Following a reconciliation among Portugal's left-wing parties, Silva must choose between appointing a Socialist (PS) minority government backed by smaller radical left forces, or a caretaker administration until fresh elections can be held in May or June 2016. Neither would have been his preference, and he is not rushing his decision. The new left-wing entente is based on a softening of the previous government's austerity plans.
Having already missed the deadline, Portugal cannot submit a draft 2016 budget for European Commission scrutiny until it has a government.
The PS's deals with the radical left exclude foreign affairs, potentially tempering US and NATO concerns about the likely new government.
Naming the new government may be Silva's last significant political act before he must step down at the March 2016 end of his second term.
