Portugal holds presidential elections today to choose the successor to Marcelo Rebelo

More than 11 million Portuguese are called to the polls

Lisbon.- Polling stations opened this Sunday for the presidential elections in Portugal to elect the successor to the head of state Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, after ten years in power.

A record number of candidates, a total of 11, are running, which many voters see as “too many”, to which is added the fact that 14 names appear on the ballots, because they were printed before the final candidates were officially declared. The eleven candidates for the Presidency of Portugal are the far-right leader André Ventura; the former socialist prime minister António José Seguro; the former Chief of Staff of the Navy Henrique Eduardo Passaláqua de Gouveia e Melo; the former social democrat leader Luís Marques Mendes; and the liberal MEP João Pedro Matos Fernandes Cotrim de Figueiredo.

Completing the list are the former coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda Catarina Martins; the unionist André Pestana; the co-founder of the environmentalist party Livre Jorge Pinto; the leader of the Portuguese Communist Party António Filipe; the painter Humberto Correia; and the musician Manuel João Vieira. The election day is proceeding “without incidents”, EFE was told by the spokesman for the National Electoral Commission, André Wemans, who was optimistic about the turnout, which was 21.18% by midday, more than in 2021.

“Everything is going well, without incidents, and with a higher turnout than in the last presidential elections,” said the official, who, despite warning that it is not guaranteed that these turnout figures will be maintained, was confident that they reflect the trend in the coming hours.

“We can never know until the polls close, but our expectation is that yes, this increase in participation until 12:00 hours will be maintained until the end of the election,” he asserted. The centers in mainland Portugal and Madeira began their activity this Sunday at 08:00 local time (same GMT) and will close their doors at 19:00 local time (same GMT), while in the Azores they will do so sixty minutes later due to being in a different time zone.

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More than 11 million Portuguese are called to the polls to elect the successor to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as Head of State, of whom more than 1.7 million reside abroad. The latest polls suggest that there will be a second round in 21 days, on February 8, as no candidate is expected to reach more than half of the votes, necessary to be proclaimed the winner in today’s vote and that there is no second round between the two candidates with the most support The CESOP center survey of the Portuguese Catholic University for the media RTP, Antena 1 and Público, published on Tuesday, indicates that the far-right leader André Ventura would be first today, followed by the former secretary general of the Socialist Party António José Seguro, although in a second round the latter would be first. Following them, according to that study, in voting intention this Sunday are MEP João Cotrim Figueiredo, supported by Iniciativa Liberal (IL), former minister and conservative political commentator Luís Marques Mendes, who has received the backing of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD, center-right), and Admiral in the reserve Henrique Gouveia e Melo, former Chief of Staff of the Navy. EFE