Breaking: Socialist Party Candidate Elected President of Portugal with the Highest Vote Share in History
António José Seguro scores resounding win despite André Ventura’s populist Chega party securing 33.2% of votes.
The moderate socialist António José Seguro won a resounding victory in the second round of Portugal’s presidential election on Sunday, triumphing over his far-right opponent, André Ventura, whose Chega party still managed to take a record share of the vote.
Seguro won 66.8% of votes to Ventura’s 33.2% in the election, which went ahead despite weeks of disruption caused by deadly storms. The vote to elect a successor to the outgoing president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was marked by a cross-party push to head off the prospect of a Chega victory, with some senior rightwing figures throwing their weight behind the centre-left candidate to keep Ventura from entering the presidential palace.
“The response the Portuguese people gave today, their commitment to freedom, democracy, and the future of our country, leaves me naturally moved and proud of our nation,” said Seguro.
Ventura, a former football pundit, columnist, seminarian and novelist who founded Chega seven years ago, said the result showed that “the message from the Portuguese people is clear”, adding that Chega was now the main party on the right and would “soon be governing Portugal”. Earlier on Sunday, he had accused “the entire political system” of uniting against him.
The far-right, anti-establishment party had once again sought to make immigration a key issue in the campaign, setting up billboards across the country that read “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare”.
Chega’s result far exceeds the 22.8% it won at last May’s general election – and the 31.2% that the governing, centre-right Democratic Alliance took to win that election and propel Luís Montenegro to office as prime minister.
European leaders were quick to offer Seguro their congratulations. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said he looked forward to working with his new Portuguese counterpart to serve “a Europe that decides for itself, and is more competitive, more sovereign, and stronger!”.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the fact that Portuguese citizens had exercised their right to vote “in the face of the devastation caused by the storms, demonstrated remarkable democratic resilience”. She added: “Portugal’s voice in defending our shared European values remains strong.”
Reference link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/09/portugal-election-result-socialist-president-antonio-jose-seguro
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