A presidential election was held in Portugal on 27 June 1976.
With a broad base of support that comprised the center-left and the center-right, Ramalho Eanes won the election on the first round and became the first elected President of Portugal after the Carnation Revolution.
The Portuguese Communist Party presented its own candidate, Octávio Pato, a well known anti-fascist. Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, a key figure during the Carnation Revolution in 1974, was also a candidate. Eanes was sworn in as President on 14 July 1976.
Electoral system
Any Portuguese citizen over 35 years old has the opportunity to run for president. In order to do so it was necessary to gather between 7500 and 15000 signatures and submit them to the Supreme Court of Justice by 28 May 1976.
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
Official candidates
- António Ramalho Eanes – Military officer, Main leader against the Coup of 25 November 1975, former chairman of RTP, supported by the Socialist Party, Democratic People's Party, Democratic and Social Centre and the Portuguese Workers' Communist Party;
- José Pinheiro de Azevedo – Navy officer, Prime Minister between 1975 and 1976, Independent candidate;
- Octávio Pato – supported by the Portuguese Communist Party;
- Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho – Military officer, Independent candidate supported by the Popular Democratic Union, Movement of Socialist Left, People's Socialist Front and the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat – Revolutionary Brigades.
Unsuccessful candidacies
There was also one candidate rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court for not complying with the legal requirements:
- Venceslau Pompílio da Cruz.
Withrawn candidates
- Arlete Vieira da Silva – supported by the Internationalist Communist League and the Workers' Revolutionary Party.
Campaign period
Party slogans
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:left;"
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2"| Candidate
! Original slogan
! English translation
! Refs
|-
| width="1" bgcolor="#ff0081"|
| António Ramalho Eanes
| « Muitos prometem... Eanes cumpre »<br/>« Candidato de Portugal »
| "Many promise ... Eanes delivers"<br/>"Portugal's Candidate"
|
|-
| bgcolor="#810000"|
| Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
| « O 25 de Abril à Presidência »
| "April 25 to the Presidency"
|
|}
Opinion polls
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible sortable sticky-header-multi" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%;line-height:16px;"
! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:110px;"|Polling firm
! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:150px;"|Date released
! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" |Sample<br>size
!
!
!
!
! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |
! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |Lead
|-
! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |
! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |
! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |
! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |
|-
! style="background:#ff0081;"|
! style="background:#810000;"|
! style="background:#777777;"|
! style="background:;"|
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"
| Election results
| 26 Jun 1976
|
| bgcolor=pink |61.6
| 16.5
| 14.4
| 7.6
|
| style="background:#ff0081; color:white;"|45.1
|-
| colspan="9" style="background:#A0A0A0"|
|-
| Expresso
| 9 Jun 1976
|
| bgcolor=pink |53.2
| 17.7
| 22.6
| 4.8
| 1.7
| style="background:#ff0081; color:white;"|30.6
|}
Results
National summary
Results by district
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right; font-size:95%"
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | District
! colspan="2" | Eanes
! colspan="2" | Otelo
! colspan="2" | Azevedo
! colspan="2" | Pato
! rowspan="2" | Turnout
|-
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
|-
| style="background:#FF0081" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Aveiro
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 217,589
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 74.47%
| 20,634
| 6.97%
| 46,346
| 15.86%
| 7,866
| 2.69%
| 77.38%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081 |
| style="text-align:left;" | Azores
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 30,646
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 86.06%
| 9,510
| 9.01%
| 17,076
| 16.18%
| 2,562
| 2.43%
| 71.13%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Beja
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 36,219
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 34.59%
| 34,339
| 32.80%
| 7,296
| 6.97%
| 26,844
| 25.64%
| 74.37%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Braga
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 218,459
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 70.20%
| 25,089
| 8.06%
| 59,093
| 18.99%
| 8,550
| 2.75%
| 82.34%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Bragança
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 67,593
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 82.59%
| 2,725
| 3.33%
| 9,357
| 11.43%
| 2,167
| 2.65%
| 68.71%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Castelo Branco
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 98,828
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 76.25%
| 14,393
| 11.33%
| 10,927
| 8.61%
| 4,833
| 3.81%
| 73.66%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Coimbra
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 147,906
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 71.93%
| 19,801
| 9.63%
| 29,038
| 14.12%
| 8,887
| 4.32%
| 67.51%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Évora
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 39,847
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 36.03%
| 38,509
| 34.82%
| 10,500
| 9.50%
| 21,726
| 19.65%
| 81.28%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Faro
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 87,590
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 52.88%
| 41,018
| 24.76%
| 24,331
| 14.69%
| 12,698
| 7.67%
| 70.81%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Guarda
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 88,451
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 82.87%
| 4,528
| 4.24%
| 11,194
| 10.49%
| 2,558
| 2.40%
| 72.64%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Leiria
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 156,404
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 76.63%
| 18,682
| 9.15%
| 20,109
| 9.85%
| 8,915
| 4.37%
| 73.26%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Lisbon
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 582,103
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 53.55%
| 259,915
| 23.91%
| 132,600
| 12.20%
| 112,395
| 10.34%
| 75.93%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Madeira
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 76,417
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 72.39%
| 9,510
| 9.01%
| 17,076
| 16.18%
| 2,562
| 2.43%
| 74.81%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Portalegre
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 47,665
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 56.12%
| 14,122
| 16.63%
| 10,893
| 12.82%
| 12,258
| 14.43%
| 78.24%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Porto
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 450,236
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 60.43%
| 86,356
| 11.59%
| 169,940
| 22.81%
| 38,548
| 5.17%
| 80.76%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Santarém
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 141,397
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 58.68%
| 48,370
| 20.07%
| 31,564
| 13.10%
| 19,634
| 8.15%
| 73.53%
|-
| style="background:#810000;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Setúbal
| 96,739
| 29.87%
| style="background:#a88080; color:#000;" | 135,495
| style="background:#a88080; color:#000;" | 41.83%
| 31,166
| 9.62%
| 60,519
| 18.68%
| 77.78%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Viana do Castelo
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 87,136
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 74.64%
| 8,075
| 6.92%
| 17,174
| 14.71%
| 4,362
| 3.74%
| 72.36%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Vila Real
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 91,261
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 81.59%
| 4,552
| 4.07%
| 12,604
| 11.27%
| 3,433
| 3.07%
| 67.59%
|-
| style="background:#FF0081;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Viseu
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 155,520
| style="background:pink; color:#000;" | 81.19%
| 7,447
| 3.90%
| 25,071
| 13.09%
| 3,490
| 1.82%
| 69.81%
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="11" style="text-align:left;" | Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results
|}
Maps
<gallery mode="packed" heights="330">
File:Eleições presidenciais 1976 Portugal.png|Strongest candidate by electoral district.
File:Eleições presidenciais portuguesas de 1976 (Mapa).png|Strongest candidate by municipality: Eanes - magenta; Otelo - dark red; Octávio Pato - red.
</gallery>
Notes
References
External links
- National Election Commission