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Acknowledgement
The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the late Professor Peter Mair (1951–2011) to this election review article, both as Co-Editor of West European Politics and as the author's mentor at the European University Institute.
Notes
1. For other recent reports in this elections in context series, see Allern (Citation2010), Dinas (Citation2010), Faas (Citation2010) and Lisi (Citation2010).
2. Passos Coelho interviewed by Reuters, available at http://blogs.reuters.com/axel-bugge/.
3. The Christian Democrats (CDS) are often underestimated in pre-election polls. The 2011 elections were one of the rare examples of an overestimation for this party, a situation that enhanced the perception of defeat.
4. The turnout level might be influenced by outdated electoral records. The week before the election, a newspaper published a study suggesting that there were 700,000 ‘ghost-electors’, potentially decreasing the turnout by 7 per cent (Expresso, 26 May 2011).