Second Round

First Round

General Summary

The tighest presidential election ever held in Portugal was won by Mário Soares, who initially had no more than 5% at opinion polls.

In first round was easily won by Freitas do Amaral, supported by the right-wing parties, while Soares defeated the other two left-wing candidates, former Prime-Minister Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, to date the only woman to run for the presidency, and his former party collegue, Salgado Zenha (supported by outgoing president António Ramalho Eanes, by the short-lived Party of Democratic Renewal (PRD), and by the Portuguese Communist Party, whose candidate, Ângelo Veloso, left the race some days before the poll). Both these candidates supported Soares in the second round.

In the second round, the urban vote, traditionally more left-wing, overcame the early lead of Freitas do Amaral by less than 140,000 votes, and Soares was inaugurated on 9 March 1986.

As of 2005, this was the only time a Portuguese presidential election was taken into a second round.

See also: President of Portugal, Portugal, Politics of Portugal