Portuguese presidential election, 1986

Portuguese presidential election, 1986
Portugal
26 January 1986 (1st round)
16 February 1986 (2nd round)
Turnout 75,38% (1st round)
77,99% (2nd round)
 
Candidate Mário Soares Diogo Freitas do Amaral
Party PS CDS
Popular vote 3,010,756 2,872,064
Percentage 51.2% 48.8%
President before election

António Ramalho Eanes
Independent

 Elected President

Mário Soares
PS

Portugal

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal

The Portuguese presidential election of 1986 was held on 26 January, the second round took place on 16 February.

This was closest presidential election ever held in Portugal and was won by the Socialist Mário Soares, who initially had no more than 5% at opinion polls.

In first round was easily won by Freitas do Amaral, supported by all the right-wing parties, while Soares defeated the other two left-wing candidates, the former Prime-Minister Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo - to date the only woman to be a candidate to the Portuguese presidency - and Salgado Zenha (supported by outgoing president António Ramalho Eanes, founder of the short-lived Democratic Renewal Party, and by the Portuguese Communist Party, whose candidate, Ângelo Veloso, left the race some days before the poll). Both these candidates supported Soares in the second round.

There were also three candidates rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court for not complying with the legal requirements, those were:

Soares did not achieved the majority of the voting in any district, as the left-wing strongholds in the South of Portugal voted for Zenha due to his support by the Communist Party.

As results for the second round were counted, the urban vote, traditionally more left-wing, overcame the early lead of Freitas do Amaral by less than 140,000 votes, and Soares became president on 9 March 1986.

To date this was the only time a Portuguese presidential election was taken into a second round.

Results

Summary of the 26 January and 16 February 1986 Portuguese presidential election results

 
Candidates Supporting parties First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Mário Soares Socialist Party 1,443,683 25.43 3,010,756 51.18
Diogo Freitas do Amaral Democratic and Social Centre, Social Democratic Party 2,629,597 46.31 2,872,064 48.82
Francisco Salgado Zenha Portuguese Communist Party, Democratic Renewal Party 1,185,867 20.88  
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo Independent 418,961 7.38
Ângelo Veloso[A] Portuguese Communist Party left the race
Total valid 5,677,525 100.00 5,882,820 100.00
Blank ballots 46,334 0.81 33,844 0.57
Invalid ballots 18,292 0.32 20,436 0.34
Total (turnout 75.38% and 77.99%) 5,742,151 5,937,100
A He left the race in favor of Salgado Zenha.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Diogo Freitas do Amaral
  
 46.31%
Mário Soares
  
 25.43%
Francisco Salgado Zenha
  
 20.88%
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo
  
 7.38%
Blank/Invalid
  
 1.13%
Abstention
  
 24.62%
Vote share 2nd Round
Mário Soares
  
 51.18%
Diogo Freitas do Amaral
  
 48.82%
Blank/Invalid
  
 0.91%
Abstention
  
 22.01%

References

See also

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