2011 Portuguese presidential election

Portuguese presidential election, 2011
Turnout	46,52%
President before election; Aníbal Cavaco Silva; PSD	President re-elect ; Aníbal Cavaco Silva; PSD

The 2011 Portuguese presidential election was held on 23 January 2011. This election resulted in the re-election of Aníbal Cavaco Silva to a second term as President of Portugal. Turnout in this election was very low, where only 46.52% of the electorate cast their ballots. Cavaco Silva won by a landslide winning all 18 districts, both Autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira and 292 municipalities of a total of 308.

Procedure

Any Portuguese citizen over 35 years old has the opportunity to run for president. In order to do so it is necessary to gather between 7500 and 15000 signatures and submit them to the Portuguese Constitutional Court.

According to the Portuguese Constitution, to be elected, a candidate needs a simple majority (50% + 1). If no candidate gets this majority there is a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Political context

During the 2006 presidential elections, former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the only candidate of the center-right had won the ballot in the first round with 50.5% of the votes cast. He had faced two particular candidates from the ruling Socialist Party, the official candidate Mário Soares, former President of the Republic came in third with 14.3%, Manuel Alegre, a dissident, ranked second with 20.7% of votes . This historic victory of a conservative candidate, the first after the Carnation Revolution, inaugurated a period of "political cohabitation" with Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates.

The general elections of September 2009 confirmed this situation, and brought the PS once again to power, however depriving him of his absolute majority. The situation of economic and financial crisis that the country lives led to the adoption of an austerity plan and budget for more frequent intervention of the Head of State in politics to promote agreement among political parties in the country.

Candidates

Official candidates

Aníbal Cavaco Silva: President since 2006 and eligible for a second term. Supported by:
Social Democratic Party,
People's Party,
Hope for Portugal Movement
Manuel Alegre: Former member of the Assembly of the Republic. Supported by:
Socialist Party,
Left Bloc,
Portuguese Workers' Communist Party,
Democratic Party of the Atlantic
Fernando Nobre: Independent.
Defensor Moura: Member of the Socialist Party and former mayor of Viana do Castelo, running as an independent.
Francisco Lopes: Supported by:
Portuguese Communist Party,
Ecologist Party "The Greens"
José Manuel Coelho: Independent, supported by the New Democracy Party.

Unsuccessful candidacies

Luís Botelho Ribeiro: Leader of the Pro-life Party. His application was formalised on Monday, 20 December, with over 8,000 signatures. His candidacy was analysed by the Constitutional Court. On 29 December, the court concluded that his candidady did not meet the requirements provided by law.
José Ribeiro e Castro: Member of the Democratic and Social Centre – People´s Party, speculated to run as an alternative right-wing candidate, because of Cavaco's decision to approve same-sex marriage. However, he did not go forward with his candidacy.
José Pinto Coelho: Leader of the far-right National Renovator Party. He declared that his candidacy for the presidency "was been cut short" by failing to gather the 7,500 signatures required. He claimed to have gathered 5,878 signatures.

Opinion polling

Date released	Poll source							Others/ Undecided	Lead

		Cavaco PSD, CDS-PP – Inc.	Alegre PS	Nobre Ind.	Moura Ind.	Lopes PCP	Coelho PND
23 January 2011	Election Results	53.0	19.7	14.1	1.6	7.1	4.5	—	33.3 over Alegre
23 January 2011 (20:00)	Exit Poll - RTP1 Universidade Católica	52.0 – 58.0	18.0 – 21.0	13.5 – 16.5	1.0 – 2.0	5.0 – 8.0	2.0 – 4.0	—	34.0 – 37.0 over Alegre
23 January 2011 (20:00)	Exit Poll - SIC Eurosondagem	51.6 – 56.0	17.1 – 20.9	13.1 – 16.3	1.1 – 2.1	6.3 – 7.5	3.3 – 4.5	—	34.5 – 35.1 over Alegre
23 January 2011 (20:00)	Exit Poll - TVI INTERCAMPUS	51.4 – 55.4	17.2 – 21.2	12.4 – 16.4	0.7 – 2.7	5.8 – 8.8	3.1 – 5.1	—	34.2 over Alegre
Exit polls
21 January 2011	Sol (average)	58.0	22.0	11.0	2.0	5.0	2.0	—	36.0 over Alegre
21 January 2011	Universidade Católica	59.0	22.0	10.0	1.0	6.0	2.0	—	37.0 over Alegre
21 January 2011	Eurosondagem	56.3	25.0	10.1	2.0	5.2	1.4	—	31.3 over Alegre
21 January 2011	Aximage	54.7	25.6	10.7	1.8	6.3	0.9	—	29.1 over Alegre
20 January 2011	INTERCAMPUS	54.6	22.8	9.1	2.6	8.2	2.7	—	31.8 over Alegre
19 January 2011	Marktest	61.5	15.0	12.7	1.2	3.3	2.1	4.2	46.5 over Alegre
8 January 2011	Aximage	57.1	20.8	8.7	3.1	2.0	0.5	7.8	36.3 over Alegre
7 January 2011	INTERCAMPUS	60.1	25.3	4.2	2.5	6.3	1.6	—	34.8 over Alegre
23 December 2010	Eurosondagem	60.0	30.0	4.8	0.7	4.5	—	—	30.0 over Alegre
19 December 2010	INTERCAMPUS	64.3	20.7	5.5	1.0	4.5	—	—	43.6 over Alegre
27 November 2010	Eurosondagem	57.0	32.0	5.2	1.0	4.8	—	—	25.0 over Alegre
26 November 2010	Marktest	78.3	15.0	4.0	0.0	0.7	—	—	63.3 over Alegre
21 November 2010	INTERCAMPUS	61.5	26.1	4.5	0.5	3.7	—	3.7	35.4 over Alegre
29 October 2010	Marktest	71.3	20.2	5.0	0.9	1.1	—	—	51.1 over Alegre
29 October 2010	Universidade Católica	63.0	20.0	7.0	1.0	3.0	—	—	43.0 over Alegre
13 October 2010	Aximage	55.1	35.7	7.1	0.2	1.9	—	—	19.4 over Alegre
9 October 2010	INTERCAMPUS	55.5	30.7	4.9	1.2	5.6	—	—	24.8 over Alegre
25 September 2010	Marktest	71.0	22.0	4.0	0.2	1.0	—	—	49.0 over Alegre
24 September 2010	Eurosondagem	54.9	33.0	6.2	1.1	4.8	—	—	21.9 over Alegre
12 September 2010	Aximage	58.1	32.1	5.4	0.0	4.4	—	—	26.0 over Alegre
31 July 2010	Marktest	67.1	19.6	10.0	0.7	—	—	—	47.5 over Alegre
24 July 2010	INTERCAMPUS	59.4	26.8	9.1	2.9	—	—	—	32.6 over Alegre
12 July 2010	Euroexpansão	51.1	14.7	4.1	—	—	—	22.1	36.4 over Alegre
11 July 2010	Aximage	55.3	26.9	11.6	—	—	—	6.2	28.4 over Alegre
28 June 2010	Universidade Católica	50.0	19.0	7.0	—	—	—	25.0	31.0 over Alegre
13 June 2010	Aximage	53.4	28.1	8.6	—	—	—	9.9	25.3 over Alegre
14 March 2010	Universidade Católica	57.0	19.0	8.0	—	—	—	16.0	38.0 over Alegre
13 March 2010	Aximage	56.0	21.6	13.8	—	—	—	8.6	34.4 over Alegre
12 March 2010	Eurosondagem	36.9	25.0	9.6	—	(5.0)	—	23.5	11.9 over Alegre
22 January 2010	Aximage	60.3	39.7	—	—	—	—	—	20.6 over Alegre

Campaign Budgets

Candidate (party)	Election Result	State Subsidy		Political Parties Contributions	Fundraising	Total Recipes		Expenses	Debt
Candidate (party)	Election Result	Calculated	Budgeted	Political Parties Contributions	Fundraising	Calculated	Budgeted	Expenses	Debt
Cavaco Silva (PSD, CDS-PP, MEP)	53.0%	€1,920,000	€1,570,000	€0	€550,000	€2,470,000	€2,120,000	€2,120,000	€0
Manuel Alegre (PS, BE, PDA, PCTP)	19.7%	€836,000	€1,350,000	€500,000	€50,000	€1,386,000	€1,900,000	€1,640,000	€254,000
Fernando Nobre (I)	14.1%	€653,000	€511,200	€0	€331,460	€984,460	€842,660	€842,660	€0
Francisco Lopes (PCP, PEV)	7.1%	€425,000	€512,000	€270,000	€18,000	€713,000	€800,000	€800,000	€87,000
Defensor Moura (I)	1.6%	€0	€225,000	€0	€25,000	€25,000	€250,000	€250,000	€225,000
José Manuel Coelho (PND)	4.5%	€0	€10,000	€30,000	€50,000	€80,000	€90,000	€90,000	€10,000
Luís Botelho Ribeiro (PPV)	-	-	€7,000	€0	€0	€7,000	€7,000	€7,000	€0
Source: Portuguese Constitutional Court (TC)^[1] (Note that some candidates filed with the TC, but did not pursue their candidacy.)

Results

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

e • d Summary of the 23 January 2011 Portuguese presidential election results
Candidates		Supporting parties	First round
Candidates		Supporting parties	Votes	%
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	Social Democratic Party, People's Party, Hope for Portugal Movement	2,231,956	52.95
	Manuel Alegre	Socialist Party, Left Bloc, Democratic Party of the Atlantic, Portuguese Workers' Communist Party	831,838	19.74
	Fernando Nobre	Independent	593,021	14.07
	Francisco Lopes	Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens"	301,017	7.14
	José Manuel Coelho	New Democracy Party	189,918	4.51
	Defensor Moura	Independent	67,110	1.59
Total valid			4,214,860	100.00
Blank ballots			192,127	4.28
Invalid ballots			85,466	1.90
Total (turnout 46.52%)			4,492,453
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share 1st Round

Aníbal Cavaco Silva			52.95%
Manuel Alegre			19.74%
Fernando Nobre			14.07%
Francisco Lopes			7.14%
José Manuel Coelho			5.17%
Defensor Moura			1.59%
Blank/Invalid			6.18%
Abstention			53.48%

References

^ Campaign Budgets for the 2011 Presidential election, Portuguese Constitutional Court, retrieved 24 December 2010.

External links

Official campaign websites

Other websites

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

[1] Campaign Budgets for the 2011 Presidential election, Portuguese Constitutional Court, retrieved 24 December 2010.

[1]

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See also: Elections in the Azores Madeira Lisbon Presidential elections