# 2011 Portuguese presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 23 January 2011. The elections resulted in the re-election of Aníbal Cavaco Silva to a second term as President of Portugal. Turnout in this election was very low, where only 46.52 percent of the electorate cast their ballots. Cavaco Silva won by a landslide winning all 18 districts, both Autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira and 292 municipalities of a total of 308.

## Background

During the 2006 presidential elections, former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the only candidate of the center-right had won the ballot in the first round with 50.5 percent of the votes cast. He had faced two particular candidates from the ruling Socialist Party, the official candidate Mário Soares, former President of the Republic came in third with 14.3 percent, Manuel Alegre, a dissident, ranked second with 20.7 percent of votes. This historic victory of a conservative candidate, the first after the Carnation Revolution, inaugurated a period of "political cohabitation" with Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates.
The general elections of September 2009 confirmed this situation, and brought the PS once again to power, however depriving them of an absolute majority. The situation of economic and financial crisis that the country was facing led to the adoption of an austerity plan and budget for more frequent intervention of the Head of State in politics to promote agreement among political parties in the country.

## Electoral system

Any Portuguese citizen over 35 years old has the opportunity to run for president. In order to do so it is necessary to gather between 7,500 and 15,000 signatures and submit them to the Portuguese Constitutional Court.
According to the Portuguese Constitution, to be elected, a candidate needs a simple majority (50% + 1). If no candidate gets this majority there is a second round between the two most voted candidates.

## Candidates
### Official candidates

* Aníbal Cavaco Silva: President since 2006 and eligible for a second term. Supported by: Social Democratic Party, People's Party, Hope for Portugal Movement
* Manuel Alegre: Former member of the Assembly of the Republic. Supported by: Socialist Party, Left Bloc, Portuguese Workers' Communist Party, Democratic Party of the Atlantic
* Fernando Nobre: Independent.
* Defensor Moura: Member of the Socialist Party and former mayor of Viana do Castelo, running as an independent.
* Francisco Lopes: Supported by: Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens"
* José Manuel Coelho: Independent, supported by the New Democracy Party.

### Unsuccessful candidacies

* Luís Botelho Ribeiro: Leader of the Pro-life party. His application was formalised on Monday, 20 December, with over 8,000 signatures. His candidacy was analysed by the Constitutional Court. On 29 December, the court concluded that his candidacy did not meet the requirements provided by law.
* José Ribeiro e Castro: Member of the Democratic and Social Centre – People´s Party, speculated to run as an alternative right-wing candidate, because of Cavaco's decision to approve same-sex marriage. However, he did not go forward with his candidacy.
* José Pinto Coelho: Leader of the far-right National Renovator Party. He declared that his candidacy for the presidency was "cut short" by failing to gather the 7,500 signatures required. He claimed to have gathered 5,878 signatures.

## Campaign period
### Party slogans

| Candidate | Original slogan | English translation |
| Aníbal Cavaco Silva | « Acredito nos Portugueses » | "I believe in the Portuguese" |
| Manuel Alegre | « Um Presidente justo e solidário » | "A fair and supportive President" |
| Fernando Nobre | « Um Presidente como nós » | "A President like us" |
| Francisco Lopes | « O voto certo na mudança necessária » | "The right vote in the necessary change" |
| Defensor Moura | « Contra a resignação » | "Against resignation" |

### Candidates' debates

2011 Portuguese presidential election debates :
| Date | Organisers | Moderator(s) | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee |
| Date | Organisers | Moderator(s) | Cavaco | Alegre | Nobre | Lopes | Moura | Refs |
| 14 Dec 2010 | RTP1 | Judite de Sousa | N | N | P | P | N | |
| 16 Dec 2010 | RTP1 | Judite de Sousa | N | P | N | N | P | |
| 17 Dec 2010 | SIC | Clara de Sousa | P | N | P | N | N | |
| 18 Dec 2010 | SIC | Clara de Sousa | N | P | N | P | N | |
| 21 Dec 2010 | TVI | Constança Cunha e Sá | P | N | N | P | N | |
| 22 Dec 2010 | TVI | Constança Cunha e Sá | N | P | P | N | N | |
| 23 Dec 2010 | SIC | Clara de Sousa | P | N | N | N | P | |
| 27 Dec 2010 | RTP1 | Judite de Sousa | N | N | P | N | P | |
| 28 Dec 2010 | TVI | Constança Cunha e Sá | N | N | N | P | P | |
| 29 Dec 2010 | RTP1 | Judite de Sousa | P | P | N | N | N | |

## Campaign budgets

| Candidate (party) | Election Result | State Subsidy | State Subsidy | Political Parties Contributions | Fundraising | Total Recipes | Total Recipes | Expenses | Debt |
| Candidate (party) | Election Result | Calculated | Budgeted | Political Parties Contributions | Fundraising | Calculated | Budgeted | Expenses | Debt |
| Cavaco Silva (PSD, CDS-PP, MEP) | 53.0% | €1,920,000 | €1,570,000 | €0 | €550,000 | €2,470,000 | €2,120,000 | €2,120,000 | €0 |
| Manuel Alegre (PS, BE, PDA, PCTP) | 19.7% | €836,000 | €1,350,000 | €500,000 | €50,000 | €1,386,000 | €1,900,000 | €1,640,000 | €254,000 |
| Fernando Nobre (I) | 14.1% | €653,000 | €511,200 | €0 | €331,460 | €984,460 | €842,660 | €842,660 | €0 |
| Francisco Lopes (PCP, PEV) | 7.1% | €425,000 | €512,000 | €270,000 | €18,000 | €713,000 | €800,000 | €800,000 | €87,000 |
| Defensor Moura (I) | 1.6% | €0 | €225,000 | €0 | €25,000 | €25,000 | €250,000 | €250,000 | €225,000 |
| José Manuel Coelho (PND) | 4.5% | €0 | €10,000 | €30,000 | €50,000 | €80,000 | €90,000 | €90,000 | €10,000 |
| Luís Botelho Ribeiro (PPV) | - | - | €7,000 | €0 | €0 | €7,000 | €7,000 | €7,000 | €0 |
| Source: Portuguese Constitutional Court (TC) (Note that some candidates filed with the TC, but did not pursue their candidacy.) ||||||||||

## Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas.
| Turnout | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time | Time |
| Turnout | 12:00 | 12:00 | 12:00 | 16:00 | 16:00 | 16:00 | 19:00 | 19:00 | 19:00 |
| Turnout | 2006 | 2011 | ± | 2006 | 2011 | ± | 2006 | 2011 | ± |
| Total | 19.32% | 13.39% | 5.93 pp | 45.56% | 35.16% | 10.40 pp | 61.53% | 46.52% | 15.01 pp |
| Sources ||||||||||

## Results

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | Social Democratic Party–People's Party–Hope for Portugal Movement | 2,231,956 | 52.95 |
| | Manuel Alegre | Socialist Party–Left Bloc–Portuguese Workers' Communist Party | 831,838 | 19.74 |
| | Fernando Nobre | Independent | 593,021 | 14.07 |
| | Francisco Lopes | Portuguese Communist Party–The Greens | 301,017 | 7.14 |
| | José Manuel Coelho | New Democracy Party | 189,918 | 4.51 |
| | Defensor Moura [pt] | Independent | 67,110 | 1.59 |
| Total | Total | Total | 4,214,860 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 4,214,860 | 93.82 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 85,466 | 1.90 |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 192,127 | 4.28 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,492,453 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 9,657,312 | 46.52 |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |||||

### Results by district

| District | District | Cavaco | Cavaco | Alegre | Alegre | Nobre | Nobre | Lopes | Lopes | Manuel Coelho | Manuel Coelho | Defensor Moura | Defensor Moura | Turnout |
| District | District | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Turnout |
| | Aveiro | 182,730 | 60.70% | 52,820 | 17.55% | 40,873 | 13.58% | 11,190 | 3.72% | 9,924 | 3.30% | 3,487 | 1.16% | 49.25% |
| | Azores | 36,122 | 56.04% | 16,197 | 25.13% | 7,037 | 10.92% | 1,464 | 2.27% | 2,925 | 4.54% | 714 | 1.11% | 31.12% |
| | Beja | 18,754 | 33.31% | 14,300 | 25.40% | 6,108 | 10.85% | 14,886 | 26.44% | 1,667 | 2.96% | 588 | 1.04% | 43.50% |
| | Braga | 222,444 | 57.77% | 74,086 | 19.24% | 50,336 | 13.07% | 17,189 | 4.46% | 14,137 | 3.67% | 6,875 | 1.79% | 52.54% |
| | Bragança | 37,456 | 65.11% | 10,860 | 18.88% | 5,453 | 9.48% | 1,632 | 2.84% | 1,526 | 2.65% | 603 | 1.05% | 39.10% |
| | Castelo Branco | 45,518 | 53.81% | 45,518 | 22.64% | 10,518 | 12.43% | 4,488 | 5.31% | 3,798 | 4.49% | 1,121 | 1.33% | 47.07% |
| | Coimbra | 85,579 | 52.02% | 38,155 | 23.19% | 23,811 | 14.47% | 9,285 | 5.64% | 5,934 | 3.61% | 1,746 | 1.06% | 45.15% |
| | Évora | 24,250 | 37.63% | 15,886 | 24.65% | 7,643 | 11.86% | 13,962 | 21.67% | 2,050 | 3.18% | 651 | 1.01% | 46.52% |
| | Faro | 76,896 | 52.27% | 27,248 | 18.52% | 23,474 | 15.96% | 10,889 | 7.40% | 6,048 | 4.36% | 2,186 | 1.49% | 43.91% |
| | Guarda | 42,762 | 59.98% | 13,608 | 19.09% | 8,903 | 12.49% | 2,706 | 3.80% | 2,542 | 3.57% | 771 | 1.08% | 43.62% |
| | Leiria | 118,748 | 61.64% | 28,095 | 14.58% | 27,855 | 14.46% | 9,040 | 4.69% | 6,632 | 3.44% | 2,266 | 1.18% | 48.94% |
| | Lisbon | 411,341 | 48.59% | 184,446 | 21.79% | 136,633 | 16.14% | 72,465 | 8.56% | 29,070 | 3.43% | 12,668 | 1.50% | 48.46% |
| | Madeira | 52,168 | 44.01% | 9,105 | 7.68% | 7,687 | 6.48% | 2,346 | 1.98% | 46,247 | 39.01% | 986 | 0.83% | 47.92% |
| | Portalegre | 20,360 | 44.69% | 12,038 | 26.42% | 5,062 | 11.11% | 5,895 | 12.94% | 1,667 | 3.66% | 537 | 1.18% | 45.27% |
| | Porto | 415,408 | 54.83% | 151,668 | 20.02% | 113,613 | 14.99% | 41,839 | 5.52% | 24,748 | 3.27% | 10,415 | 1.37% | 51.41% |
| | Santarém | 95,479 | 51.90% | 35,723 | 19.42% | 28,061 | 15.25% | 15,462 | 8.40% | 7,148 | 3.89% | 2,108 | 1.15% | 48.72% |
| | Setúbal | 109,800 | 36.57% | 70,480 | 23.48% | 50,762 | 16.91% | 54,472 | 18.14% | 10,560 | 3.52% | 4,147 | 1.38% | 45.27% |
| | Viana do Castelo | 64,719 | 58.66% | 14,854 | 13.64% | 10,962 | 9.94% | 3,937 | 3.57% | 4,105 | 3.72% | 11,745 | 10.65% | 45.24% |
| | Vila Real | 59,378 | 65.47% | 16,431 | 18.12% | 8,610 | 9.49% | 2,536 | 2.80% | 2,853 | 3.15% | 889 | 0.98% | 40.16% |
| | Viseu | 103,576 | 64.97% | 25,053 | 15.71% | 19,795 | 12.42% | 4,575 | 2.87% | 4,971 | 3.12% | 1,460 | 0.92% | 44.05% |
| | Overseas | 8,115 | 65.39% | 2,432 | 19.60% | 872 | 7.03% | 663 | 5.34% | 179 | 1.44% | 149 | 1.20% | 5.54% |
| Source: 2011 Presidential election results |||||||||||||||

### Maps

* Strongest candidate by electoral district. (Azores and Madeira not shown)
* Strongest candidate by municipality.