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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Four days after his release from jail on bail, former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates has endorsed Socialist Party candidate Antonio Costa to lead the country following an Oct. 4 general election.
Socrates gave his backing to Costa in a statement published Tuesday in the Jornal de Noticias newspaper.
Socrates was Portugal's center-left Socialist premier from 2005 to 2011.
A Portuguese judge last Friday released him to house detention from jail, where he spent over nine months on suspicion of corruption, money-laundering and tax fraud.
Socrates earlier refused a deal to allow him house detention with an ankle bracelet monitoring device. He was released without a requirement to wear one.
Costa is campaigning against the incumbent center-right government led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.
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