Portuguese presidential election, 2006

Portuguese presidential election, 2006

2001 ← January 22, 2006 → 2011

Candidate Aníbal Cavaco Silva Manuel Alegre Mário Soares Party Social Democratic Independent Socialist Popular vote 2,773,431 1,138,297 785,355 Percentage 50.5% 20.7% 14.3%

President before election Sampaio Socialist President-elect Cavaco Silva Social Democratic

Portugal

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The Portuguese presidential election were held on 22 January 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Jorge Sampaio, who was term-limited from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round for Aníbal Cavaco Silva of the Social Democratic Party candidate, the former Prime Minister, won 50.59 percent of the vote in the first round, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election. Voter turnout was 62.60 percent for eligible voters.

Candidates

Thirteen citizens sought election officially, but only six gathered the 7,500 signatures required under the constitution to be a candidate in the poll:

• Manuel Alegre, a Socialist Party politician who ran without the official backing of his party;
• Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995, supported by the Social Democratic Party and by the People's Party;
• Francisco Louçã, coordinator of the political commission of the Left Bloc;
• Garcia Pereira, Secretary-General of the PCTP/MRPP;
• Mário Soares, President from 1986 to 1996, the official candidate of the Socialist Party; and
• Jerónimo de Sousa, Secretary-General of the Portuguese Communist Party , also supported by the Ecologist Party "The Greens".

All the candidates except for Cavaco Silva are considered to be from the Portuguese political left.

The other potential candidates who, according to the Constitutional Court, did not gather enough signatures, were:

• Josué Rodrigues Gonçalo Pedro;
• Luís Filipe Guerra, leader of the Humanist Party;
• Teresa Lameiro;
• Manuela Magno, nuclear physicist;
• Carmelinda Pereira, leader of the Workers Party of Socialist Unity;
• Luís Botelho Ribeiro; and
• Diamantino da Silva;

Results

Candidate receiving most votes, per district (Azores and Madeira not shown)

 Summary of the 22 January 2006 Portuguese presidential election results

Candidates		Supporting parties	First round
			Votes	%
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	Social Democratic Party, People's Party	2,773,431	50.54
	Manuel Alegre	Independent	1,138,297	20.74
	Mário Soares	Socialist Party	785,355	14.31
	Jerónimo de Sousa	Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens"	474,083	8.64
	Francisco Louçã	Left Bloc	292,198	5.32
	António Garcia Pereira	PCTP/MRPP	23,983	0.44
Total valid			5,487,347	100.00
Blank ballots			59,636	1.07
Invalid ballots			43,149	0.77
Total (turnout 61.53%)			5,590,132
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

See also

• President of Portugal
• Portugal
• Politics of Portugal

External links

• Portuguese Electoral Commission
• Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry
• NSD: European Election Database - Portugal publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010