PORTUGAL: Two things are clear after Sunday's general election in Portugal: first that the period of Socialist rule - with two successive administrations led by Mr António Guterres - has come to an end; second that Portugal's next prime minister will be the Social Democrat leader, Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso.
Beyond those two certainties, many things have still to be resolved.
Since the electorate chose to deny to Mr Durão the absolute majority he sought he must now either reach a formal coalition agreement with the conservative Popular Party (PP) or else negotiate a "pact of stability" with it or the Socialists to support a minority Social Democratic administration.
Coalition is the most obvious solution. Together, the Social Democrats (PSD) and the PP have 116 seats in parliament. The parties of the Left - the Socialists (PS), Communists (CDU) and Left Bloc (BE) - have 110, giving a clear working majority to the centre-right and right.
There is no love lost however between the PSD and the PP; the latter accuses the larger party of having tried to "exterminate" it in this campaign. But far from being exterminated, the PP has emerged strengthened and is insisting on a place in government. There are many in the PSD who will find such a coalition hard to swallow.
For the Socialists the election has been a defeat, but a much softer one than was feared some weeks ago. The mood was far from downcast among party workers on Sunday night, chiefly because the PS has found in Mr Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues a new leader it can learn to love and who is popular among the electorate.
For the Communists the election has been a predictable disaster. The party lost more than 20 per cent of its support and unless it can reform itself must surely be on the road to oblivion.
The chances of such a reform occurring do not look good. Following poor results in last December's local elections, the former Communist deputy, Mr João Amaral, sought a special conference to discuss policy and strategy. For his pains he was excluded from the party list for the general election. Asked if the party would now convene to discuss the latest defeat, the leader, Mr Carlos Carval, retorted coldly that this would be a decision for the central committee.