Portugal elected moderate socialist António José Seguro as president on Sunday in a decisive second-round victory over far-right challenger André Ventura, though Ventura’s populist Chega party secured its strongest result ever in a national vote.
Seguro won 66.8% of ballots cast to Ventura’s 33.2%, according to official results, after a campaign shaped by political polarisation and weeks of disruption caused by severe storms across the country.
The vote was held to choose a successor to outgoing president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. In the final days of the campaign, politicians from across the political spectrum rallied behind Seguro in an effort to block a breakthrough by Chega, with some senior figures from the centre-right urging voters to support the centre-left candidate.
“The response the Portuguese people gave today, their commitment to freedom, democracy and the future of our country, leaves me moved and proud,” Seguro told supporters after the result was announced.
Ventura, 41, a former football commentator and political outsider who founded Chega seven years ago, said the outcome showed his movement had become the main force on the right. “The message from the Portuguese people is clear,” he said. “Chega is now the main party on the right and we will soon be governing Portugal.”
Earlier on Sunday, Ventura had accused what he called “the entire political system” of uniting against him.
Chega’s 33.2% showing far exceeded the 22.8% the party won in last May’s general election. It also came close to the 31.2% secured by the governing centre-right Democratic Alliance, which won that election and brought Prime Minister Luís Montenegro to power.
The far-right party once again made immigration a central campaign theme. Its billboards across the country read: “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t live on welfare”, slogans that drew criticism from human rights groups and mainstream parties.
European leaders were quick to congratulate Seguro. French President Emmanuel Macron said he looked forward to working with him to build “a Europe that decides for itself, and is more competitive, more sovereign and stronger”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Portuguese voters had shown “remarkable democratic resilience” by turning out despite the damage caused by recent storms. “Portugal’s voice in defending our shared European values remains strong,” she said.
The campaign was overshadowed by two major storms that battered the country in recent weeks, leading the government to declare a state of calamity that remains in place until Feb. 15.
Ventura had called for the vote to be delayed by a week, arguing that bad weather conditions would affect turnout. “It is a matter of equality among all Portuguese,” he said earlier in the week.
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The national electoral authority rejected the request, saying a state of calamity or weather alerts were not in themselves grounds to postpone voting.
However, in about 20 badly affected constituencies, local authorities delayed voting by a week due to flooding and damaged infrastructure. The postponement affected around 37,000 registered voters, roughly 0.3% of the electorate, and is not expected to change the overall outcome.
Several voters in flood-hit areas travelled to polling stations by boat, television footage showed.
Portugal’s presidency is largely ceremonial but carries significant powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and call new elections under certain circumstances.
Ventura had said he would be a more “interventionist” president, calling for expanded authority for the head of state. Seguro positioned himself as a stabilising figure who would work with Montenegro’s minority government while rejecting Ventura’s populist rhetoric.
“He is not interested in compromise. He is interested in confrontation,” Seguro said during the campaign.
Ventura’s rise reflects a broader trend across Europe, where far-right parties have gained ground by campaigning against immigration and political elites. Chega first entered parliament in 2019 with one seat. It now holds dozens.
The election result underscores both the limits of Chega’s reach and the scale of its advance. While Seguro secured a comfortable victory, Ventura’s vote share marks the strongest showing ever for a far-right candidate in a Portuguese presidential race.
Across the border in Spain, far-right forces also made gains on Sunday. In the regional election in Aragón, the Vox party doubled its seat count to finish third.
The conservative People’s Party won the election despite losing two seats and will again need Vox’s support to govern the region.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party finished second and lost five seats. Sánchez congratulated the People’s Party candidate, Jorge Azcón, but said his party remained “the only progressive alternative”.
People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the result showed declining support for Sánchez. “How many more collapses does Sánchez need before he understands that enough is enough?” he said.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal said his party was willing to work with the People’s Party but only if it took a tougher line on immigration. Disagreements over the issue led Vox to leave coalition governments in five regions last year.