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2006 Portuguese presidential election
	Opinion polls
Turnout	61.53% ( 11.82pp)
President before election; Jorge Sampaio; PS	Elected President ; Aníbal Cavaco Silva; PSD

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 22 January 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Jorge Sampaio, who was term-limited from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round for Aníbal Cavaco Silva of the Social Democratic Party candidate, the former Prime Minister, won 50.54 percent of the vote in the first round, 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.

Voter turnout was 62 percent.

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.

In the parliamentary elections of 20 February 2005, the Socialist Party, led by José Sócrates, won for the first time in its history with an absolute majority of seats, while the Social Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes fell below 30 percent, their worst result since 1983.

To cope with the bad fiscal situation, the government introduced a policy of fiscal restraint, combining higher taxes, lower public treatments and privatizations. Adding to this, a bad summer in terms of wildfires put more pressure in the government. This policies were not popular and as a result, the Socialists were defeated in the local elections on 9 October 2005. In the follow-up for the presidential elections, the Socialists decided to nominate their former secretary-general, Mário Soares, President of the Republic between 1986 and 1996. This decision divided the party, which led Manuel Alegre, a member of the party parliamentary group, to announce his candidature as an independent. The Social Democratic Party opted to support their former leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995, and presidential candidate defeated in 1996.

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:

Official candidates

Manuel Alegre, a Socialist Party politician who ran without the official backing of his party;
Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995, supported by the Social Democratic Party and by the People's Party;
Francisco Louçã, coordinator of the political commission of the Left Bloc;
Garcia Pereira, Secretary-General of the PCTP/MRPP;
Mário Soares, President from 1986 to 1996, the official candidate of the Socialist Party; and
Jerónimo de Sousa, Secretary-General of the Portuguese Communist Party, also supported by the Ecologist Party "The Greens".

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; and
Diamantino da Silva;

Campaign period

Party slogans

	Original slogan	English translation	Refs
Aníbal Cavaco Silva	« Portugal Maior »	"Greater Portugal"	^[1]
Mário Soares	« Sempre presente nos momentos difíceis »	"Always present in difficult times"	^[2]
Manuel Alegre	« O poder dos cidadãos »	"The power of citizens"	^[3]
Jerónimo de Sousa	« Com toda a confiança »	"With all confidence"	^[4]
Francisco Louçã	« Rigor, Solidariedade »	"Rigor, Solidarity"	^[5]
António Garcia Pereira	« A coragem de mudar de rumo »	"The courage to change course"	^[6]

Candidates' debates

2006 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P Present A Absent invitee N Non-invitee
			Cavaco	Soares	Alegre	Jerónimo	Louçã	Refs
								Refs
5 Dec 2005	SIC	Rodrigo Guedes de Carvalho, Ricardo Costa [pt]	P	N	P	N	N	^[7]
8 Dec 2005	RTP1		N	P	N	P	N	^[7]
9 Dec 2005	TVI	Constança Cunha e Sá, Miguel Sousa Tavares	P	N	N	N	P	^[7]
12 Dec 2005	RTP1		N	N	P	N	P	^[7]
13 Dec 2005	TVI	Constança Cunha e Sá, Miguel Sousa Tavares	N	P	P	N	N	^[7]
14 Dec 2005	SIC	Rodrigo Guedes de Carvalho, Ricardo Costa [pt]	P	N	N	P	N	^[7]
15 Dec 2005	RTP1	Judite de Sousa, José Alberto Carvalho	N	N	N	P	P	^[7]
16 Dec 2005	SIC		N	P	N	N	P	^[7]
19 Dec 2005	TVI		N	N	P	P	N	^[7]
20 Dec 2005	RTP1	Judite de Sousa, José Alberto Carvalho	P	P	N	N	N	^[7]
Candidate viewed as "most convincing" in each debate
Date	Organisers	Polling firm/Link
			Cavaco	Soares	Alegre	Jerónimo	Louçã	Refs
								Refs
5 Dec 2005	SIC	Eurosondagem	27.3	—	15.7	—	—	57.0% Neither/Tie
12 Dec 2005	TVI	Eurosondagem	—	19.3	20.7	—	—	60.0% Neither/Tie

Opinion polling

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.

Turnout	Time
	12:00		16:00		19:00
	2001	2006	2001	2006	2001	2006	±
Total	—	19.32%	—	45.56%	49.71%	61.53%	11.82 pp

Sources^[8]^[9]

Results

National summary


Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	Social Democratic Party–People's Party	2,773,431	50.54
	Manuel Alegre	Independent	1,138,297	20.74
	Mário Soares	Socialist Party	785,355	14.31
	Jerónimo de Sousa	Portuguese Communist Party–The Greens	474,083	8.64
	Francisco Louçã	Left Bloc	292,198	5.32
	António Garcia Pereira	Portuguese Workers' Communist Party	23,983	0.44
Total			5,487,347	100.00

Valid votes			5,487,347	98.16
Invalid votes			43,149	0.77
Blank votes			59,636	1.07
Total votes			5,590,132	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			9,085,339	61.53
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Results by district

District		Cavaco		Alegre		Soares		Jerónimo		Louçã		Garcia Pereira		Turnout
District		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Turnout
	Aveiro	228,343	59.74%	68,101	17.82%	51,696	13.52%	16,209	4.24%	16,668	4.36%	1,222	0.32%	65.06%
	Azores	45,065	55.57%	13,424	16.55%	16,001	19.73%	2,250	2.77%	4,018	4.95%	345	0.43%	43.04%
	Beja	21,708	27.33%	21,235	26.74%	10,633	13.39%	21,685	27.53%	3,649	4.59%	336	0.42%	58.41%
	Braga	266,000	56.98%	76,836	16.46%	73,257	15.69%	26,618	5.70%	22,661	4.85%	1,464	0.31%	67.61%
	Bragança	53,747	67.30%	12,714	15.92%	8,554	10.71%	2,183	2.73%	2,410	3.02%	253	0.32%	53.91%
	Castelo Branco	56,618	49.70%	26,401	23.17%	18,130	15.91%	6,799	5.97%	5,513	4.84%	466	0.41%	61.37%
	Coimbra	113,320	49.22%	62,908	27.32%	30,199	13.12%	13,157	5.71%	9,836	4.27%	830	0.36%	62.02%
	Évora	28,166	31.48%	24,334	27.19%	12,857	14.37%	19,836	22.17%	3,982	4.45%	305	0.34%	61.97%
	Faro	93,021	48.72%	44,268	23.18%	24,946	13.06%	14,540	7.61%	13,107	6.86%	1,064	0.56%	59.92%
	Guarda	58,568	60.33%	18,984	19.55%	11,557	11.90%	3,964	4.08%	3,608	3.72%	400	0.41%	58.26%
	Leiria	151,956	62.30%	42,424	17.39%	25,022	10.26%	12,324	5.05%	11,238	4.61%	955	0.39%	64.14%
	Lisbon	498,470	44.62%	266,680	23.87%	161,411	14.45%	119,116	10.66%	64,877	5.81%	6,497	0.58%	63.84%
	Madeira	76,598	58.47%	20,601	15.72%	15,595	11.90%	6,757	5.16%	10,206	7.79%	1,252	0.96%	58.19%
	Portalegre	24,544	37.80%	17,184	26.46%	10,609	16.34%	9,355	14.41%	2,988	4.60%	254	0.39%	60.96%
	Porto	487,852	51.29%	169,741	17.84%	168,772	17.74%	65,668	6.90%	55,959	5.88%	3,262	0.34%	66.16%
	Santarém	115,032	47.75%	56,585	23.49%	31,244	12.97%	23,408	9.72%	13,513	5.61%	1,119	0.46%	63.19%
	Setúbal	129,053	32.14%	109,052	27.16%	49,228	12.26%	85,117	21.20%	27,063	6.74%	1,984	0.49%	61.92%
	Viana do Castelo	83,542	60.64%	22,108	16.05%	18,816	13.66%	6,616	4.80%	6,145	4.46%	530	0.38%	59.47%
	Vila Real	78,465	64.61%	17,656	14.54%	17,131	14.11%	4,065	3.35%	3,738	3.08%	392	0.32%	55.17%
	Viseu	136,621	65.68%	33,841	16.27%	23,123	11.22%	6,660	3.20%	7,082	3.40%	692	0.33%	58.87%
	Overseas	12,048	64.63%	2,395	12.85%	2,732	14.66%	853	4.58%	495	2.66%	118	0.63%	10.07%
Source: 2006 Presidential election results