Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro came out on top in the first round of Portugal's presidential election on Sunday, followed by the far-right leader Andre Ventura, and the two will face off in a 8 February runoff.
In the past five decades, a Portuguese presidential election has required a runoff only once in 1986, underscoring how fragmented the political landscape has become during the rise of the far right and growing voter disenchantment with mainstream parties.
With all the votes in Portugal counted, Seguro garnered 31.1%. Ventura was at 23.5%.
Joao Cotrim de Figueiredo of the right-wing, pro-business Liberal Initiative party came third among a total of 11 contenders, winning around 16%.
Last May, the anti-establishment, anti-immigration Chega, founded just about seven years ago, became the main opposition party in a parliamentary election, winning 22.8% of the vote.
As in much of Europe, the rise of the far right has swayed government policies, particularly on immigration, towards a more restrictive stance.
However, all recent opinion polls have shown Ventura, a former sports TV commentator, losing the runoff due to his high rejection rate of more than 60% of voters.
Ventura sounded combative as he left a Catholic mass he had attended in downtown Lisbon: "Now we need to unite the entire right wing ... I will fight day by day, minute by minute, second by second so that there won't be a Socialist president. We will win," he said.
"The country has woken up after these 40 years of no runoffs," he told supporters later.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said his centre-right Social Democrats, whose candidate Luis Marques Mendes came fifth at 11.3%, would not support any of the runoff contenders.
In a recent note, the Economist Intelligence Unit wrote that a Seguro-Ventura runoff "would be more straightforward given his (Ventura's) limited appeal beyond his core base".
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António José Seguro’s decisive victory over far-right challenger André Ventura marks an historic moment in Portuguese politics, but analysts caution that the result does not amount to a rejection of populism.
Centre-left António José Seguro secured a landslide win in Portugal’s presidential runoff, defeating far-right rival Andre Ventura and becoming the country’s first Socialist head of state in 20 years.
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António José Seguro’s decisive victory over far-right challenger André Ventura marks an historic moment in Portuguese politics, but analysts caution that the result does not amount to a rejection of populism.
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