1996 Portuguese presidential election

A presidential election was held in Portugal on 14 January 1996.

Incumbent president Mário Soares was constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term. The Social Democrats were coming from a clear defeat in the 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, ran against the Mayor of Lisbon, Jorge Sampaio. This 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 percent margin.

The other left-wing candidates, Jerónimo de Sousa and Alberto Matos, presented by the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union respectively, both withdrew from the race one week before the elections, announcing their support for Jorge Sampaio, in order to concentrate the left-wing vote and avoid a runoff. 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 Social Democratic Party, failing to get the support of the People's Party, led by Manuel Monteiro. On election day, Sampaio won with nearly 54 percent of the votes and by a more than 400,000 vote margin over Cavaco Silva, which gathered just over 46 percent of the votes and, once more, the right-wing parties did not win the presidential election.

Sampaio gained 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 percent 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 sworn in as President on 9 March 1996.

Aníbal Cavaco Silva would have to wait ten more years to be elected president in 2006.

Electoral system

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 7,500 and 15,000 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

Official candidates

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! colspan="2" |Candidate

!Party support

!Political office(s)

! style="max-width:20em;" |Details

|Jorge Sampaio (56)

|align=left|

|Mayor of Lisbon (1989–1995) Secretary-general of the Socialist Party (1989–1992) Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1976–1983; 1985–1995)

|Socialist Party (PS) member; lawyer.

|Aníbal Cavaco Silva (56)

|align=left|

|Prime Minister (1985–1995) President of the Social Democratic Party (1985–1995) Minister of Finance (1980–1981)

|Social Democratic Party (PSD) member; economist.

Withdrew candidacy

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! colspan="2" |Candidate

!Party support

!Political office(s)

! style="max-width:20em;" |Details

|Jerónimo de Sousa (48)

|align=left|

|Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1976–2022)

|Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) member; withrew in favour of Jorge Sampaio.

|Alberto Matos (44)

|align=left|

|Member of the Almada Municipal Assembly (1993–1997) Member of the Beja Municipal Assembly (1980–1982)

|Popular Democratic Union (UDP) member; withrew in favour of Jorge Sampaio.

Did not run

António Ramalho Eanes – former President of the Republic (1976–1986)
Fernando Gomes – incumbent Mayor of Porto (1989–1998)
Mário Sottomayor Cardia – former Minister of Education (1976–1978)

| bgcolor=""|

| Aníbal Cavaco Silva

| « Em nome de Portugal »

| "In the name of Portugal"

| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| 21 Dec 1995

| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| SIC

| style="white-space:nowrap; text-align:left;"| Margarida Marante Miguel Sousa Tavares

| style="background:#D0FFD0;"|P

| style="background:#FFD0D0;"|N

Opinion polls

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

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible sortable sticky-header-multi" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%;line-height:16px;"

! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" |Polling firm

! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:150px;" |Date released

! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:45px;" |Sample size

! class="unsortable" width="55px" |Sampaio

! class="unsortable" width="55px" |Cavaco

! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:55px;" | /

! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |Lead

|- style="height:20px;"

! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |

! style="background:;" |

| colspan="7" style="background:#A0A0A0"|

|- style="background:#EFEFEF;"

| Election results

| 14 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 53.9

| 46.1

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 7.8

| colspan="7" style="background:#A0A0A0"|

|- style="background:#EAFFEA"

| Euroteste

| 14 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 56–60

| 40–44

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 16

|- style="background:#EAFFEA"

| Metris

| 14 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 56.8–61.2

| 38.8–43.2

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 18.0

|- style="background:#EAFFEA"

| UCP

| 14 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 54.6–58.2

| 41.8–45.6

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 12.8

| UCP

| 6 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 52.1

| 47.9

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 4.2

| Metris

| 6 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 57.1

| 42.9

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 14.2

| Euroteste

| 6 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 57.5

| 42.5

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 15.0

| Euroexpansão

| 6 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 57.7

| 42.3

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 15.4

| Independente

| 5 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 56.7

| 43.3

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 13.4

| Visão

| 4 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 51.2

| 38.1

| 10.7

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 13.1

| Euroteste

| 1 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 58.7

| 41.3

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 17.4

| Jornal de Notícias

| 1 Jan 1996

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 50.7

| 42.6

| 6.7

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 8.1

| Metris

| 30 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 56.4

| 41.7

| 1.9

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 14.7

| Euroexpansão

| 30 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 58.8

| 40.0

| 1.2

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 18.8

| Independente

| 29 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 58.3

| 41.7

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 16.6

| Euroexpansão

| 23 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 60.0

| 36.5

| 3.5

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 23.5

| Independente

| 22 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 56.8

| 43.2

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 13.6

| UCP

| 21 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 54.1

| 43.7

| 2.2

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 10.4

| Metris

| 15 Dec 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"| 53.8

| 42.6

| 3.6

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" | 11.2

|Euroexpansão

|25 Nov 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"|47

|39

|14

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" |8

|Euroexpansão

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" |8

|Euroexpansão

|28 Oct 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"|48

|38

|14

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" |10

|Euroexpansão

|7 Oct 1995

| style="background:#FFCBFF"|47

|39

|14

| style="background:#FF66FF; color:white" |8

;Other candidates

{| class="wikitable unsortable" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%;line-height:16px;"

! rowspan="3" |Polling firm

! rowspan="3" |Date released

! rowspan="3" class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" | /

! rowspan="3" |Lead

! class="unsortable" style="width:30px;" |

! style="background:;" |

! style="background:#777777;" |

| rowspan="3" |Euroexpansão