Portuguese presidential election, 1991

Portuguese presidential election, 1991
Portugal
13 January 1991
Turnout 62,16%
 
Candidate Mário Soares Basílio Horta
Party Independent CDS
Alliance PS
Popular vote 3,459,521 696,379
Percentage 70.4% 14.2%
President before election

Soares
PS

 Elected President

Soares
PS

Portugal

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal

The Portuguese presidential election of 1991 was held on 13 January.

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 302 of the then 305 municipalities. His score was the biggest ever in a presidential election in Portugal.

Results

Summary of the 13 January 1991 Portuguese presidential election results

 
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Mário Soares Socialist Party, Social Democratic Party 3,459,521 70.35
Basílio Horta Democratic and Social Centre 696,379 14.16
Carlos Carvalhas Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" 635,373 12.92
Carlos Manuel Marques People's Democratic Union 126,581 2.57
Total valid 4,917,854 100.00
Blank ballots 112,877 2.21
Invalid ballots 68,037 1.33
Total (turnout 62.16%) 5,098,768
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Mário Soares
  
 70.35%
Basílio Horta
  
 14.16%
Carlos Carvalhas
  
 12.92%
Carlos Manuel Marques
  
 2.57%
Blank/Invalid
  
 3.54%
Abstention
  
 37.84%

References

See also

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