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.
The 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.
In the first 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.
Unsuccessful candidacies.
There were also three candidates rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court for not complying with the legal requirements, those were:
Opinion polls.
First round.
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Second round.
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References.
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