Exit poll points to runoff in Portugal presidential election

LONDON / ISTANBUL

Portugal is set to hold a presidential runoff for only the second time in its history after no candidate was projected to win more than 50% of the vote in Sunday’s first round, according to exit polls.

Portuguese voters headed to the polls to choose their next president amid rising support for candidate Andre Ventura of the far-right Chega party.

Incumbent conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who won nearly 60% of the vote in 2021, is completing his second and final five-year term. Eleven candidates are competing to succeed him, including Ventura, who secured nearly 12% in the last presidential election.

Exit polls by ICS-ISCTE-Pitagorica showed opposition Socialist Party candidate Antonio Jose Seguro leading with between 30.8% and 35.2% of the vote, followed by Ventura with 19.9% to 24.1%.

The figures suggest Seguro and Ventura will advance to a second round on Feb. 8, as no candidate is expected to secure an outright majority.

Joao Cotrim de Figueiredo of the Liberal Initiative party followed closely with between 16.3% and 20.1%, according to the exit poll.

Independent candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo was projected to win between 9.2% and 12.4%, while Luis Marques Mendes of the ruling center-right Social Democratic Party was seen taking between 9.1% and 12.3%.

Portugal has held a second round in a presidential election only once, in 1986, when former Socialist Prime Minister Mario Soares overturned a first-round defeat to beat Freitas do Amaral.

The campaign has taken place against a backdrop of debates over social inequality, low wages, housing shortages, restrictions on migrant rights, and labor policies introduced by the conservative government of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.

Chega, founded seven years ago and led by Ventura, became the main opposition party for the first time after early parliamentary elections held last May.

Around 11 million voters are registered for the election, including approximately 1.6 million living abroad.