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2026 Portuguese presidential election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2026 Portuguese presidential election
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Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Portugal on 18 or 25 January 2026, with a possible second round on 8 or 15 February 2026.[1][2] The incumbent President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (president since 2016, supported by PSD), is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term.

Quick facts

Several personalities declared their candidacy, including the former coordinator of the COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force Henrique Gouveia e Melo[3] and former Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Luís Marques Mendes.[4] The Socialist Party (PS) is still undecided on whether to support former party leader António José Seguro[5] or not,[6] with a decision only expected after the 2025 local elections,[7] even though it's starting to seem inevitable that the party will eventually support its former leader.[8] André Ventura, the leader of Chega, previously announced his candidacy, but after becoming leader of the opposition following the 2025 legislative election has indicated that he may drop out.[9]

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Background

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was re-elected in January 2021 with nearly 61 percent of the votes in the first round. He took the oath of office on March 9, 2021, and continued the period of cohabitation with Socialist Party Prime Minister António Costa, which lasted until April 2024. This cohabitation ended after the March 2024 elections, which saw Luís Montenegro, from the Social Democratic Party (the same party as the President), nominated as Prime Minister.

In Portugal, the president serves as the head of state with primarily ceremonial duties, though the president holds some political influence and can dissolve Parliament during a crisis. The president also resides at the Belém Palace in Lisbon. Since the Carnation Revolution, all Portuguese presidents have been re-elected for a second term and never tried a third, with one exception: Mário Soares (PS), who sought a non-consecutive third term in the 2006 presidential election but lost. Thus, every president since 1976 has served exactly two terms. By the end of his 10 years in office, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa saw a very strong drop in his popularity according to polling.

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Electoral system

To stand for election, candidates must be of Portuguese origin and over 35 years old, gather 7,500 signatures of support one month before the election, and submit them to the Constitutional Court of Portugal. Then, the Constitutional Court has to certify if the candidacies submitted meet the requirements to appear on the ballot. The highest number of candidacies ever accepted was ten, in 2016. A candidate must receive a majority of votes (50% plus one vote) to be elected. If no candidate achieves a majority in the first round, a runoff election (i.e., second round, held between the two candidates who receive the most votes in the first round) has to be held.[10]

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Candidates

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Declared

This section only includes the candidates who have received the support of any party represented in the Assembly of the Republic, who have appeared as an option in opinion polling or whose candidacy has received coverage by more than two nationwide TV channels or newspapers.

More information Candidate, Party support ...

Minor candidates

Withdrew candidacy

More information Candidate, Party support ...

Publicly expressed interest

Left Bloc

Independent

Potential

CDS - People's Party

Livre

Declined

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Campaign

Candidates' slogans

More information Candidate, Original slogan ...
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Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2026 Portuguese presidential election

Notes

  1. Withdrew

References

External links

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