Portuguese presidential election, 1986
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1980 ←
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January 26, 1986
February 16, 1986
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→ 1991
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The Portuguese presidential election of 1986 was held on January 26, the second round took place on February 16.
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:
- Carmelinda dos Santos Pereira
- Luís Carlos Franco
- Álvaro Manuel Nunes
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 March 9 of 1986.
To date this was the only time a Portuguese presidential election was taken into a second round.
Results [edit]
e • d Summary of the 26 January and 16 Frebruary 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 |
References [edit]
External links [edit]
See also [edit]
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