Socialist, far-right candidates head to presidential run-off in Portugal

Antonio Jose Seguro, of Portugal’s centre-left Socialist Party, will head to a presidential election run-off against far-right leader Andre Ventura following a preliminary round of voting.

Election results on Sunday showed Seguro won 31.1 percent of the vote against Ventura’s 23.5 percent. Liberal pro-business candidate Joao Cotrim de Figueiredo came in a distant third place, with about 16 percent of the votes.

Almost 11 million people were eligible to vote in the election, which had 11 candidates.

As neither candidate passed the 50 percent threshold, Seguro and Ventura will next compete in a presidential run-off on February 8. Portugal has only held a presidential run-off once before, in 1986, since its democratic transition five decades ago.

The February 8 vote will also mark the first time a far-right candidate has advanced to a presidential run-off in Portugal, and it offers Ventura the chance to secure another win for Europe’s burgeoning far-right parties.

Polls predicted Ventura could top the first round but would lose round two on February 8, regardless of which of the other candidates he faced, due to limited support for his far-right Chega party beyond its base.

Chega’s surge in public support made it the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament last year, just six years after its founding.

One of Ventura’s main targets has been what he calls “excessive immigration”.

During the election campaign, Ventura put up xenophobic billboards across the country, saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare”.

His message has less support among Portugal’s other parties. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, the leader of the centre-right Social Democrats, said his party would support neither candidate in the run-off, while Cotrim de Figueiredo of the Liberal Initiative party said he did not support Ventura.

Ventura told reporters he was confident he could still win the top spot in the forthcoming election despite his second-place performance on Sunday.

“Now, we need to unite the entire right wing… I will fight day by day, minute by minute, second by second, so that there won’t be a socialist president. We will win,” he said.

In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power. The head of state mostly aims to stand above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.

However, the president is an influential voice and possesses powerful tools, including the ability to veto legislation from parliament, though the veto can be overridden. The head of state also has the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

The winner will replace President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the limit of two five-year terms.

Political events in Portugal have little bearing on the overall direction of the European Union. Its economy accounts for only about 1.6 percent of the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP), and its armed forces are of a modest size.