2006 Portuguese presidential election

The **2006 Portuguese presidential election** was held on 22 January to elect a new president to succeed Jorge Sampaio, who was term-limited. **Aníbal Cavaco Silva** of the Social Democratic Party candidate, the former Prime Minister, won 50.54 percent of the vote in the first round. It was the first time a right-wing candidate was elected President since the 1974 Carnation Revolution.

## Results

Summary of the 22 January 2006 Portuguese presidential election results
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Candidates
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Supporting parties
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan="2"|First round
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|%
|-
|style="width:10px;background-color:#FF9900;text-align:center;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|**Aníbal Cavaco Silva**
|style="text-align:left;"|Social Democratic Party, People's Party
|style="text-align:right;"|**2,773,431**
|style="text-align:right;"|**50.54**
|-
|style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#777777;text-align:center;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Manuel Alegre
|style="text-align:left;"|Independent
|style="text-align:right;"|1,138,297
|style="text-align:right;"|20.74
|-
|style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#FF66FF;text-align:center;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Mário Soares
|style="text-align:left;"|Socialist Party
|style="text-align:right;"|785,355
|style="text-align:right;"|14.31
|-
|style="width: 5px" style="background-color:red;text-align:center;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Jerónimo de Sousa
|style="text-align:left;"|Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens"
|style="text-align:right;"|474,083
|style="text-align:right;"|8.64
|-
|style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#8B0000;text-align:center;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Francisco Louçã
|style="text-align:left;"|Left Bloc
|style="text-align:right;"|292,198
|style="text-align:right;"|5.32
|-
|style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#CC0000;text-align:center;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|António Garcia Pereira
|style="text-align:left;"|Portuguese Workers' Communist Party
|style="text-align:right;"|23,983
|style="text-align:right;"|0.44
|-
|colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|**Total valid**
|width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|**5,487,347**
|width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|**100.00**
|-
|style="text-align:right;" colspan="3"|Blank ballots
|width="65" style="text-align:right;"|59,636
|width="40" style="text-align:right;"|1.07
|-
|style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" |Invalid ballots
|width="65" style="text-align:right;"|43,149
|width="40" style="text-align:right;"|0.77
|-
|colspan="3" style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9"|**Total**
|width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|**5,590,132**
|width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|
|-
|colspan=3|Registered voters/turnout
||9,085,339||61.53
|-
|colspan=5 style="text-align:left;"|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}

## Related pages

- President of Portugal
- Portugal
- Politics of Portugal

## Other websites

- Portuguese Electoral Commission
- Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry
- NSD: European Election Database - Portugal  publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990–2010

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 2006 Portuguese presidential election
- **percentage4**: 8.6%
- **party3**: Socialist Party (Portugal), PS
- **colour3**: FF66FF
- **popular vote3**: 785,355
- **percentage3**: 14.3%
- **image4**:
- **candidate4**: Jerónimo de Sousa
- **party4**: Portuguese Communist Party, PCP
- **colour4**: FF0000
- **popular vote4**: 474,083
- **image5**:
- **image3**:
- **candidate5**: Francisco Louçã
- **party5**: Left Bloc (Portugal), BE
- **popular vote5**: 292,198
- **percentage5**: 5.3%
- **title**: President of Portugal, President
- **before election**: Jorge Sampaio
- **before party**: Socialist Party (Portugal), PS
- **after election**: Aníbal Cavaco Silva
- **candidate3**: Mário Soares
- **percentage2**: 20.7%
- **country**: Portugal
- **opinion polls**: Opinion polling for the 2006 Portuguese presidential election
- **type**: presidential
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 2001 Portuguese presidential election
- **previous year**: 2001
- **next election**: 2011 Portuguese presidential election
- **next year**: 2011
- **election date**: 22 January 2006
- **turnout**: 61.5%  11.8 Percentage point, pp
- **image1**:
- **popular vote2**: 1,138,297
- **candidate1**: **Aníbal Cavaco Silva**
- **party1**: Social Democratic Party (Portugal), PSD
- **colour1**: FF9900
- **popular vote1**: **2,773,431**
- **percentage1**: **50.5%**
- **image2**:
- **candidate2**: Manuel Alegre
- **party2**: Independent (politician), Independent
- **colour2**: 777777
- **after party**: Social Democratic Party (Portugal), PSD