1986 Portuguese presidential election

1986 Portuguese presidential election

← 1980 26 January 1986 (1st round) 16 February 1986 (2nd round) 1991 →
Turnout	75.4% (1st round) 9.0 pp 78.0% (2nd round) 2.6 pp
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

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 –the first 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.

Soares did not achieve 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.

As of 2021, this was the only time a Portuguese presidential election was taken into a second round.

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 majority of votes. If no candidate gets this majority there will take place a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Candidates[]

Official candidates[]

• Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Interim Prime Minister between December 1980 and January 1981, leader of the Democratic and Social Centre between 1974 and 1983, supported by the Democratic and Social Centre and the Social Democratic Party;
• Mário Soares, former Prime Minister between 1976-1978 and 1983-1985, leader of the Socialist Party between 1973 and 1985, supported by the Socialist Party;
• Francisco Salgado Zenha, former Minister of Justice in Vasco Gonçalves governments, supported by the Portuguese Communist Party and Democratic Renewal Party;
• Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, Independent candidate, former Prime Minister between 1979 and 1980;
• Ângelo Veloso, Official candidate of the Portuguese Communist Party, Left the race to support Salgado Zenha;

Unsuccessful candidacies[]

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

• Carmelinda Pereira;
• Luís Carlos Franco;
• Álvaro Manuel Nunes;

Campaign period[]

Party slogans[]

Candidate		Original slogan	English translation	Refs
	Mário Soares	« O voto do Povo » « Soares é fixe »	"The vote of the People" "Soares is cool"	[1]
	Diogo Freitas do Amaral	« Está na hora! » « Prá Frente Portugal! »	"It's time!" "Go Forward Portugal!"	[2]
	Francisco Salgado Zenha	« Justiça e tolerancia, confiança no futuro »	"Justice and tolerance, confidence in the future"	[3]
	Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo	« A coragem da decisão »	"The courage of the decision"	[4]

Candidates' debates[]

1st round[]

1986 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee
			Soares	Freitas	Zenha	Pintasilgo	Refs
17 Dec 1985	RTP1	Margarida Marante	N	P	P	N	[5]
19 Dec 1985	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	N	N	P	[6]
26 Dec 1985	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	N	P	N	P	[7]
2 Jan 1986	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	N	P	N	[8]
7 Jan 1986	RTP1	Margarida Marante	N	N	P	P	[9]
9 Jan 1986	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	P	N	N	[10]

2nd round[]

1986 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee
			Soares	Freitas	Refs
6 Feb 1986	RTP1	Margarida Marante Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	P	[11]

Results[]

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

Candidates		Supporting parties	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Diogo Freitas do Amaral	Democratic and Social Centre, Social Democratic Party	2,629,597	46.31	2,872,064	48.82
	Mário Soares	Socialist Party	1,443,683	25.43	3,010,756	51.18
	Francisco Salgado Zenha	Democratic Renewal Party, Portuguese Communist 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			5,678,108	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			5,742,734		5,937,100
Registered voters/turnout			7,617,257	75.38	7,612,633	77.99
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%

Vote share 2nd Round Mário Soares   51.18% Diogo Freitas do Amaral   48.82% Blank/Invalid   0.91%

Maps[]

• 

  Most voted candidate by district - 1st Round.

• 

  Most voted candidate by district - 2nd Round.

• 

  Strongest candidate by municipality - 1st Round.

• 

  Strongest candidate by municipality - 2nd Round.

References[]

• "CNE Resultados". Comissão Nacional de Eleições. Retrieved 17 May 2005.
• "Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político". Archived from the original on 2006-08-18. Retrieved 17 May 2005.

External links[]

• Portuguese Electoral Commission

See also[]

• President of Portugal
• Portugal
• Politics of Portugal