Last month, Portugal’s minority right-wing government fell, rejected by a coalition of left and center-left parties in parliament.

Its creation only weeks earlier, following the October 4 elections, had been controversial. Rather than appoint a left government with majority support in parliament, Portugal’s right-wing president had chosen to instead reappoint Pedro Passos Coelho’s minority center-right Social Democratic Party–Popular Party coalition, insisting that the radical left had no place in government.

However, following parliament’s rejection of his continued austerity program on November 10, Passos Coelho resigned. Two weeks later, on November 24, Portugal’s president backed down and appointed Socialist leader António Costa prime minister. Costa’s center-left Socialist Party will govern with the support of a parliamentary majority following agreements with the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Left Bloc.