Portugal President Rebelo de Sousa wins new term

LISBON: Portugal’s center-right president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, won a second term on Sunday in an election marked by record abstention as the country battles a crippling third wave of coronavirus contagion.

The 72-year-old former leader of the Social Democratic Party, known for his warm persona and habit of taking selfies with supporters, won 61% of votes, above his 52% win in 2016.

Still, 60% of voters abstained — the highest figure in Portuguese history — in part because 1.1 million voters from abroad were added to the electoral register for the first time, but also due to hundreds of thousands of people in quarantine.

The president holds a largely ceremonial role but can veto certain laws and decree states of emergency, a power Rebelo de Sousa deployed often during the pandemic, taking parliament’s lead.

“The most urgent of tasks is to combat the pandemic.



This is my priority, in total solidarity with parliament and government,” Rebelo de Sousa said in his victory speech.

Andre Ventura, a lawmaker for the far-right Chega party, narrowly lost out to left-wing candidate Ana Gomes in the fight for a distant second place, with 12% of the vote to Gomes’ 13%.

The result was nevertheless a significant jump for Ventura, a close ally of European far-right parties who dubs himself ‘anti-system’ and has fueled fears among rights groups for discriminatory views toward minorities. His party won just 1.3% of votes in the 2019 legislative elections.

Rebelo de Sousa, in an apparent dig at Ventura — whose campaign catchphrase was that he would represent the ‘good Portuguese’ and not those who lived off the state — vowed to be a president who “stabilizes, unites, who is not only of the ‘good’ against the ‘bad’.”