2021 Portuguese presidential election


Presidential elections will be held in Portugal in January 2021. The incumbent President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is constitutionally allowed to run for a second term.

Background

was elected in January 2016 with 52% of the votes on the first round. He took the oath of office on 9 March 2016 and since then, has been in cohabitation with Socialist Prime Minister António Costa.
In Portugal, the president is the head of state and has mostly ceremonial powers. However, the president does have some political influence and can dissolve the Parliament of Portugal if a crisis occurs. The president also has an official residence in the Belém Palace in Lisbon.

Electoral system

Under Portuguese law, a candidate must receive a majority of votes to be elected. If no candidate achieved a majority in the first round, a runoff election has to be held.
In order to stand for election, each candidate must gather 7,500 signatures of support one month before the election, and submit them to the Constitutional Court of Portugal. The Constitutional Court then certifies the candidacies which meet the requirements to appear on the ballot. The highest number of candidacies ever accepted was ten in 2016.

Candidates

Declared