But as the Socialist Party grouping in the European Parliament pointed out in a statement, "Portuguese voters were very clear in the last general election with a strong majority (62 percent) against the austerity policies of the last four years."
Rajoy, of course, has his own problems. His rightwing People's Party will probably lose its majority to the Socialist Party and the leftwing Podemos Party in Spain's upcoming Dec. 20 elections, but it still may be the single largest vote getter. He wants to stay in power and the Portugal maneuver gives him a strategy for doing just that.
What clearly surprised the Portuguese right is that the left could agree to work together. The Socialist Party has long been at loggerheads with the Communists, who accuse it of being too much like the rightwing Social Democratic Party. Indeed, the fact that the Socialists did not win the election outright is in part due to the fact that voters are still angry with the party for introducing the austerity policies in the first place.
But the dramatic gains for the Left Bloc -- it is now the third largest in the parliament, ahead of the Communist/Green alliance -- clearly convinced the left that it should find issues to agree on. After several meetings, the Left Bloc and the Communist/Greens agreed to temporarily shelve the euro and NATO issues, and the Socialists pledged to end austerity.
There are still major questions to iron out. The Left Bloc and the Communist/Greens want to challenge Portugal's staggering debt -- they have a solid basis for claiming that much of it is illegitimate -- while the Socialists have been silent on the subject. Eventually the euro, NATO, and the debt will be on the table, but such disagreements are hardly unique to Portugal. There is virtually no government in Europe without ideological divisions.
In any case, despite their differences, the left parties are on the same wavelength as the majority of Portuguese voters: no more austerity.
If the Portuguese president refuses to allow the left to form a government and Portugal Forward is defeated in the Nov. 10 vote, Silva can appoint Coelho to run a caretaker government and call for new elections. But those won't be for eight months. Silva's presidency runs out in January, and new elections can't be held for six months following the appointment of a new president.
The left has the votes to insure a president compatible with the will of the voters -- they have already overridden the right's candidate for Speaker of the House and put their own candidate in -- but there will still be six months before the next election. Eight months is enough time for a rightwing caretaker government and its backers in the EU and the Troika to do considerable mischief. Greece has felt the power of the Troika and seen what it can do to undermine opposition to its policies.
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