1980 Portuguese presidential election

The Portuguese presidential election of 1980 was held on 7 December.

1980 Portuguese presidential election
7 December 1980
Turnout84.4% 8.9 pp
 
Candidate António Ramalho Eanes António Soares Carneiro
Party Independent AD
Popular vote 3,262,520 2,325,481
Percentage 56.4% 40.2%
President before election

António Ramalho Eanes
Independent

 Elected President

António Ramalho Eanes
Independent

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal
Portugal

Incumbent president General Ramalho Eanes gathered the support of the Socialist Party, despite the objection of their leader, Mário Soares, and also the support of the Portuguese Communist Party, whose candidate, Carlos Brito, withdrew the week before the election giving his support to Eanes. The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers also gave support to Eanes, whose picture became a feature on numerous walls around the country, painted by Communist Party activists.

One of the major players in the democratic revolution of 1974, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, was also a candidate, for the second time, but finished far behind his previous result of 1976. The newly-founded Workers Party of Socialist Unity presented its own candidate, Aires Rodrigues.

His main opponent, General Soares Carneiro, was known for his right-wing views and was branded by opponents as a hardliner, with links to the dictatorial regime that had been overthrown only six years earlier. He was supported by the Democratic Alliance, a centre-right coalition of the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Social Center, and the smaller People's Monarchist Party.

Two days before the election, two of Soares Carneiro's leading supporters, Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro (no relation) and Defence Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa, died in the 1980 Camarate air crash while they were heading for a rally in Oporto. Despite the accident, the election went ahead as planned, and predictions that a second round would be needed were shown to be wrong, with Ramalho Eanes winning with almost 57 percent, against 40 percent for Soares Carneiro.

Procedure

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 7500 and 15000 signatures and submit them to the Portuguese Constitutional Court.

According to the Portuguese Constitution, to be elected, a candidate needs a majority of votes. If no candidate gets this majority there will take place a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Candidates

Official candidates

Campaign period

Party slogans
Candidate Original slogan English translation Refs
António Ramalho Eanes « O Presidente de todos os Portugueses » "The President of all Portuguese" [1]
António Soares Carneiro « Maioria, Governo, Presidente »
« Segurança no futuro »		 "Majority, Government, President"
"Safety in the future"		 [2]
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho « Na Presidência um amigo » "A friend in the presidency" [3]
Carlos Galvão de Melo « Candidato de Portugal » "Portugal's candidate" [4]
António Pires Veloso « Vota Portugal » "Vote Portugal" [5]

Results

Summary of the 7 December 1980 Portuguesepresidentialelection results

 
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
António Ramalho Eanes Independent 3,262,520 56.44
António Soares Carneiro Democratic Alliance (PSD, CDS, PPM) 2,325,481 40.23
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho Independent 85,896 1.49
Carlos Galvão de Melo Independent 48,468 0.84
António Pires Veloso Independent 45,132 0.78
António Aires Rodrigues Workers Party of Socialist Unity 12,745 0.22
Carlos Brito[A] Portuguese Communist Party left the race
Total valid 5,780,242 100.00
Blank ballots 44,014 0.75
Invalid ballots 16,076 0.28
Total 5,840,332
Registered voters/turnout 6,920,86984.39
A He left the race in favor of Ramalho Eanes.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
António Ramalho Eanes
 
 56.44%
António Soares Carneiro
 
 40.23%
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
 
 1.49%
Carlos Galvão de Melo
 
 0.84%
António Pires Veloso
 
 0.78%
António Aires Rodrigues
 
 0.22%
Blank/Invalid
 
 1.03%

Maps
  • Strongest candidate by electoral district.
  • Strongest candidate by municipality: Eanes - magenta; Soares Carneiro - darkblue.

See also

References
  1. "ELEIÇÕES PRESIDENCIAIS DE 1980 – CANDIDATURA DE RAMALHO EANES". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "ELEIÇÕES PRESIDENCIAIS DE 1980 – CANDIDATURA DE SOARES CARNEIRO". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  5. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.