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The forecasts of the media already saw him clearly ahead, now the result is official: in the presidential elections in Portugal, the conservative incumbent Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was re-elected with 61.6 percent after counting 98 percent of the votes . The AP and AFP news agencies report unanimously.
Socialist candidate Ana Gomes got 12.2 percent, right-wing populist André Ventura got 11.9 percent. To avoid a second round, Rebelo de Sousa only needed more than half the votes. The victory of the 72-year-old man, who was a television journalist and law professor, was already hinted at in the media forecasts.
Politicians called for the elections to be postponed
The vote was overshadowed by the dramatic worsening of the crown crisis in the EU country. Portugal has just been declared a crown high risk area by Germany. The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days was recently around 750. According to the University of Oxford, Portugal has the highest incidence value of seven days in the world. The background for the high number of infections is apparently the British crown mutation B 1.1.7.
Due to the pandemic, numerous politicians and other personalities have called for the election to be postponed. In a poll commissioned by the weekly »Expresso«, 57 percent were in favor of a measure. There was also the fear of extremely low voter turnout due to the pandemic.
High electoral turnout, despite the pandemic
According to initial forecasts, the concern was probably unfounded: 45 to 50 percent of all eligible voters went to the polls. This roughly corresponds to the values of the presidential elections of 2011 and 2016.
Voters were only allowed to enter individually to contain the crown pandemic, and last week there was also an early vote to reduce the rush. In Lisbon and Porto, however, there were sometimes long lines on Sundays.
Rebelo de Sousa is considered close to the people and in the past he worked without major conflicts with the left-wing government of Prime Minister António Costa. So far, for example, there have been hardly any conflicts over the declaration and design of Corona’s state of emergency.
The head of state has a lot of power in Portugal. The president can veto laws and dissolve parliament and call new elections. For Portugal it was the 10th presidential election since the Carnation Revolution of 1974.
