Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 24 January 2016. The election chose the successor to the President, AnÃÂbal Cavaco Silva, who was constitutionally not allowed to run for a third consecutive term.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the candidate supported by Social Democratic Party (PSD), CDS â People's Party (CDSâÂÂPP) and People's Monarchist Party (PPM), won the election on the first round with 52 percent of the vote. Marcelo also won in every single district in the country and only lost a few municipalities in the south of the country. The Socialist Party (PS), for the first time in a Presidential election, didn't officially support a candidate, with party members dividing their support for either António Sampaio da Nóvoa or Maria de Belém.
Portugal had about 9.7 million registered voters by election day. Turnout was higher than that of the 2011 election, but reached a record low in a presidential election with no incumbents as only 48.66 percent of the electorate cast a ballot. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was sworn in as President on 9 March 2016.
AnÃÂbal Cavaco Silva had served two consecutive five-year terms as president, the maximum number, and the 2016 election was to choose a successor for a term beginning on March 9. In Portugal, the president is the head of state, 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.
By the end of his 10 years in office, Cavaco Silva became very unpopular according to polling.
In order to stand for election, candidates must be of Portuguese origin and over 35 years old, gather 7,500 signatures of support one month before the election, and submit them to the Constitutional Court of Portugal.
Under Portuguese law, a candidate must receive a majority of votes (50% plus one vote) to be elected. If no candidate achieved a majority in the first round, a runoff election (i.e., second round, held between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round) would have been held on February 14.
On 29 December 2015 the Constitutional Court certified a record ten candidates as having met the requirements to appear on the ballot. This remains the highest numbers of candidates in a Presidential ballot in Portuguese democracy; previously, the highest number of presidential candidates had been six.
There were several number of debates between all the candidates in the three TV networks RTP, SIC, TVI. There was a radio debate between all candidates plus on January 19, there was a final debate between all of candidates on RTP1.
Completed televised debates:
The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas.
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