On October 4th the Prime Minister of Portugal, Passos Coehlo, felt vindicated. The Portuguese had gone to the polls, delivering his coalition with a majority. However, they did not necessarily deliver him with “another term” and he was not exactly “reelected.”

The government managed to hold onto 37% of the vote, down from a combined vote of 44% in 2011. That is the ceiling for the right in Portugal. This amounts to 99 in a 220 seat parliament. And this is less than the 116 seats needed to fo...