A presidential election was held in Portugal on 22 January 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Jorge Sampaio, who was barred from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a narrow first-round victory for former prime minister and candidate supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Aníbal Cavaco Silva, who obtained 50.54 percent of the votes, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election.
It was the first time in which a right-wing candidate was elected President of the Republic since the 1974 Carnation Revolution, and this election would also mark the beginning of a 20-year period in which the PSD held the presidency. Former president, prime minister and PS leader, Mário Soares, suffered a massive defeat, polling third with just 14 percent of the votes, while being surpassed by his party colleague, Manuel Alegre, who came in second with almost 21 percent of the votes.
Voter turnout was 62 percent. Cavaco Silva was sworn in as President on 9 March 2006.
Background
In the presidential election of 14 January 2001, the outgoing Socialist Jorge Sampaio was re-elected in the first round with 55 percent of votes. Because he was term-limited, he was forbidden by the Constitution to run for a third consecutive term. Sampaio's second term began with the continuation of the institutional relationship with Socialist prime minister António Guterres, which ended after the early election of March 2002, when a new cohabitation started, now with a PSD Prime Minister, José Manuel Durão Barroso. Portugal's role in the Iraq War, in which Barroso's government sided with the USA, created some discomfort between the government and the president. In the summer of 2004, Barroso resigned in order to become President of the European Commission, and Sampaio nominated the Social Democrats' new leader, Pedro Santana Lopes, as prime minister, against the objection of the PS. A few months later, a series of controversies within Santana's government, led to a split between president and prime minister, with Sampaio dismissing the government and calling a snap election. In the parliamentary election of 20 February 2005, the Socialist Party (PS), led by José Sócrates, won for the first time in its history an absolute majority of seats, while the Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by Pedro Santana Lopes, fell below 30 percent, one of their worst result since 1983. The last year of Sampaio's second term was, once again, of coexistence with a prime minister from his own party.
Pre-campaign
In the follow-up for the presidential election, the candidacy of former PSD prime minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva (1985–1995) was seen as likely for months, until its confirmation in October 2005. On the Socialist side, the vacuum left by Sampaio's departure and Cavaco's candidacy split the party, resulting in two candidacies from the same political camp, former secretary-general and President of the Republic between 1986 and 1996, Mário Soares, and party member Manuel Alegre. The then leaders of the Communist Party and the Left Bloc, Jerónimo de Sousa and Francisco Louçã, respectively, also announced their candidacies.
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
Thirteen citizens sought election officially, but only six gathered the 7,500 signatures required under the constitution to be a candidate in the poll. All the candidates except for Cavaco Silva are considered to be from the Portuguese political left.
Unsuccessful candidacies
The other potential candidates who, according to the Constitutional Court, did not gather enough signatures, were:
- Josué Rodrigues Gonçalo Pedro;
- Luís Filipe Guerra – leader of the Humanist Party;
- Teresa Lameiro;
- Manuela Magno – nuclear physicist;
- Carmelinda Pereira – leader of the Workers Party of Socialist Unity (POUS);
- Luís Botelho Ribeiro;
- Diamantino da Silva;
Campaign period
Issues
The country's economic situation was one of the main themes of the campaign, as were each of the candidates personalities, with the strong clash between Cavaco Silva, Mário Soares and Manuel Alegre. Soares candidacy divided the Socialist Party, with his age and constant gaffes during the campaign raising questions, and PS MP Manuel Alegre broke party unity by announcing his candidacy, citing the need to "mobilize civil society". Cavaco Silva had the support of the two main right-wing parties, unlike 1996, and led all polls throughout the whole campaign. During the campaign, Cavaco was the target of most of his opponents' attacks, with Soares suggesting "illegitimate interests" behind Cavaco's campaign and Jerónimo de Sousa warning of a "cold and insensitive" presidency under Cavaco, while Alegre concentrated his campaign on the fight against "vested interests". Cavaco Silva, on the other hand, dramatized the election, saying that it would "shape the country's future" for the coming years.
Opinion polling
00.10.20.30.40.50.60.79/6/200511/8/20051/5/20061/18/2006Cavaco Silva (PSD)Mário Soares (PS)Manuel AlegreJerónimo de Sousa (PCP)Francisco Louçã (BE)Garcia Pereira (PCTP)OthersOpinion polling for the 2006 Portuguese pres...
Voter turnout
The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas. Due to lack of data from the 2001 election, it's not possible to compare the turnout throughout election day between the two elections.