Socialist Antônio José Seguro was elected the new president of Portugal today (8), surpassing the barrier of 3 million votes. He defeated the far-right candidate André Ventura, in the second round of the Portuguese elections. 
With more than 11 million citizens able to vote, Seguro had managed, by 9:30 pm (local time), more than 3.3 million votes. His opponent, André Ventura, had obtained 1.6 million votes, and abstention was close to 50%.
Only four other times since 1976 has a President of the Republic been elected with more than 3 million votes in the country, with Mário Soares being the only one to do so twice. In the first election, in 1986, the only ones to date to have a second round, the historic socialist leader obtained 3,010,756 votes (51.18%) against Freitas do Amaral. In the re-election in 1991, 3,459,521 voters voted for Soares, who won with a significant 70.35%, a percentage that still stands today as the highest ever recorded in Portuguese elections.
Antônio Ramalho Eanes was also re-elected with more than 3 million votes (3,262,520, or 56.44%) in 1980, while Jorge Sampaio received 3,035,056 million votes (53.91%) in his first election, in 1996.
This was the 11th time that the Portuguese went to the polls to choose the President of the Republic during democratic periods, since 1976.
Elected in 2016, the current resident of Portugal is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who ends his term in March 2026.
Since 1976, António Ramalho Eanes (1976-1986), Mário Soares (1986-1996), Jorge Sampaio (1996-2006), Cavaco Silva (2006-2016) and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (2016-2026) have been elected.
*With information from Agência Lusa
