Portugal held its presidential elections on Sunday. Ten men and one woman were running for the top post. Exit polls have named the far-right Shega party as the runner-up in the first round.
Polling stations have closed in Portugal. The current presidential campaign featured a record number of candidates – 11.
Shortly after the official end of voting, Europe Elects reported that António José Seguro of the center-left Socialist Party had received the most votes in the first round – just over 30 percent. According to preliminary results, he thus overtook the front-runner, André Ventura, leader of the far-right Shega party. (Last year, Shega became the second-largest party in the Portuguese parliament, and Ventura ran on anti-immigrant slogans, among other things – editor’s note.)
João Cotrim de Figueiredo of the Liberal Initiative party took third place in the first round, while retired Rear Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who ran as an independent candidate (he was recognized for his rapid and effective vaccination efforts during the coronavirus pandemic – ed.) came in fourth. In Portugal, the president is elected by direct popular vote, and to win in the first round, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote. This situation was considered unlikely by most observers, given the number of candidates. Initial results confirm that a runoff will take place on February 8, where the two candidates with the most voter support will face off. The last time this happened was in 1986.
Almost 11 million people in Portugal are eligible to vote. The winner will replace the incumbent president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutionally permitted two five-year terms.
The presidency in Portugal is largely representative, but the head of state is vested with key powers such as the right to dissolve parliament, veto laws, and call early elections.
The new president will have to work in an environment of prolonged political instability: the country has already held three parliamentary elections in the past three years.
