2011 Portuguese presidential election

2011 Portuguese presidential election
← 2006 23 January 2011 2016 →
Opinion polls
Turnout46.52% (Decrease 15.01pp)
 
A. Cavaco Silva (cropped).png
Presidenciais 2011 Manuel Alegre (cropped).png
Candidate Aníbal Cavaco Silva Manuel Alegre
Party PSD PS
Popular vote 2,231,956 831,838
Percentage 52.95% 19.74%
 
Fernando Nobre 02.jpg
Candidate Fernando Nobre Francisco Lopes
Party Independent PCP
Alliance CDU
Popular vote 593,021 301,017
Percentage 14.07% 7.14%
President before election

Aníbal Cavaco Silva
PSD

Elected President

Aníbal Cavaco Silva
PSD

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 23 January 2011. The elections resulted in the re-election of Aníbal Cavaco Silva to a second term as President of Portugal. Turnout in this election was very low, where only 46.52 percent of the electorate cast their ballots. Cavaco Silva won by a landslide winning all 18 districts, both Autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira and 292 municipalities of a total of 308.

Background

During the 2006 presidential elections, former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the only candidate of the center-right had won the ballot in the first round with 50.5 percent of the votes cast. He had faced two particular candidates from the ruling Socialist Party, the official candidate Mário Soares, former President of the Republic came in third with 14.3 percent, Manuel Alegre, a dissident, ranked second with 20.7 percent of votes. This historic victory of a conservative candidate, the first after the Carnation Revolution, inaugurated a period of "political cohabitation" with Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates.

The general elections of September 2009 confirmed this situation, and brought the PS once again to power, however depriving them of an absolute majority. The situation of economic and financial crisis that the country was facing led to the adoption of an austerity plan and budget for more frequent intervention of the Head of State in politics to promote agreement among political parties in the country.

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 simple majority (50% + 1). If no candidate gets this majority there is a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Candidates

Official candidates

Unsuccessful candidacies

Official logo of the election.
  • Luís Botelho Ribeiro: Leader of the Pro-life party. His application was formalised on Monday, 20 December, with over 8,000 signatures. His candidacy was analysed by the Constitutional Court. On 29 December, the court concluded that his candidacy did not meet the requirements provided by law.[9]
  • José Ribeiro e Castro: Member of the Democratic and Social Centre – People´s Party, speculated to run as an alternative right-wing candidate, because of Cavaco's decision to approve same-sex marriage. However, he did not go forward with his candidacy.[10]
  • José Pinto Coelho: Leader of the far-right National Renovator Party. He declared that his candidacy for the presidency was "cut short" by failing to gather the 7,500 signatures required. He claimed to have gathered 5,878 signatures.[11]

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidate Original slogan English translation Refs
Aníbal Cavaco Silva « Acredito nos Portugueses » "I believe in the Portuguese" [12]
Manuel Alegre « Um Presidente justo e solidário » "A fair and supportive President" [13]
Fernando Nobre « Um Presidente como nós » "A President like us" [14]
Francisco Lopes « O voto certo na mudança necessária » "The right vote in the necessary change" [15]
Defensor Moura « Contra a resignação » "Against resignation" [16]

Candidates' debates

2011 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee 
Cavaco Alegre Nobre Lopes Moura Refs
14 Dec 2010 RTP1 Judite de Sousa N N P P N [17]
16 Dec 2010 RTP1 Judite de Sousa N P N N P [17]
17 Dec 2010 SIC Clara de Sousa P N P N N [17]
18 Dec 2010 SIC Clara de Sousa N P N P N [17]
21 Dec 2010 TVI Constança Cunha e Sá P N N P N [17]
22 Dec 2010 TVI Constança Cunha e Sá N P P N N [17]
23 Dec 2010 SIC Clara de Sousa P N N N P [17]
27 Dec 2010 RTP1 Judite de Sousa N N P N P [17]
28 Dec 2010 TVI Constança Cunha e Sá N N N P P [17]
29 Dec 2010 RTP1 Judite de Sousa P P N N N [17]

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2011 Portuguese presidential election

Campaign budgets

Candidate (party) Election
Result 		State Subsidy Political Parties
Contributions 		Fundraising Total Recipes Expenses Debt
Calculated Budgeted Calculated Budgeted
Cavaco Silva (PSD, CDS-PP, MEP) 53.0% €1,920,000 €1,570,000 €0 €550,000 €2,470,000 €2,120,000 €2,120,000 €0
Manuel Alegre (PS, BE, PDA, PCTP) 19.7% €836,000 €1,350,000 €500,000 €50,000 €1,386,000 €1,900,000 €1,640,000 €254,000
Fernando Nobre (I) 14.1% €653,000 €511,200 €0 €331,460 €984,460 €842,660 €842,660 €0
Francisco Lopes (PCP, PEV) 7.1% €425,000 €512,000 €270,000 €18,000 €713,000 €800,000 €800,000 €87,000
Defensor Moura (I) 1.6% €0 €225,000 €0 €25,000 €25,000 €250,000 €250,000 €225,000
José Manuel Coelho (PND) 4.5% €0 €10,000 €30,000 €50,000 €80,000 €90,000 €90,000 €10,000
Luís Botelho Ribeiro (PPV) - - €7,000 €0 €0 €7,000 €7,000 €7,000 €0
Source: Portuguese Constitutional Court (TC)[18]
(Note that some candidates filed with the TC, but did not pursue their candidacy.)

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas.

Turnout Time
12:00 16:00 19:00
2006 2011 ± 2006 2011 ± 2006 2011 ±
Total 19.32% 13.39% Decrease 5.93 pp 45.56% 35.16% Decrease 10.40 pp 61.53% 46.52% Decrease 15.01 pp
Sources[19][20]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Aníbal Cavaco SilvaSocial Democratic Party–People's Party–Hope for Portugal Movement2,231,95652.95
Manuel AlegreSocialist Party–Left Bloc–Portuguese Workers' Communist Party831,83819.74
Fernando NobreIndependent593,02114.07
Francisco LopesPortuguese Communist Party–The Greens301,0177.14
José Manuel CoelhoNew Democracy Party189,9184.51
Defensor Moura [pt]Independent67,1101.59
Total4,214,860100.00
Valid votes4,214,86093.82
Invalid votes85,4661.90
Blank votes192,1274.28
Total votes4,492,453100.00
Registered voters/turnout9,657,31246.52
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Results by district

District Cavaco Alegre Nobre Lopes Manuel Coelho Defensor Moura Turnout
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
  Aveiro 182,730 60.70% 52,820 17.55% 40,873 13.58% 11,190 3.72% 9,924 3.30% 3,487 1.16% 49.25%
  Azores 36,122 56.04% 16,197 25.13% 7,037 10.92% 1,464 2.27% 2,925 4.54% 714 1.11% 31.12%
  Beja 18,754 33.31% 14,300 25.40% 6,108 10.85% 14,886 26.44% 1,667 2.96% 588 1.04% 43.50%
  Braga 222,444 57.77% 74,086 19.24% 50,336 13.07% 17,189 4.46% 14,137 3.67% 6,875 1.79% 52.54%
  Bragança 37,456 65.11% 10,860 18.88% 5,453 9.48% 1,632 2.84% 1,526 2.65% 603 1.05% 39.10%
  Castelo Branco 45,518 53.81% 45,518 22.64% 10,518 12.43% 4,488 5.31% 3,798 4.49% 1,121 1.33% 47.07%
  Coimbra 85,579 52.02% 38,155 23.19% 23,811 14.47% 9,285 5.64% 5,934 3.61% 1,746 1.06% 45.15%
  Évora 24,250 37.63% 15,886 24.65% 7,643 11.86% 13,962 21.67% 2,050 3.18% 651 1.01% 46.52%
  Faro 76,896 52.27% 27,248 18.52% 23,474 15.96% 10,889 7.40% 6,048 4.36% 2,186 1.49% 43.91%
  Guarda 42,762 59.98% 13,608 19.09% 8,903 12.49% 2,706 3.80% 2,542 3.57% 771 1.08% 43.62%
  Leiria 118,748 61.64% 28,095 14.58% 27,855 14.46% 9,040 4.69% 6,632 3.44% 2,266 1.18% 48.94%
  Lisbon 411,341 48.59% 184,446 21.79% 136,633 16.14% 72,465 8.56% 29,070 3.43% 12,668 1.50% 48.46%
  Madeira 52,168 44.01% 9,105 7.68% 7,687 6.48% 2,346 1.98% 46,247 39.01% 986 0.83% 47.92%
  Portalegre 20,360 44.69% 12,038 26.42% 5,062 11.11% 5,895 12.94% 1,667 3.66% 537 1.18% 45.27%
  Porto 415,408 54.83% 151,668 20.02% 113,613 14.99% 41,839 5.52% 24,748 3.27% 10,415 1.37% 51.41%
  Santarém 95,479 51.90% 35,723 19.42% 28,061 15.25% 15,462 8.40% 7,148 3.89% 2,108 1.15% 48.72%
  Setúbal 109,800 36.57% 70,480 23.48% 50,762 16.91% 54,472 18.14% 10,560 3.52% 4,147 1.38% 45.27%
  Viana do Castelo 64,719 58.66% 14,854 13.64% 10,962 9.94% 3,937 3.57% 4,105 3.72% 11,745 10.65% 45.24%
  Vila Real 59,378 65.47% 16,431 18.12% 8,610 9.49% 2,536 2.80% 2,853 3.15% 889 0.98% 40.16%
  Viseu 103,576 64.97% 25,053 15.71% 19,795 12.42% 4,575 2.87% 4,971 3.12% 1,460 0.92% 44.05%
  Overseas 8,115 65.39% 2,432 19.60% 872 7.03% 663 5.34% 179 1.44% 149 1.20% 5.54%
Source: 2011 Presidential election results

Maps

  • Strongest candidate by electoral district. (Azores and Madeira not shown)
    Strongest candidate by electoral district. (Azores and Madeira not shown)
  • Strongest candidate by municipality.
    Strongest candidate by municipality.

References

  1. ^ "Cavaco Silva recandidata-se para "ajudar o país a encontrar um rumo para o futuro"". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 26 October 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. ^ "PSD convoca Conselho Nacional para declarar "apoio inequívoco" a Cavaco Silva". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 26 October 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Manuel Alegre anuncia candidatura à Presidência da República". Público (in Portuguese). 15 January 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Fernando Nobre candidato à Presidência da República". Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 17 February 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Defensor Moura quer pôr fim a hábito de reeleger presidente". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 1 August 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Francisco Lopes é o candidato presidencial escolhido pelo PCP". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 24 August 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Os Verdes apoiam Francisco Lopes, o único que "corta com os caminhos da direita" do Governo". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 13 November 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. ^ "PND apoia candidatura de José Manuel Coelho à Presidência da República". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 14 November 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Tribunal rejeita recurso de Luís Botelho Ribeiro". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 3 January 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Presidenciais: Ribeiro e Castro não apresenta candidatura". Expresso (in Portuguese). 9 October 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Líder do PNR desiste da candidatura a Belém". TVI24 (in Portuguese). 22 December 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  13. ^ "ELEIÇÕES PRESIDENCIAIS DE 2011 – CANDIDATURA DE MANUEL ALEGRE". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  14. ^ "ELEIÇÕES PRESIDENCIAIS DE 2011 – CANDIDATURA DE FERNANDO NOBRE". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Primeiro debate televisivo no dia 14 e último a 29". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 7 December 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  18. ^ Campaign Budgets for the 2011 Presidential election, Portuguese Constitutional Court, retrieved 24 December 2010.
  19. ^ "Presidenciais 2011 - Afluência". eleicoes.mai.gov.pt/presidenciais2011/index.html (in Portuguese). Ministry of Internal Administration. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Presidenciais 2006". eleicoes.mai.gov.pt/Presidenciais2006/index.html (in Portuguese). Ministry of Internal Administration. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
Official campaign websites
Other websites