Portugal president asks Socialist Costa to form government

Portugal's president on Tuesday invited caretaker Prime Minister Antonio Costa to form a new government after his centre-left Socialists won Sunday's election, expanding their parliamentary representation but landing just shy of a full majority.

After meeting the leaders of all parties in the new parliament one by one throughout the day and "taking into account the election results", President Marcelo Rebelo de Souza said in a statement that Costa was now the premier-designate.

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