1986 Portuguese presidential election explained

Country:Portugal
Type:presidential
Previous Election:1980 Portuguese presidential election
Previous Year:1980
Next Election:1991 Portuguese presidential election
Next Year:1991
Election Date:26 January 1986 (first round)
Turnout:75.39% (first round) 9.00pp
77.99% (second round)
Candidate1:Mário Soares
Party1:Socialist Party (Portugal)
Popular Vote1:3,010,756
Percentage1:51.18%
Candidate2:Diogo Freitas do
Amaral
Party2:CDS
Popular Vote2:2,872,064
Percentage2:48.82%
President
Before Election:António Ramalho Eanes
Before Party:Independent (politician)
After Election:Mário Soares
After Party:Socialist Party (Portugal)

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 26 January 1986, with a second round 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 percent 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, the first civilian to hold the post (not counting caretakers) in 60 years.

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

Electoral system

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 7,500 and 15,000 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

Unsuccessful candidacies

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

Campaign period

Party slogans

CandidateOriginal sloganEnglish translationRefs
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

First round

1986 Portuguese presidential election debates
DateOrganisersModerator(s)
SoaresFreitasZenhaPintasilgoRefs
17 Dec 1985RTP1Margarida MaranteNPPN[5]
19 Dec 1985RTP1Miguel Sousa TavaresPNNP[6]
26 Dec 1985RTP1Miguel Sousa TavaresNPNP[7]
2 Jan 1986RTP1Miguel Sousa TavaresPNPN[8]
7 Jan 1986RTP1Margarida MaranteNNPP[9]
9 Jan 1986RTP1Miguel Sousa TavaresPPNN[10]

Second round

Opinion polls

First round

Polling firmDate conductedSample
size		width=60px width=60px width=60px width=60px OthersLead
bgcolor=#0093DD bgcolor=#FF66FF bgcolor=#00B233 bgcolor=
Freitas
CDS, PSD		Soares
PS		Zenha
Ind. supported by PRD, PCP[12] 		Pintasilgo
Ind. supported by UDP[13]
Election results26 Jan 198646.325.420.97.420.9
RTP26 Jan 198643.0–46.024.0–27.018.0–21.09.0–12.019.0
Expresso10 Jan 19862,00042.521.536.021.0
Norma10–16 May 198559833.412.924.129.79.3

Second round

Polling firmDate conductedSample
size		width=60px width=60px Lead
bgcolor=#0093DD bgcolor=#FF66FF
Freitas
CDS, PSD		Soares
PS
Election results16 Feb 198648.851.22.4
RTP16 Feb 198648.0–50.050.0–52.02.0
Norma10–16 May 198559866.733.333.4
NormaApr 198550.949.11.8

Results

Results by district

First round

DistrictFreitasSoaresZenhaPintasilgoTurnout
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
 Aveiro
color:#000;"
200,008
color:#000;"
57.00%102,68429.26%30,8688.80%17,3454.94%76.06%
 Azores
color:#000;"
61,274
color:#000;"
58.57%32,84126.23%8,2356.94%4,5863.87%61.50%
 Beja22,64821.30%19,34718.19%58,23354.76%6,1175.75%71.58%
 Braga
color:#000;"
206,747
color:#000;"
52.74%112,26328.64%52,75113.46%20,2185.16%78.95%
 Bragança
color:#000;"
60,868
color:#000;"
66.02%22,97224.92%6,1256.64%2,2342.42%66.29%
 Castelo Branco
color:#000;"
72,295
color:#000;"
53.00%31,81223.32%24,67118.09%7,6385.60%72.77%
 Coimbra
color:#000;"
113,913
color:#000;"
46.12%78,89432.23%33,42913.66%19,5707.99%71.39%
 Évora31,61327.71%15,73413.79%60,06152.65%6,6655.84%78.88%
 Faro
color:#000;"
77,570
color:#000;"
40.57%51,41026.89%48,56425.40%13.6447.14%73.25%
 Guarda
color:#000;"
71,902
color:#000;"
62.94%29,62525.93%9,0077.88%3,7043.24%69.85%
 Leiria
color:#000;"
145,554
color:#000;"
60.26%55,65323.04%26,81611.10%13,5255.60%74.48%
 Lisbon
color:#000;"
512,158
color:#000;"
39.91%296,39523.09%338,47026.37%136,39710.63%78.45%
 Madeira
color:#000;"
74,688
color:#000;"
62.96%31,12326.23%8,2356.94%4,5863.87%69.34%
 Portalegre28,96132.42%22,02424.66%33,13737.10%5,1965.82%78.05%
 Porto
color:#000;"
413,407
color:#000;"
45.17%284,25031.06%152,91916.71%64,5667.06%79.05%
 Santarém
color:#000;"
117,657
color:#000;"
43.10%61,66122.59%68,13324.96%25,5229.35%75.99%
 Setúbal104,12225.23%72,11617.47%187,90745.53%48,60011.77%79.07%
 Viana do Castelo
color:#000;"
81,815
color:#000;"
58.92%32,86923.64%14,70210.59%9,5066.85%72.01%
 Vila Real
color:#000;"
84,459
color:#000;"
63.73%35,05026.45%9,3627.06%3,6552.76%68.59%
 Viseu
color:#000;"
147,519
color:#000;"
66.20%54,34424.39%14,3786.45%6,5842.95%70.18%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Second round

DistrictSoaresFreitasTurnout
Votes%Votes%
 Aveiro152,47241.21%
color:#000;"
217,352
color:#000;"
58.79%79.95%
 Azores44,46440.55%
color:#000;"
65,177
color:#000;"
59.45%79.95%
 Beja
color:#000;"
82,278
color:#000;"
75.98%26,01524.02%72.76%
 Braga190,74646.42%
color:#000;"
220,150
color:#000;"
53.58%82.77%
 Bragança32,19632.28%
color:#000;"
67,531
color:#000;"
67.72%72.40%
 Castelo Branco65,98645.66%
color:#000;"
78,534
color:#000;"
54.34%76.37%
 Coimbra
color:#000;"
137,735
color:#000;"
52.79%123,19247.21%76.01%
 Évora
color:#000;"
79,552
color:#000;"
69.49%34,92030.51%79.37%
 Faro
color:#000;"
113,089
color:#000;"
56.81%85,96143.19%75.50%
 Guarda44,18736.10%
color:#000;"
78,217
color:#000;"
63.90%74.93%
 Leiria94,79137.29%
color:#000;"
159,401
color:#000;"
62.71%78.16%
 Lisbon
color:#000;"
736,144
color:#000;"
56.74%561,18943.26%79.26%
 Madeira47,77637.31%
color:#000;"
80,290
color:#000;"
62.69%74.22%
 Portalegre
color:#000;"
59,550
color:#000;"
65.25%31,71234.75%79.68%
 Porto
color:#000;"
510,335
color:#000;"
53.53%443,05046.47%82.24%
 Santarém
color:#000;"
153,084
color:#000;"
54.33%128,67545.67%77.95%
 Setúbal
color:#000;"
289,199
color:#000;"
70.88%118,79029.12%78.44%
 Viana do Castelo56,17638.41%
color:#000;"
90,094
color:#000;"
61.59%75.33%
 Vila Real49,21034.72%
color:#000;"
92,505
color:#000;"
65.28%73.05%
 Viseu76,38032.07%
color:#000;"
161,793
color:#000;"
67.93%75.15%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Maps

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976 . pt . Público . 26 May 2020.
  2. News: Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976 . pt . Público . 26 May 2020.
  3. News: Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976 . pt . Público . 26 May 2020.
  4. News: Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976 . pt . Público . 26 May 2020.
  5. News: 18 December 1985 . Primeiro frente a frente entre Zenha Freitas. pt . Diário de Lisboa. 26 May 2020.
  6. News: 19 December 1985 . Programação RTP. pt . Diário de Lisboa. 26 May 2020.
  7. News: 26 December 1985 . Programação RTP. pt . Diário de Lisboa. 26 May 2020.
  8. News: 3 January 1986 . Nenhum foi surpreendido. pt . Diário de Lisboa. 26 May 2020.
  9. News: 7 January 1986 . Programação RTP. pt . Diário de Lisboa. 26 May 2020.
  10. News: 9 January 1986 . Programação RTP. pt . Diário de Lisboa. 26 May 2020.
  11. News: 18 February 2011 . Os debates. pt . Comunicar Política. 26 May 2020.
  12. News: Presidenciais 86: Debate Mário Soares vs Salgado Zenha – Parte I . RTP.
  13. Web site: Carta sobre o interesse da União Democrática Popular (UDP) na vitória presidencial de Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, oferecendo o seu esforço e colaboração para ampliar a sua candidatura presidencial. . arquivopintasilgo.pt.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "1986 Portuguese presidential election".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.