According to the official results of Portugal’s presidential election, no candidate secured an absolute majority. The country will therefore head to a second round on February 8.
Based on results released by the Portuguese National Electoral Commission after 90 percent of the ballots were counted, António José Seguro, the candidate of the opposition Socialist Party, received 30.7 percent of the vote, while André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party, won 24.2 percent. The two emerged as the top vote-getters among the 11 candidates and qualified for the runoff.
The candidate of the ruling center-right Social Democratic Party, Luís Marques Mendes, garnered around 12 percent of the vote.
Voter turnout exceeded 50 percent, making this the presidential election with the highest participation rate in the past 20 years.
The successor to conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served two consecutive terms over the past 10 years, will be determined in the election between Seguro and Ventura on February 8.
Polls published so far have indicated that Seguro is closer to winning the presidency.
All surveys conducted to date in Portugal had predicted that the presidential race would go to a second round.