Socialist, far-right candidate head for Portugal’s presidential runoff
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Exit polls and first partial results showed two candidates are heading into a runoff in February.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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LISBON - Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro came out on top in the first round of Portugal’s presidential election on Jan 18, followed by the far-right leader Andre Ventura, and the two will face off in a Feb 8 runoff.
In the five decades since Portugal threw off its fascist dictatorship, a presidential election has only once before - in 1986 - required a runoff, highlighting how fragmented the political landscape has become with the rise of the far right and voter disenchantment with mainstream parties.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial role in Portugal but wields some key powers, including in some circumstances to dissolve Parliament, to call a snap parliamentary election, and to veto legislation.
With all the votes in Portugal counted, Mr Seguro garnered 31.1 per cent. Mr Ventura was at 23.5 per cent.
Mr Joao Cotrim de Figueiredo of the right-wing, pro-business Liberal Initiative party came third among a total of 11 contenders, winning around 16 per cent.
Ventura seeks to unite the right
Last May, the anti-establishment, anti-immigration Chega, founded just about seven years ago, became the main opposition party in a parliamentary election, winning 22.8 per cent of the vote.
As in much of Europe, the rise of the far right has swayed government policies, particularly on immigration, towards a more restrictive stance.
However, all recent opinion polls have shown Mr Ventura losing the runoff due to his high rejection rate of more than 60 per cent of voters.
Analysts often describe Chega as Mr Ventura’s “one-man show”, a view corroborated by the fact that Mr Ventura is running for president after stating on many occasions that he wants to be prime minister.
But Mr Ventura sounded combative as he left a Catholic mass he had attended in downtown Lisbon.
“Now we need to unite the entire right wing... I will fight day by day, minute by minute, second by second so that there won’t be a Socialist president. We will win,” he said.
“The country has woken up after these 40 years of no runoffs,” he told supporters later.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said his centre-right Social Democrats, whose candidate Luis Marques Mendes came fifth at 11.3 per cent, would not support any of the runoff contenders.
Mr Cotrim de Figueiredo has said he does not want Mr Ventura as president.
The Economist Intelligence Unit said in a recent note that a Seguro-Ventura runoff “would be more straightforward given his (Ventura’s) limited appeal beyond his core base.”
“While the presidency is largely symbolic, Ventura is the only candidate signalling a more interventionist approach, though EIU sees this as unlikely to translate into victory,” it said.
Other contenders included retired Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who led the country’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign, with 12.3 per cent, and even comedian Manuel Joao Vieira, who had just over 1 per cent of the vote, according to partial results, on a promise of a Ferrari sports car for every Portuguese and tap wine in every home. REUTERS
