Center-right incumbent wins Portugal’s presidential election
LISBON, PORTUGAL » Portugal’s president was returned to office for a second term Sunday, in an election held amid a devastating COVID-19 surge that has made the European country the worst in the world for cases and deaths.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa captured 61.5% of the vote, with 98.5% of districts reporting. He had been widely expected to win.
In a stunning development, newly arrived rightwing populist André Ventura was in a close race for second place with Socialist candidate Ana Gomes, with both polling around 12%.
Such a showing for Ventura would have been unthinkable until recently and will send a shudder through Portuguese politics.
Four other candidates ran for head of state.
Rebelo de Sousa, a center-right moderate and former leader of Portugal’s Social Democratic Party, will serve a second and final 5-year term.
One of the re-elected president’s first tasks will be to decide next month whether to approve a new law allowing euthanasia.
Parliament has passed the bill, but the head of state could try to block it or send it to the Constitutional Court for vetting.
The turnout was less than 40% — significantly lower than in recent elections and apparently confirming concerns that some people would stay away for fear of becoming infected with COVID-19. Political leaders said that when the pandemic began to worsen there was no longer enough time to change the Portuguese Constitution to allow the election’s postponement.
Portugal has the world’s highest rates of new daily
infections and deaths per 100,000 population, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, and its public health system is under huge strain.
Rebelo de Sousa, 72, was long viewed as the clear front-runner. He is an affable law professor and former television personality who as president has consistently had an approval rating of 60% or more.
Rebelo de Sousa has worked closely with the center-left minority Socialist government, supporting its pandemic efforts.
He also has endeared himself to the Portuguese with his easygoing style.