Veteran center-left politician Antonio Jose Seguro has won 66% of the vote, seeing off a challenge from the far-right.
Antonio Jose Seguro of the center-left Socialist Party won the second round of the presidential election in Portugal on Sunday.
With 99% of ballots counted, Seguro had won 66.7% of votes to secure a five-year term.
Seguro saw off a challenge from the far-right populist Chega party’s Andree Ventura, who won 33.3% of the vote.
The 63-year-old will succeed conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The Portuguese president is largely a figurehead with no executive power but can veto legislation, dissolve parliament and call early elections.
Ventura said he will keep working to bring about a political “transformation” in Portugal.
“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he told reporters.
People raise their arms in the air and cheer as they wave scarves saying Seguro after Antonio Jose Seguro’s election victoryPeople raise their arms in the air and cheer as they wave scarves saying Seguro after Antonio Jose Seguro’s election victory
Supporters of Antonio Jose Seguro celebrate his presidential win in LisbonImage: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP
Portugal showed ‘resilience’ in holding election after storm disruption
The election campaign had been upended by fierce storms that killed at least seven people.
The disruption from the storms forced around 20 of the worst-hit constituencies to postpone the vote by a week, but it went ahead for nearly all the 11 million eligible voters in Portugal and abroad.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Seguro on his win, adding that “Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
“The Portuguese citizens have spoken and, in the face of devastation caused by the storms, demonstrated remarkable democratic resilience,” she wrote.
French President Emmanuel Macron also congratulated Seguro, saying he would work with the new president to strengthen ties between Portugal and France.
Who is Seguro?
During the first round three weeks ago, Seguro came out top, with 31% support, but fell far short of an absolute majority.
Seguro has positioned himself as a moderate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government.
The veteran politician returned from a teaching hiatus specifically for this race, which he has framed as a clear choice between democracy and radicalism.
