Portuguese presidential election, 2006

The Portuguese presidential election were held on January 22, 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Jorge Sampaio, who was term-limited from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round for Aníbal Cavaco Silva of the Social Democratic Party candidate, the former Prime Minister, won 50.59 percent of the vote in the first round, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election. Voter turnout was 62.60 percent for eligible voters.

Candidates

Thirteen citizens sought election officially, but only six gathered the 7,500 signatures required under the constitution to be a candidate in the poll:
*Manuel Alegre, a Socialist Party politician who ran without the official backing of his party;
*Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995, supported by the Social Democratic Party and by the People's Party;
*Francisco Louçã, coordinator of the political commission of the Leftwing Bloc;
*Garcia Pereira, Secretary-General of the PCTP/MRPP;
*Mário Soares, President from 1986 to 1996, the official candidate of the Socialist Party; and
*Jerónimo de Sousa, Secretary-General of the Portuguese Communist Party , also supported by the Ecologist Party "The Greens".

All the candidates except for Cavaco Silva are considered to be from the Portuguese political left.

The other potential candidates who, according to the Constitutional Court, did not gather enough signatures, were:
*Josué Rodrigues Gonçalo Pedro;
*Luís Filipe Guerra, leader of the Humanist Party;
*Teresa Lameiro;
*Manuela Magno, nuclear physicist;
*Carmelinda Pereira, leader of the Workers Party of Socialist Unity;
*Luís Botelho Ribeiro; and
*Diamantino da Silva;

Results

Cavaco Silva secured more votes than all the other candidates combined. Even though his total represented less than half of the votes cast (including blank and invalid ballots), this was enough to win outright in the first round and avoid a run-off second ballot.