Portugal gets a new government, but probably not for long as opponents vow to stop it

LISBON, Portugal – Portugal's center-right coalition government is returning to power, but it appears doomed to a brief mandate.

Incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho began composing his new Cabinet on Friday, a day after the country's president invited him to form a government following victory in an Oct. 4 general election.

Center-left opposition parties were incensed by the head of state's decision, however. They vowed to use their combined parliamentary majority to quickly bring down the minority government by voting against its four-year policy program, which would force its resignation.

Socialist leader Antonio Costa, who has been negotiating the creation of a left-of-center majority government with the Communist Party and radical Left Bloc, accused the president of triggering "a pointless political crisis."