1991 Portuguese presidential election

1991 Portuguese presidential election

13 January 1991
Turnout	62.2% 15.8 pp
130px 180px Candidate Mário Soares Basílio Horta Carlos Carvalhas Party PS CDS PCP Popular vote 3,459,521 696,379 635,373 Percentage 70.4% 14.2% 12.9%
230px Results by municipalities.
President before election Mário Soares PS Elected President Mário Soares PS

The 1991 Portuguese presidential election was held on 13 January.

The re-election of the hugely popular Mário Soares was never in doubt, specially after the then-ruling PSD, led by Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva announced its support. Therefore, the election held on 13 January 1991 was a landslide, and no second round was needed.

As the election of a left-wing candidate was assured, other left-wing parties, the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union, presented their own candidates. The communists presented Carlos Carvalhas, who had been Assistant General Secretary of the Party a year before (Álvaro Cunhal was the secretary-general). Carvalhas would later be elected secretary-general, in 1992.

On the right, as the Social Democratic Party supported Soares, the Democratic and Social Centre presented the only right-wing candidate, Basílio Horta.

Mário Soares achieved the majority of the votes in every district of the country, and 295 of the then 305 municipalities. His score was the biggest ever in a presidential election in Portugal.

Procedure

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 7500 and 15000 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

• Mário Soares, Incumbent President since 1986 and eligible for a second term, supported by the Socialist Party, and tacitly by the Social Democratic Party;
• Basílio Horta, Minister in previous governments, supported by the Democratic and Social Centre;
• Carlos Carvalhas, supported by the Portuguese Communist Party and Ecologist Party "The Greens";
• Carlos Manuel Marques, supported by the People's Democratic Union;

Decided not to run

• Francisco Lucas Pires, Former leader of the Democratic and Social Centre (1983-1986);

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidate		Original slogan	English translation	Refs
	Mário Soares	« Soares é fixe »	"Soares is cool"
	Basílio Horta	« Um Homem às direitas »	"An upright man"
	Carlos Carvalhas	« Portugal pode ser melhor »	"Portugal can be better"
	Carlos Manuel Marques	« A coragem de ser solidário »	"The courage to be supportive"

Candidates' debates

1991 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee
			Soares	Horta	Carvalhas	Marques	Refs
21 Nov 1990	RTP1	Vicente Jorge Silva Maria Elisa Domingues	P	A	P	P
4 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	N	N	P	P
6 Dec 1990	RTP1	Mário Crespo	P	P	N	N
11 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	P	N	P	N
13 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	N	P	N	P
19 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	P	N	N	P
20 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	N	P	P	N
21 Dec 1990	RTP2	Joaquim Furtado	P	P	P	P

Opinion polls

      Exit poll

Polling firm	Date released	Sample size		60x90px	80x80px		Lead
			Soares PS	Horta CDS	Carvalhas PCP	Marques UDP
Election Results	13 Jan 1991	N/A	70.4	14.2	12.9	2.6	56.2
Euroexpansão/RTP	13 Jan 1991	N/A	69.5–73.4	14.1–17.2	9.3–12.6	1.6–2.9	55.8

Results

Summary of the 13 January 1991 Portuguese presidential election results

Candidates		Supporting parties	First round
			Votes	%
	Mário Soares	Socialist Party (and tacitly by the Social Democratic Party)	3,459,521	70.35
	Basílio Horta	Democratic and Social Centre	696,379	14.16
	Carlos Carvalhas	Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens"	635,373	12.92
	Carlos Manuel Marques	People's Democratic Union	126,581	2.57
Total valid			4,917,854	100.00
Blank ballots			112,877	2.21
Invalid ballots			68,037	1.33
Total			5,098,768
Registered voters/turnout			8,202,212	62.16
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Vote share 1st Round
Mário Soares			70.35%
Basílio Horta			14.16%
Carlos Carvalhas			12.92%
Carlos Manuel Marques			2.57%
Blank/Invalid			3.54%

Maps

• Eleições presidenciais 1991.png

  Strongest candidate by electoral district.

• Eleições presidenciais portuguesas de 1991 (Mapa).png

  Strongest candidate by municipality.

External links

• Portuguese Electoral Commission
• NSD: European Election Database - Portugal publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010

See also

• President of Portugal
• Portugal
• Politics of Portugal