Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Ap)

  • Portugal, according to projections outgoing president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa re-elected in the first round

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January 25, 2021 The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, wins the elections with 60.7% of the votes and is confirmed (as was widely expected) for a second term.



The president got 60.7 percent of the votes, compared to 52 percent in 2016. The socialist challenger Ana Gomes, former member of the European Parliament, got 12.97 percent of the preferences. 



With staggering growth, right-wing populist Andre Ventura has been in a tight race for second place with polls at around 12%.

A similar result, for Ventura, would have been unthinkable until recently and will make Portuguese politics shiver.



The turnout was less than 40%, significantly lower than in the recent elections and apparently confirming concerns that some people would be away for fear of contracting 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 postponement of the elections.

According to a Johns Hopkins University tally, Portugal has the world's highest rates of new infections and daily deaths per 100,000 population, and its public health system is under enormous pressure. 



One of the first tasks of the re-elected president will be to decide next month whether to pass a new law that allows euthanasia.

Parliament approved the bill, but the head of state could try to block it or send it to the Constitutional Court for review.



Rebelo de Sousa, a center-right moderate and former leader of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party, will therefore remain for the second and final term of 5 years.