The 2011 Portuguese presidential election was held on 23 January 2011. This election resulted in the re-election of

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal fro ...

to a second term as

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic ( pt, Presidente da República Portuguesa, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, an ...

. Turnout in this election was very low, where only 46.52% of the electorate cast their ballots. Cavaco Silva won by a landslide winning all 18 districts, both Autonomous regions of

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

and

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

and 292

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of a total of 308.

Procedure

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 7500 and 15000 signatures and submit them to the

Portuguese Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court ( pt, Tribunal Constitucional, ) is a special court, defined by the Portuguese Constitution as part of the judicial branch of the Portuguese political organization. Unlike the rest of the country's courts, the Constituti ...

. According to the

Portuguese Constitution The present Constitution of Portugal was adopted in 1976 after the Carnation Revolution. It was preceded by a number of constitutions including the first one created in 1822 (following the Liberal Revolution of 1820), 1826 (drawn up by King D ...

, to be elected, a candidate needs a simple majority (50% + 1). If no candidate gets this majority there is a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Political context

During the

2006 presidential elections Presidential elections were held in Bulgaria on 22 October 2006, as decided on 27 July 2006 by the Bulgarian Parliament. The runoff took place on 29 October 2006, while the electoral campaign spanned 19 September – 20 October. At the election, ...

, former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the only candidate of the center-right had won the ballot in the first round with 50.5% of the votes cast. He had faced two particular candidates from the ruling

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, the official candidate

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th presid ...

, former President of the Republic came in third with 14.3%, Manuel Alegre, a dissident, ranked second with 20.7% of votes. This historic victory of a conservative candidate, the first after the Carnation Revolution, inaugurated a period of "political cohabitation" with Socialist Prime Minister

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

. The

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of September 2009 confirmed this situation, and brought the PS once again to power, however depriving them of an absolute majority. The situation of economic and financial crisis that the country was facing led to the adoption of an austerity plan and budget for more frequent intervention of the Head of State in politics to promote agreement among political parties in the country.

Candidates

Official candidates

: President since 2006 and eligible for a second term. Supported by:

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

,
People's Party,

Hope for Portugal Movement Hope for Portugal Movement ( pt, Movimento Esperança Portugal, ; MEP) was a minor centrist political party in Portugal. It had no representatives in the Assembly of the Republic, the Portuguese legislature. Its name in Portuguese could also mea ...

Manuel Alegre Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte, GCL (born 12 May 1936) is a Portuguese poet and politician, member of the Socialist Party, and a candidate for the 2006 Portuguese presidential election. He ran again in the 2011 presidential election, this time bac ...

: Former member of the Assembly of the Republic. Supported by:

Left Bloc Left Bloc may refer to: * Left Bloc (Portugal), a political party in Portugal * Left Bloc (Croatia), a political alliance in Croatia * Left Bloc (Hungary) The Left Bloc (in Hungarian: ''Baloldali Blokk'') was a political alliance in Hungary, f ...

Portuguese Workers' Communist Party The Portuguese Workers' Communist Party/Re-Organized Movement of the Party of the Proletariat ( pt, Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses/Movimento Reorganizativo do Partido do Proletariado, PCTP/MRPP) is a Maoist political party in P ...

Democratic Party of the Atlantic The Democratic Party of the Atlantic ( pt, Partido Democrático do Atlântico, ) was a political party, based in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. A regional party, whose electorate was concentrated on the islands of São Miguel, it was cr ...

Fernando Nobre Fernando José de La Vieter Ribeiro Nobre (born 16 December 1951) is a Portuguese doctor who is the founder and president of the Portuguese NGO AMI (Global Humanitarian Action). In 2007 he was voted as the 25th greatest Portuguese ever in the cont ...

: Independent. *Defensor Moura: Member of the

and former mayor of

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

, running as an independent. *

Francisco Lopes Francisco José de Almeida Lopes (Vila Cova de Alva, 29 August 1955) is a Portuguese electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equi ...

: Supported by:

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...

Ecologist Party "The Greens" The Ecologist Party "The Greens" ( pt, Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes", , PEV) is a Portuguese eco-socialist political party. It is a member of the European Greens and a founding member of the European Federation of Green Parties. It was the fir ...

José Manuel Coelho José Manuel da Mata Vieira Coelho (born 22 July 1952, in Gaula, Santa Cruz) is a Portuguese politician. He was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party until 1999, and still calls himself a communist "who evolved". He was a substitute dep ...

: Independent, supported by the New Democracy Party.

Unsuccessful candidacies

* Luís Botelho Ribeiro: Leader of the

Pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

party. His application was formalised on Monday, 20 December, with over 8,000 signatures. His candidacy was analysed by the Constitutional Court. On 29 December, the court concluded that his candidacy did not meet the requirements provided by law. *

José Ribeiro e Castro José Duarte de Almeida Ribeiro e Castro (born Lisbon, 24 December 1953)http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/alphaOrder/view.do?language=EN&id=5570 is a Portuguese lawyer and politician. He was the leader of the People's Party from 24 ...

: Member of the Democratic and Social Centre – People´s Party, speculated to run as an alternative right-wing candidate, because of Cavaco's decision to approve same-sex marriage. However, he did not go forward with his candidacy. *

José Pinto Coelho José de Almeida e Vasconcelos Pinto Coelho (Lisbon, Campo Grande, 27 September 1960) commonly known just by José Pinto Coelho, is a Portuguese far-right and nationalist politician, president of the National Renovator Party (Partido Nacional R ...

: Leader of the far-right

National Renovator Party Rise Up ( pt, Ergue-te, E), originally the National Renewal Party (, PNR) until July 2020, is a Portuguese far-right nationalist political party. History The PNR was established in February 2000. In July 2020, the party was renamed. Controv ...

. He declared that his candidacy for the presidency was "cut short" by failing to gather the 7,500 signatures required. He claimed to have gathered 5,878 signatures.

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

Opinion polling

Campaign Budgets

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas.

Results

National summary

Summary of the 23 January 2011 Portuguese presidential election results , - !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" colspan="2" rowspan="2", Candidates !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Supporting parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan="2", First round , - !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;", Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;", % , - , style="width:10px;background-color:#FF9900;text-align:center;", , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, People's Party,

, style="text-align:right;", 2,231,956 , style="text-align:right;", 52.95 , - , style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#FF66FF;text-align:center;", , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:right;", 831,838 , style="text-align:right;", 19.74 , - , style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#777777;text-align:center;", , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, style="text-align:right;", 593,021 , style="text-align:right;", 14.07 , - , style="width: 5px" style="background-color:red;text-align:center;", , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:right;", 301,017 , style="text-align:right;", 7.14 , - , style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#1F468B;text-align:center;", , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", New Democracy Party , style="text-align:right;", 189,918 , style="text-align:right;", 4.51 , - , style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#777777;text-align:center;", , style="text-align:left;",

Defensor Moura Defensor (Latin, 'one who defends') may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Defensor (comics), a character in ''Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions'' * Defensor (Transformers), Defensor (''Transformers''), a character in the media franchi ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:right;", 67,110 , style="text-align:right;", 1.59 , - , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9", Total valid , width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 4,214,860 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , - , style="text-align:right;" colspan="3", Blank ballots , width="65" style="text-align:right;", 192,127 , width="40" style="text-align:right;", 4.28 , - , style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" , Invalid ballots , width="65" style="text-align:right;", 85,466 , width="40" style="text-align:right;", 1.90 , - , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9", Total , width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 4,492,453 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , colspan=3, Registered voters/turnout , , 9,657,312, , 46.52 , - , colspan=5 style="text-align:left;", Source
Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Results by district

Maps

File:Pt plelection pr 2011.PNG, Strongest candidate by electoral district. (Azores and Madeira not shown) File:Presidenciais 2011 (Mapa).png, Strongest candidate by

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

References

External links

;Official campaign websites
Aníbal Cavaco Silva official websiteManuel Alegre official websiteFernando Nobre official websiteFrancisco Lopes official websiteDefensor Moura official website

José Manuel Coelho official website
;Other websites
Portuguese Electoral CommissionOfficial results site, Portuguese Justice MinistryPublication of Polls (ERC)

NSD: European Election Database - Portugal
publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990–2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Portuguese Presidential Election, 2011 2011 elections in Portugal

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

January 2011 events in Europe

Procedure

Political context

Candidates

Official candidates

Unsuccessful candidacies

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

Opinion polling

Campaign Budgets

Voter turnout

Results

National summary

Results by district

Maps

See also

References

External links