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“In the terms of the Constitution and the Electoral Law, the President of the Republic today signed the decree that sets the presidential elections for Sunday, January 24, 2021, which has already been published in the Diário da República,” reads a note released. on the website of the Presidency of the Republic.
The Electoral Law of the President of the Republic establishes that the Head of State “shall set the date of the first vote for the election to the Presidency of the Republic at least 60 days in advance.” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa signed this decree 61 days before the date of the elections.
If none of the candidates obtains more than half of the validly cast votes and the blank votes are not considered as such, “the second vote will take place on the twenty-first day after the first” between the two most voted candidates, in this case It will be on February 14.
The law establishes that “both the first and the eventual second vote will be held in the 60 days prior to the end of the mandate of the outgoing President of the Republic,” which is March 9, 2021.
The date of these elections had already been announced to the media by the political parties, who reported receiving this information from the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the hearings held a week ago at the Palace of Belém.
Elected in the presidential elections of January 24, 2016, in the first round, with 52% of the votes cast, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa took office on March 9, 2006, and throughout his term he kept the candidacy open.
Recently, in an interview with RTP, he promised to announce his decision in “late November, early December”, after setting the date for the elections.
In February of this year, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had stated that he would first call the elections “as president” and only later would he assume a candidacy, “as a citizen.”
The nine previous presidential elections in democracy were held in January, except for the first two after April 25, 1974, for which the 1976 Constitution established special deadlines, associated with the beginning and end of the first legislature.
The first elections were on June 27, 1976 and the second on December 7, 1980.
The following occurred on January 26, 1986 – the only ones with a second round, which occurred on February 16, 1986 – and on January 13, 1991, on January 14, 1996, on January 14, 2001, on January 2006, January 23, 2011 and January 24, 2016.
