Seguro, Ventura through to second round of presidential campaign

António José Seguro and André Ventura were the winners of the first round of the presidential elections on Sunday, securing their place in the 8 February runoff, in an election in which Luís Marques Mendes recorded the worst ever PSD result in an election.

With 31.1% and around 1.7 million votes, Seguro managed to secure not only the votes of the PS, which he led between 2011 and 2014, but also the overwhelming majority of left-wing voters, leaving the candidates supported by Livre, BE and PCP, who together accounted for 10% in the legislative elections, with a residual vote of around 4%.

The former socialist secretary-general was the big winner of the night, not only for having concentrated the votes of the left, but also for having entered the presidential election with adverse polls that almost always placed him behind candidates such as retired admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, the first to appear as the favourite, or Luís Marques Mendes, who at one point was the best placed in the opinion polls.

At the end of the night, Seguro sought to broaden his support base for the second round, reviving Mário Soares’ maxim and promising to be “the President of all Portuguese people” and stating that he had received votes “from all political camps”, which “reinforces the independent nature of his candidacy”.

“I am free, I live without ties and I will act as President of the Republic in the same way”, he emphasised. André Ventura was the other winner on election night, despite failing to achieve his goal of victory in the first round, a goal he had reiterated throughout the campaign.

With 23.5% and around 1.3 million votes, Ventura apparently managed to retain Chega’s electorate from the last legislative elections (1.43 million votes) and to enter the second round, claiming the role of leader of the right in Portugal.

“I will unite the right from today onwards”, Ventura repeated during election night, taking advantage of the gap left by the Social Democratic leader and prime minister, Luís Montenegro, who wasted no time in indicating that “the PSD will not issue any voting recommendations” in the second round of the presidential elections and “will not be involved in the campaign”.

In the run-off scheduled for 8 February, António José Seguro will stand with the support of the PS and the entire left against André Ventura, who, despite claiming leadership of the right, will only have the support of Chega. Regardless of the parties, many figures are expected to take sides in the second round, as was the case with former Social Democrat minister Miguel Poiares Maduro on RTP and José Pacheco Pereira on TVI, both of whom expressed their support for António José Seguro.

João Cotrim Figueiredo, former leader of the Liberal Initiative, despite almost tripling his party’s result in the last legislative elections, had a bittersweet night, as he failed to achieve his main goal of contesting the second round.

After a campaign that was almost always on the rise, albeit with two embarrassing moments — when he acknowledged supporting Ventura in the second round and when he was accused of sexual harassment by a former IL adviser –, Cotrim always nurtured hope for the second round, a possibility that would come to nothing on election night. Despite acknowledging that he had supported Ventura during the campaign, Cotrim de Figueiredo followed Luís Montenegro’s lead and announced he would not endorse voting for the second round of the presidential elections.

Luís Marques Mendes was the main loser of the night, as he was the candidate supported by the coalition backing the Government, PSD and CDS-PP, and even appeared in first place in the polls. But the former Social Democrat minister came in fifth, with 11.3% and just over 630,000 votes, albeit in the most contested presidential election ever, with 11 candidates.

“The responsibility is mine, all mine and only mine”, said Marques Mendes, who also decided not to support any candidate in the second round. Henrique Gouveia e Melo, the retired admiral who was once considered by commentators to be the future president when he was ahead in the polls, came fourth with 12.3% and just under 700,000 votes.

Gouveia e Melo acknowledged that the results fell short of his goals, but warned that the country will continue to count on his “civic participation”.

The parties to the left of the PS — Livre, PCP and BE — also suffered heavy defeats, with their candidates Jorge Pinto, António Filipe and Catarina Martins failing to exceed a residual vote, which totalled around 4%. Catarina Martins obtained 2%, António Filipe 1.6% and Jorge Pinto 0.6%, the latter with fewer votes than the musician Manuel João Vieira (1.08%).