1991 Portuguese presidential election

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1991 Portuguese presidential election
Flag of Portugal (official).svg
  1986 13 January 1991 1996  
Turnout62.16% (Decrease2.svg 13.23pp)
 
Medalha de Galiza 1993 - 5.jpg
Basilio Horta na Exponor.jpg
Carlos Carvalhas no XIX Congresso do PCP (cropped).png
Candidate Mário Soares Basílio Horta Carlos Carvalhas
Party PS
Supported by:
CDS PCP
Supported by:
Popular vote3,459,521696,379635,373
Percentage70.35%14.16%12.92%

1991 Portuguese presidential election results.svg
1991 Portuguese presidential election results by municipality.svg

President before election

Mário Soares
PS

Elected President

Mário Soares
PS

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 13 January 1991.

Contents

The re-election of the hugely popular Mário Soares was never in doubt, specially after the then-ruling PSD, led by Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva announced its support. Therefore, the election held on 13 January 1991 was a landslide, and no second round was needed.

As the election of a left-wing candidate was assured, other left-wing parties, the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union, presented their own candidates. The communists presented Carlos Carvalhas, who had been Assistant General Secretary of the Party a year before (Álvaro Cunhal was the secretary-general). Carvalhas would later be elected secretary-general, in 1992.

On the right, as the Social Democratic Party supported Soares, the Democratic and Social Centre presented the only right-wing candidate, Basílio Horta.

Mário Soares achieved the majority of the votes in every district of the country, and 295 of the then 305 municipalities. His score was the biggest ever in a presidential election in Portugal.

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

Official candidates

Decided not to run

Campaign period

Party slogans

CandidateOriginal sloganEnglish translationRefs
Mário Soares « Soares é fixe »"Soares is cool" [2]
Basílio Horta « Um Homem às direitas »"An upright man" [3]
Carlos Carvalhas « Portugal pode ser melhor »"Portugal can be better" [4]
Carlos Manuel Marques « A coragem de ser solidário »"The courage to be supportive" [5]

Candidates' debates

1991 Portuguese presidential election debates
DateOrganisersModerator(s)   P Present   A Absent invitee N Non-invitee 
SoaresHortaCarvalhasMarquesRefs
21 Nov 1990 RTP1 Vicente Jorge Silva
Maria Elisa Domingues
PAPP [6]
4 Dec 1990 RTP1 -NNPP [7]
6 Dec 1990 RTP1 Mário Crespo PPNN [8]
11 Dec 1990 RTP1 -PNPN [9]
13 Dec 1990 RTP1 -NPNP [10]
19 Dec 1990 RTP1 -PNNP [11]
20 Dec 1990 RTP1 -NPPN [12]
21 Dec 1990 RTP2 Joaquim Furtado PPPP [13]

Opinion polls

  Exit poll

Polling firmDate releasedSample
size
Mario Soares (2003) portrait.jpg Basilio Horta na Exponor.jpg Carlos Carvalhas no XIX Congresso do PCP (cropped).png Lead
Soares
PS (Inc.)
Horta
CDS
Carvalhas
PCP
Marques
UDP
Election results13 Jan 199170.414.212.92.656.2
Euroexpansão 13 Jan 199169.5–73.414.1–17.29.3–12.61.6–2.955.8

Results

National summary

CandidatePartyVotes%
Mário Soares PS supported tacitly by PPD/PSD 3,459,52170.35
Basílio Horta CDS 696,37914.16
Carlos Carvalhas PCP, PEV 635,37312.92
Carlos Manuel Marques  [ pt ] UDP 126,5812.57
Total4,917,854100.00
Valid votes4,917,85496.45
Invalid votes68,0371.33
Blank votes112,8772.21
Total votes5,098,768100.00
Registered voters/turnout8,202,21262.16
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Results by district

District Soares Horta Carvalhas MarquesTurnout
Votes %Votes %Votes %Votes %
  Aveiro 250,33677.27%49,67515.33%17,8945.52%6,0651.87%64.36%
  Azores 75,53080.66%12,19213.02%3,6523.49%6,6856.39%51.79%
  Beja 48,69454.06%5,2935.88%33,79637.52%2,2942.55%60.34%
  Braga 287,28777.49%50,99113.75%26,2307.08%6,2101.68%66.41%
  Bragança 51,57167.48%19,37325.35%3,8695.06%1,6152.11%53.18%
  Castelo Branco 82,47071.63%18,62716.18%10,5939.20%3,4432.99%60.29%
  Coimbra 166,04176.86%26,41612.23%19,0848.83%4,4982.08%61.08%
  Évora 50,80553.99%7,7108.19%33,31335.40%2,2812.42%64.94%
  Faro 123,55072.40%21,33212.50%20,48112.00%5,2803.09%60.92%
  Guarda 69,63271.33%19,87420.36%5,8155.96%2,2932.35%58.23%
  Leiria 150,99372.41%38,01418.23%14,9697.18%4,5352.17%60.93%
  Lisbon 675,76064.89%156,42415.02%177,27517.02%31,8603.06%61.73%
  Madeira 70,63267.22%23,98122.91%3,6523.49%6,6856.39%57.98%
  Portalegre 48,17064.25%7,69310.26%17,27123.03%1,8442.46%66.26%
  Porto 627,19576.50%101,66512.40%75,5179.21%15,5361.89%65.39%
  Santarém 161,30168.96%30,93813.23%34,99614.96%6,6622.85%63.33%
  Setúbal 198,97755.83%29,9558.40%113,23231.77%14,2484.00%62.93%
  Viana do Castelo 92,31275.26%18,39715.00%9,2637.55%2,6932.20%59.35%
  Vila Real 84,35875.05%20,13917.92%5,7385.10%2,1741.93%54.63%
  Viseu 145,01075.41%33,94517.65%9,8695.13%3,4801.81%57.96%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Maps

References

  1. "Lucas Pires anuncia desistência da candidatura à Presidência". RTP (in Portuguese). 7 September 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. "Candidatura de Carlos Marques à Presidência da República". RTP (in Portuguese). 6 May 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  6. "Debate entre os candidatos à Presidência da República". RTP (in Portuguese). 21 November 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  7. "Página Principal".
  8. "Os debates".
  9. "Página Principal".
  10. "Página Principal".
  11. "Página Principal".
  12. "Página Principal".
  13. "Página Principal".