Moderate candidate António José Seguro celebrates emphatic win in Portugal's presidential runoff

Описание: (9 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caldas da Rainha, Portugal - 08 February 2026
1. Various of Portuguese center-left Socialist presidential candidate António José Seguro celebrating among crowd of supporters
2. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) António José Seguro, winner of Portuguese presidential election, center-left Socialist candidate:
"I humbly accept, with immense emotion and confidence, the trust the Portuguese people have placed in me: to be their President of the Republic."
3. Supporters aplauding and waving Portuguese flags
4. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) António José Seguro, winner of Portuguese presidential election, center-left Socialist candidate:
"This victory is not mine, it is ours. It belongs to every person who believed in and has hope for a better country, a modern and just Portugal, where we are all equal in our needs and different in our freedoms. A country that moves forward without leaving anyone behind."
5. Wide of supporters waving Portuguese flags
6. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) António José Seguro, winner of Portuguese presidential election, center-left Socialist candidate:
"The Portuguese people will not forgive the politicians, all the politicians, for wasting the next three years. I will be the driving force behind this change, towards a culture of commitment focused on solutions and improving the lives of the Portuguese people. With me, things will not remain the same. We owe this to the Portuguese people. I will be vigilant, I will ask the difficult questions and demand the answers the country needs."
7. Pull out of Seguro and family to crowd applauding
STORYLINE:
Center-left Socialist candidate António José Seguro recorded a thumping victory over hard-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s runoff presidential election Sunday, according to official results with 99% of votes counted.

Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66.7% of votes, compared with 33.3% for Ventura.

"With me, things will not remain the same," he told supporters gathered late on Sunday.

"We owe this to the Portuguese people. I will be vigilant, I will ask the difficult questions and demand the answers the country needs."

Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.

He won the backing of other mainstream politicians on the left and right who want to halt the rising populist tide.

The ballot was an opportunity to test the depth of support for Ventura’s brash style, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Enough) party the second-biggest in the Portuguese parliament, as well as gauge the public appetite for Europe’s increasing shift to the right in recent years.

In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power.

Traditionally, the head of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.

However, the president is an influential voice and possesses some powerful tools, being able to veto legislation from parliament, although the veto can be overturned.

The head of state also possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is called an “atomic bomb,” the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

In May, Portugal held its third general election in three years in the country's worst bout of political instability for decades, and steadying the ship is a key challenge for the next president.


AP video by Jorge Jeronimo



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