Middle-left Socialist candidate António José Seguro celebrates after defeating far-right populist André Ventura within the second spherical of Portugal’s presidential election in Lisbon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.
Ana Brigida/AP
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Ana Brigida/AP
LISBON, Portugal — Middle-left Socialist candidate António José Seguro recorded a thumping victory over hard-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s runoff presidential election Sunday, in accordance with official outcomes with 99% of votes counted.
Seguro received a five-year time period in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66.7% of votes, in contrast with 33.3% for Ventura.
The poll was a chance to check the depth of assist for Ventura’s brash fashion, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Sufficient) social gathering the second-biggest within the Portuguese parliament, in addition to gauge the general public urge for food for Europe’s rising shift to the precise in recent times.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Seguro and mentioned on social media that “Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a average candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority authorities, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.
He received the backing of different mainstream politicians on the left and proper who wish to halt the rising populist tide.
In Portugal, the president is essentially a figurehead with no government energy. Historically, the top of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.
Nevertheless, the president is an influential voice and possesses some highly effective instruments, with the ability to veto laws from parliament, though the veto may be overturned. The top of state additionally possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is named an “atomic bomb,” the facility to dissolve parliament and name early elections.
In Might, Portugal held its third normal election in three years within the nation’s worst bout of political instability for many years, and steadying the ship is a key problem for the subsequent president.
Presidential candidate Andre Ventura, of the populist Chega social gathering, casts his poll in Portugal’s presidential election in Lisbon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.
Ana Brigida/AP
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Ana Brigida/AP
Ventura, an eloquent and theatrical politician, rejected political lodging in favor of a extra combative stance.
Ventura mentioned he’ll hold working to deliver a few political “transformation” in Portugal.
“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he advised reporters.
Making it via to the runoff was already a milestone for Ventura and his social gathering, which have recalibrated Portuguese politics.
Considered one of Ventura’s essential targets has been what he calls extreme immigration, as international employees have grow to be extra conspicuous in Portugal in recent times.
“Portugal is ours,” he mentioned.
In the course of the marketing campaign, Ventura put up billboards throughout the nation saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”
Though he based his social gathering lower than seven years in the past, its surge in public assist made it the second-largest social gathering in Portugal’s parliament within the Might 18 normal election.
Seguro will subsequent month substitute center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutional restrict of two five-year phrases.
