , has said he plans to slash spending and foster growth .