2026 Portuguese presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Portugal in 2026, with a first round on 18 January and a second round on 8 February. The incumbent president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), had already served two consecutive terms, so he was not eligible for re-election. Fourteen potential candidates submitted formal applications, of which eleven were certified to appear on the ballot paper. They included the former coordinator of Portugal's COVID-19 vaccination task force Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who ran as an independent, and former PSD leader Luís Marques Mendes. The Socialist Party (PS) supported the campaign of their former party leader António José Seguro. André Ventura, the leader of Chega (CH), also stood. Other candidates supported by parties were the MEPs João Cotrim de Figueiredo for Liberal Initiative (IL) and Catarina Martins for Left Bloc (BE); the former MP António Filipe for the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP); and the MP Jorge Pinto for LIVRE (L). In the first round, Seguro (PS) won the most votes with 31%, while Ventura (CH) came second with 23.5%. Because no candidate reached the required 50% threshold, Seguro and Ventura faced each other in a second round run-off on 8 February. This was only the second time that a direct Portuguese presidential election went to a second round, after the 1986 election. Candidates eliminated in the first round included Cotrim de Figueiredo (IL) who came third with 16%, and Gouveia e Melo (independent) fourth with 12%. Marques Mendes (PSD) received 11%, the lowest in Portuguese history for a government supported presidential candidate, surpassing the previous negative record set by Mário Soares in 2006. Catarina Martins (BE) received 2%, the lowest for a female candidate in a presidential election, while António Filipe (PCP) received less than 2%, the Communists' worst result in...