1986 Portuguese presidential election

1986 Portuguese presidential election
Turnout	75.39% (first round) 9.00pp; 77.99% (second round)
President before election; António Ramalho Eanes; Independent	Elected President ; Mário Soares; PS

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.

As of 2021^[update], 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

Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Interim Prime Minister between December 1980 and January 1981, leader of the Democratic and Social Centre between 1974 and 1983, supported by the Democratic and Social Centre and the Social Democratic Party;
Mário Soares, former Prime Minister between 1976-1978 and 1983-1985, leader of the Socialist Party between 1973 and 1985, supported by the Socialist Party;
Francisco Salgado Zenha, former Minister of Justice in Vasco Gonçalves governments, supported by the Portuguese Communist Party and Democratic Renewal Party;
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, Independent candidate, former Prime Minister between 1979 and 1980;
Ângelo Veloso, Official candidate of the Portuguese Communist Party, Left the race to support Salgado Zenha;

Unsuccessful candidacies

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

Carmelinda Pereira;
Luís Carlos Franco;
Álvaro Manuel Nunes;

Campaign period

Party slogans

	Original slogan	English translation	Refs
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
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P Present A Absent invitee N Non-invitee
			Soares	Freitas	Zenha	Pintasilgo	Refs
							Refs
17 Dec 1985	RTP1	Margarida Marante	N	P	P	N	^[5]
19 Dec 1985	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	N	N	P	^[6]
26 Dec 1985	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	N	P	N	P	^[7]
2 Jan 1986	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	N	P	N	^[8]
7 Jan 1986	RTP1	Margarida Marante	N	N	P	P	^[9]
9 Jan 1986	RTP1	Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	P	N	N	^[10]

Second round

1986 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P Present A Absent invitee N Non-invitee
			Soares	Freitas	Refs
					Refs
6 Feb 1986	RTP1	Margarida Marante Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	P	^[11]

Opinion polls

First round

Exit poll

Polling firm	Date conducted	Sample size					Others	Lead

			Freitas CDS, PSD	Soares PS	Zenha Ind. supported by PRD, PCP^[12]	Pintasilgo Ind. supported by UDP^[13]

Election results	26 Jan 1986	—	46.3	25.4	20.9	7.4	—	20.9

RTP	26 Jan 1986	—	43.0–46.0	24.0–27.0	18.0–21.0	9.0–12.0	—	19.0
Expresso	10 Jan 1986	2,000	42.5	21.5	—	—	36.0	21.0
Norma	10–16 May 1985	598	33.4	12.9	—	24.1	29.7	9.3

Second round

Exit poll

Polling firm	Date conducted	Sample size			Lead

			Freitas CDS, PSD	Soares PS

Election results	16 Feb 1986	—	48.8	51.2	2.4

RTP	16 Feb 1986	—	48.0–50.0	50.0–52.0	2.0
Norma^[a]	10–16 May 1985	598	66.7	33.3	33.4
Norma^[b]	Apr 1985	—	50.9	49.1	1.8

Results


Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
Candidate		Party	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Diogo Freitas do Amaral	Democratic and Social Centre–Social Democratic Party	2,629,597	46.31	2,872,064	48.82
	Mário Soares	Socialist Party	1,443,683	25.43	3,010,756	51.18
	Francisco Salgado Zenha	Independent supported by Democratic Renewal Party–Portuguese Communist Party	1,185,867	20.88
	Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo	Independent supported by Popular Democratic Union	418,961	7.38
Total			5,678,108	100.00	5,882,820	100.00

Valid votes			5,678,108	98.87	5,882,820	99.09
Invalid votes			18,292	0.32	20,436	0.34
Blank votes			46,334	0.81	33,844	0.57
Total votes			5,742,734	100.00	5,937,100	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			7,617,257	75.39	7,612,633	77.99
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições (first round), Comissão Nacional de Eleições (second round)

Results by district

First round

District		Freitas		Soares		Zenha		Pintasilgo		Turnout
District		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Turnout
	Aveiro	200,008	57.00%	102,684	29.26%	30,868	8.80%	17,345	4.94%	76.06%
	Azores	61,274	58.57%	32,841	26.23%	8,235	6.94%	4,586	3.87%	61.50%
	Beja	22,648	21.30%	19,347	18.19%	58,233	54.76%	6,117	5.75%	71.58%
	Braga	206,747	52.74%	112,263	28.64%	52,751	13.46%	20,218	5.16%	78.95%
	Bragança	60,868	66.02%	22,972	24.92%	6,125	6.64%	2,234	2.42%	66.29%
	Castelo Branco	72,295	53.00%	31,812	23.32%	24,671	18.09%	7,638	5.60%	72.77%
	Coimbra	113,913	46.12%	78,894	32.23%	33,429	13.66%	19,570	7.99%	71.39%
	Évora	31,613	27.71%	15,734	13.79%	60,061	52.65%	6,665	5.84%	78.88%
	Faro	77,570	40.57%	51,410	26.89%	48,564	25.40%	13.644	7.14%	73.25%
	Guarda	71,902	62.94%	29,625	25.93%	9,007	7.88%	3,704	3.24%	69.85%
	Leiria	145,554	60.26%	55,653	23.04%	26,816	11.10%	13,525	5.60%	74.48%
	Lisbon	512,158	39.91%	296,395	23.09%	338,470	26.37%	136,397	10.63%	78.45%
	Madeira	74,688	62.96%	31,123	26.23%	8,235	6.94%	4,586	3.87%	69.34%
	Portalegre	28,961	32.42%	22,024	24.66%	33,137	37.10%	5,196	5.82%	78.05%
	Porto	413,407	45.17%	284,250	31.06%	152,919	16.71%	64,566	7.06%	79.05%
	Santarém	117,657	43.10%	61,661	22.59%	68,133	24.96%	25,522	9.35%	75.99%
	Setúbal	104,122	25.23%	72,116	17.47%	187,907	45.53%	48,600	11.77%	79.07%
	Viana do Castelo	81,815	58.92%	32,869	23.64%	14,702	10.59%	9,506	6.85%	72.01%
	Vila Real	84,459	63.73%	35,050	26.45%	9,362	7.06%	3,655	2.76%	68.59%
	Viseu	147,519	66.20%	54,344	24.39%	14,378	6.45%	6,584	2.95%	70.18%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Second round

District		Soares		Freitas		Turnout
District		Votes	%	Votes	%	Turnout
	Aveiro	152,472	41.21%	217,352	58.79%	79.95%
	Azores	44,464	40.55%	65,177	59.45%	79.95%
	Beja	82,278	75.98%	26,015	24.02%	72.76%
	Braga	190,746	46.42%	220,150	53.58%	82.77%
	Bragança	32,196	32.28%	67,531	67.72%	72.40%
	Castelo Branco	65,986	45.66%	78,534	54.34%	76.37%
	Coimbra	137,735	52.79%	123,192	47.21%	76.01%
	Évora	79,552	69.49%	34,920	30.51%	79.37%
	Faro	113,089	56.81%	85,961	43.19%	75.50%
	Guarda	44,187	36.10%	78,217	63.90%	74.93%
	Leiria	94,791	37.29%	159,401	62.71%	78.16%
	Lisbon	736,144	56.74%	561,189	43.26%	79.26%
	Madeira	47,776	37.31%	80,290	62.69%	74.22%
	Portalegre	59,550	65.25%	31,712	34.75%	79.68%
	Porto	510,335	53.53%	443,050	46.47%	82.24%
	Santarém	153,084	54.33%	128,675	45.67%	77.95%
	Setúbal	289,199	70.88%	118,790	29.12%	78.44%
	Viana do Castelo	56,176	38.41%	90,094	61.59%	75.33%
	Vila Real	49,210	34.72%	92,505	65.28%	73.05%
	Viseu	76,380	32.07%	161,793	67.93%	75.15%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Maps

Most voted candidate by district - 1st Round.
Most voted candidate by district - 2nd Round.
Strongest candidate by municipality - 1st Round.
Strongest candidate by municipality - 2nd Round.

Notes

^ Results presented here exclude undecideds (37.0%). With their inclusion results are: Freitas do Amaral: 42.0%; Mário Soares: 21.0%;
^ Results presented here exclude undecideds (54.2%). With their inclusion results are: Freitas do Amaral: 23.3%; Mário Soares: 22.5%;

References

^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Primeiro frente a frente entre Zenha Freitas". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 18 December 1985. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Programação RTP". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 19 December 1985. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Programação RTP". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 26 December 1985. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Nenhum foi surpreendido". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 3 January 1986. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Programação RTP". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 7 January 1986. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Programação RTP". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 9 January 1986. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Os debates". Comunicar Política (in Portuguese). 18 February 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Presidenciais 86: Debate Mário Soares vs Salgado Zenha – Parte I". RTP.
^ "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" (PDF). arquivopintasilgo.pt.

"CNE Resultados". Comissão Nacional de Eleições. Archived from the original on 8 April 2005. Retrieved 17 May 2005.
"Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político". Archived from the original on 2006-08-18. Retrieved 17 May 2005.