It’s official – Portugal’s 2016 presidential elections will be held on January 24, the announcement came today (November 19) on the Presidency of the Republic website.
Seventeen people have already joined the presidential race, and those who haven’t have until December 24 to make their bid official.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is the frontrunner so far. A poll by Intercampus found that the ex-political commentator and former PSD minister is Portugal’s favourite candidate with 49.3% of people’s votes, followed by the former president of the Socialist Party (PS) Maria de Belém (17%).
According to Portugal’s Constitution, a candidate will only be elected if he/she obtains more than half of the valid votes.
If not, a second round of voting will be held on February 14 with the two top-voted candidates going head-to-head. The winning candidate will be named President on March 9.
