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Today, Sunday, Portugal elects a new president. People in the country are talking about the most important date in 50 years of democracy.
How important is the president in Portugal?
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The office is primarily a representative office, but with additional powers: the president has the right to veto laws, monitors compliance with the constitution, can dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency in times of crisis. He or she is also the commander in chief of the army and can declare war in the event of an attack. In practice, Portugal’s presidents have so far served primarily as conciliators in times of crisis.
A second round of voting is very likely in the presidential elections in Portugal.
REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
Who is running?
In addition to the candidates from the two traditional parties – Luís Marques Mendes for the Conservatives, António José Seguro for the Socialists – everyone’s eyes are on André Ventura from the right-wing populist party “Chega”. He founded the party in 2019 and has made it the second strongest party in parliament. Ventura scores points with the dissatisfaction of the country’s approximately two million poor, points to cases of corruption among socialists and conservatives and blames migrants for almost everything that is going badly in the country. According to recent polls, Henrique Gouveia e Melo also has a chance of making it into the runoff election: The 65-year-old former navy admiral is running as an independent and made a name for himself four years ago as a successful coordinator of the Covid vaccination campaign. The other candidacies have minimal chances.
Those Candidates
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Bild 1 von 4. Luís Marques Mendes, Conservative.
Bildquelle: Keystone/MIGUEL A. LOPES.
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Bild 2 von 4.
Bildquelle: Keystone/JOSE COELHO.
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Image 3 of 4. André Ventura, right-wing populist party “Chega”.
Image source: Keystone/TIAGO PETINGA.
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Bild 4 von 4. Henrique Gouveia and Melo, Partner.
Image source: REUTERS/Pedro Nunes.
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Will there be a second round of voting?
A second round of voting is very likely. There are no less than eleven candidates from all political camps up for election, ten men and one woman – a new record. Hardly anyone is likely to get more than half of the votes straight away. The likely runoff election between the top two finishers in a second round is scheduled for February 8th.
Personality or party choice?
The presidential elections were always personality elections. The shoes to fill are big, the previous conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who was elected twice, was extremely popular: an intellectual with good connections to the population, a Catholic and at the same time a vehement representative of the secular republic, a conciliatory mediator between the political camps. After two terms in office, de Sousa is no longer allowed to run. The candidates from the Conservatives and the Social Democrats are seen as colorless, with Socialist Seguro having recently made gains in polls. Populist Ventura is seen by some as a possible threat to the current system of the semi-presidential republic.
What were the election campaign themes?
The debates in the election campaign revolved around a new naturalization law with the abolition of the Ius soli (principle of birth – citizenship is acquired through birth in the national territory) and a labor market reform with relaxation of protection against dismissal. Last but not least, the constitution itself was an issue: it was created after the end of the right-wing Salazar dictatorship during the Carnation Revolution and is considered “too left-wing” by some citizens.
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