He stressed that it is now up to the president to appoint a prime minister according to his "assessment and judgment".


The president is on Tuesday and Wednesday to host a series of audiences with all the political parties with seats in the new parliament, as he is required to do by Portugal's constitution before appointing a prime minister.


"I came to inform the President of the Republic of the steps I have taken with a view to creating conditions for stability and the country's governability, given that I lead the party with the most votes in the recent elections," Passos Coelho said after the 50-minute audience with the head of state, declining to take questions from journalists.


The two men's meeting took place almost two weeks after the first such audience, two days after the elections. At that meeting, the president said afterwards, he had asked Passos Coelho to take steps to assess the possibility of forming a "solution for government that assures political stability and governability for the country".


Since then, however, it has been António Costa of the Socialist Party who has appeared most active, meeting with both Passos Coelho and his ally, Paulo Portas of the People's Party, and with two smaller far left parties that together with the Socialists would have a majority of the seats in parliament. On Friday, Costa said in a television interview that these talks were "going well", although it was premature to say whether they would end well.


His talks with the right-of-centre coalition, however, appear to be at an impasse, after a shaky start.


On Sunday, Passos Coelho sent Costa a letter calling on him to send an "objective counterproposal" to the coalition's suggested basis for an agreement between them, and to state clearly whether he intends to come to an agreement with the right-of-centre coalition or not. On Monday, Costa responded saying that the divergences between him and the coalition are political and relate to the urgent need for a change in policies and have nothing to do with securing posts in government, "which we have refused from the start".


In the general election, the coalition lost the majority it had enjoyed since the last election, in 2011.