1996 Portuguese presidential election

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1996 Portuguese presidential election
Flag of Portugal (official).svg
  1991 14 January 1996 2001  
Turnout66.29% (Increase2.svg 4.13pp)
 
Jorge Sampaio 2.jpg
Anibal Cavaco Silva (cropped).jpg
Candidate Jorge Sampaio Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Party PS
Supported by:
PSD
Popular vote3,035,0562,595,131
Percentage53.91%46.09%

1996 Portuguese presidential election results.svg
1996 Portuguese presidential election results by municipality.svg

President before election

Mário Soares
PS

Elected President

Jorge Sampaio
PS

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 14 January 1996.

Contents

Incumbent president Mário Soares was constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term. The Social Democrats were coming from a clear defeat in the 1995 Portuguese legislative election, and their former leader, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, who had left the office of Prime Minister after 10 years at the helm, ran against the Mayor of Lisbon, Jorge Sampaio. This election was, therefore, a rematch between Jorge Sampaio and Cavaco Silva as in the 1991 general election, Cavaco Silva defeated Jorge Sampaio by a 51 to 29 percent margin.

The other left-wing candidates, Jerónimo de Sousa and Alberto Matos, presented by the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union respectively, both withdrew from the race one week before the elections, announcing their support for Jorge Sampaio, in order to concentrate the left-wing vote and avoid a runoff. [1] These parties had already supported Sampaio in a coalition that won the local elections in Lisbon. It would be the last time that People's Democratic Union presented a candidate, as two years later it merged with other small left-wing parties and formed the Left Bloc.

Cavaco Silva was supported by the Social Democratic Party, failing to get the support of the People's Party, led by Manuel Monteiro. [2] On election day, Sampaio won with nearly 54 percent of the votes and by a more than 400,000 vote margin over Cavaco Silva, which gathered just over 46 percent of the votes and, once more, the right-wing parties did not win the presidential election.

Sampaio gained the majority of the votes in all the districts in the South of Portugal, including the Communist strongholds in Alentejo and Setúbal district. Cavaco won in the more conservative districts of the North (excluding Porto district, where Sampaio edged out Cavaco by a narrow 52 to 48 percent margin) and also in Leiria district, traditional strongholds of the right-wing parties.

With only two candidates left on the race, no second round was needed, and Sampaio was inaugurated to his first term in office on 9 March 1996.

Aníbal Cavaco Silva would have to wait ten more years to be elected president in 2006.

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

Campaign period

Party slogans

CandidateOriginal sloganEnglish translationRefs
Jorge Sampaio « Um por todos »"One for all" [3]
Aníbal Cavaco Silva « Em nome de Portugal »"In the name of Portugal" [4]
Jerónimo de Sousa [a] « Contigo isto muda »"With you this changes" [5]
Alberto Matos [b] « A escolha de um lado »"Choosing a side" [6]

Candidates' debates

1996 Portuguese presidential election debates
DateOrganisersModerator(s)   P Present   A Absent invitee N Non-invitee 
SampaioCavacoJerónimoRefs
14 Dec 1995 RTP1 Maria Elisa Domingues
José Eduardo Moniz
PPP [7]
21 Dec 1995 SIC Margarida Marante
Miguel Sousa Tavares
PPN [8]

Opinion polls

Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden.

  Exit poll

Polling firmDate releasedSample
size
Jorge Sampaio 2-square.jpg Cavaco Silva 2007 quadrada.jpg Oth/
Und
Lead
Sampaio
PS
Cavaco
PSD
Election results14 Jan 199653.946.17.8
Euroteste/RTP 14 Jan 199656–6040–4416
Metris/SIC 14 Jan 199656.8–61.238.8–43.218.0
UCP/TVI 14 Jan 199654.6–58.241.8–45.612.8
UCP 6 Jan 199652.147.94.2
Metris 6 Jan 199657.142.914.2
Euroteste 6 Jan 199657.542.515.0
Euroexpansão 6 Jan 199657.742.315.4
Independente 5 Jan 199656.743.313.4
Visão 4 Jan 199651.238.110.713.1
Euroteste 1 Jan 199658.741.317.4
Jornal de Notícias 1 Jan 199650.742.66.78.1
Metris 30 Dec 199556.441.71.914.7
Euroexpansão 30 Dec 199558.840.01.218.8
Independente 29 Dec 199558.341.716.6
Euroexpansão 23 Dec 199560.036.53.523.5
Independente 22 Dec 199556.843.213.6
UCP 21 Dec 199554.143.72.210.4
Metris 15 Dec 199553.842.63.611.2

Results

National summary

CandidatePartyVotes%
Jorge Sampaio PS, PCP, PEV, UDP, PCTP/MRPP 3,035,05653.91
Aníbal Cavaco Silva PPD/PSD 2,595,13146.09
Total5,630,187100.00
Valid votes5,630,18797.70
Invalid votes63,4631.10
Blank votes69,3281.20
Total votes5,762,978100.00
Registered voters/turnout8,693,63666.29
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Results by district

District Sampaio Cavaco Turnout
Votes %Votes %
  Aveiro 162,49543.04%215,04656.96%69.01%
  Azores 40,74643.60%52,71556.40%50.81%
  Beja 71,83379.15%18,92620.85%61.31%
  Braga 204,06945.79%241,58054.21%71.55%
  Bragança 34,35840.17%51,17359.83%57.42%
  Castelo Branco 69,13655.50%55,42844.50%63.13%
  Coimbra 133,64454.37%112,18145.63%65.90%
  Évora 72,36973.32%26,39826.68%67.16%
  Faro 110,74858.45%78,73641.55%63.09%
  Guarda 45,82044.00%58,30656.00%60.75%
  Leiria 98,57740.41%145,35259.59%66.95%
  Lisbon 740,98760.98%474,06039.02%66.75%
  Madeira 49,24339.58%75,16060.42%62.99%
  Portalegre 52,64769.38%23,23130.62%66.84%
  Porto 500,90351.82%465,80348.18%70.28%
  Santarém 149,11957.50%110,20242.50%67.25%
  Setúbal 313,08374.51%107,08025.49%67.36%
  Viana do Castelo 58,62141.57%82,41158.43%64.34%
  Vila Real 51,08739.64%77,77960.36%59.10%
  Viseu 78,99636.97%134,66963.03%61.63%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Maps

Notes

  1. Withdrew in favour of Jorge Sampaio
  2. Withdrew in favour of Jorge Sampaio

References

  1. "Jerónimo de Sousa desiste da candidatura". RTP (in Portuguese). 8 January 1996. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
  2. Lourenço, Eunice (2004-03-08). "Como Paulo Portas apoiou Cavaco em 1996". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  3. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  4. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  6. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  7. "Candidatos à Presidência da República – Parte I". RTP (in Portuguese). 14 December 1995. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. "Os debates" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.