Centre-left Socialist candidate votes in Portugal’s presidential election run-off

Описание: (8 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caldas da Rainha, Portugal - 8 February 2026
1. Various of Portugal presidential candidate, Antonio Jose Seguro, arriving to cast his ballot
2. Seguro voting
3. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Antonio Jose Seguro, Portugal presidential candidate:
“This is the moment when the people are sovereign, when every vote counts and truly decides the future of our country. We are electing the president of the republic for the next five years; it is a very important decision.”
4. Seguro walking with wife
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Jose Seguro, Portugal presidential candidate:
“Now we take the decision of who will be the next president of our country, it's very, very important. In democracy all elections are very, very important ”
6. Seguro leaving polling station
STORYLINE:
Centre-left Socialist candidate, Antonio José Seguro, cast his vote on Sunday in the city of Caldas da Rainha in Portugal’s presidential election runoff.

Seguro is heavily favored to defeat hard-right populist André Ventura in the vote that will test the depth of support for Ventura's brash style of politics.

Recent opinion polls suggest Seguro will collect twice as many votes as Ventura in the head-to-head between the two top candidates in last month’s first round of voting, when none of the 11 runners captured the more than 50% of the vote required for victory.

But making it through to the runoff is already a milestone for Ventura and his Chega (Enough) party, which has quickly grown into a significant force in Portuguese politics during a wider European shift to the right.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. on a mostly overcast day and were due to close 12 hours later, when Portuguese broadcasters were expected to publish exit polls.

Most official results are likely by 11 p.m. (2300 GMT).

Some 11 million Portuguese are eligible to vote.

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

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

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.

AP video shot by Jorge Jeronimo

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