1996 Portuguese presidential election

The Portuguese presidential election of 1996 was held on 14 January.

1996 Portuguese presidential election
14 January 1996
Turnout66.3% 4.1 pp
 
Candidate Jorge Sampaio Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Party PS PSD
Popular vote 3,035,056 2,595,131
Percentage 53.9% 46.1%
President before election

Mário Soares
PS

 Elected President

Jorge Sampaio
PS

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

Incumbent president Mário Soares was constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term. The Social Democrats were coming from a clear defeat in 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, lost by 400,000 votes to the Mayor of Lisbon, Jorge Sampaio.

The other left candidates, Jerónimo de Sousa and Alberto Matos, presented by the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union respectively, both left the race one week before the elections, announcing their support for Jorge Sampaio, as the victory of a left-wing candidate was in doubt. 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 two major right-wing parties, the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party, and once more, the right-wing parties did not manage to win the presidential election. The 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% margin.

Sampaio gathered 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% 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.

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.

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
Candidate Original slogan English translation Refs
Jorge Sampaio « Um por todos » "One for all" [1]
Aníbal Cavaco Silva « Em nome de Portugal » "In the name of Portugal" [2]
Jerónimo de Sousa[lower-alpha 1] « Contigo isto muda » "With you this changes" [3]
Alberto Matos[lower-alpha 2] « A escolha de um lado » "Choosing a side" [4]

Candidates' debates
1996 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee 
Sampaio Cavaco Jerónimo Refs
14 Dec 1995 RTP1 Maria Elisa Domingues
José Eduardo Moniz		 P P P [5]
21 Dec 1995 SIC Margarida Marante
Miguel Sousa Tavares		 P P N [6]

Opinion polls

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

Date(s)
administered		 Poll source Sample size Lead
Sampaio
PS		 Cavaco Silva
PSD
14 Jan 1996 Election Results N/A 53.9 46.1 7.8
14 Jan 1996 Euroteste/RTP N/A 56.4 43.6 12.8
14 Jan 1996 Metris/SIC N/A 59.0 41.0 18.0
14 Jan 1996 UCP-CESOP/TVI N/A 58.0 42.0 16.0
Exit polls
6 Jan 1996 UCP-CESOP N/A 52.1 47.9 4.2
6 Jan 1996 Metris N/A 57.1 42.9 14.2
6 Jan 1996 Euroteste N/A 57.5 42.5 15.0
6 Jan 1996 Euroexpansão N/A 57.7 42.3 15.4

Results
 Summary of the 14 January 1996 Portuguese presidential election results
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Jorge Sampaio Socialist Party 3,035,056 53.91
Aníbal Cavaco Silva Social Democratic Party, People's Party 2,595,131 46.09
Jerónimo de Sousa[A] Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" left the race
Alberto Matos[B] People's Democratic Union left the race
Total valid 5,630,187 100.00
Blank ballots 69,328 1.20
Invalid ballots 63,463 1.10
Total 5,762,978
Registered voters/turnout 8,693,63666.29
A B Both candidates left the race in favour of Jorge Sampaio.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Jorge Sampaio
 
 53.91%
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
 
 46.09%
Blank/Invalid
 
 2.30%

Maps
  • Strongest candidate by electoral district.
  • Strongest candidate by municipality.

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

References
  1. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  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. "Candidatos à Presidência da República – Parte I". RTP (in Portuguese). 14 December 1995. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  6. "Os debates" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.

See also
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