Socialist candidate José Antonio Seguro on the evening of the first round of the presidential election in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. On January 18, 2026. PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP
Socialist candidate Antonio José Seguro topped the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, January 18, in Portugal, ahead of the leader of the far-right Chega party, André Ventura. As none of the 11 candidates crossed the 50% threshold, a runoff will take place on February 8 to choose the successor to conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who served as president for 10 years.
Sixty-three-year-old Seguro, a center-left Socialist figure, received 31.1% of the vote. He was followed by 43-year-old Ventura, founder of Chega (which translates to "Enough"), who garnered 23.5%. Liberal Initiative's Joao Cotrim Figueiredo, a member of the European Parliament, came in third with 15.9%. Independent candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo, a retired admiral praised for leading the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, finished fourth with 12.3% of the vote, ahead of Luis Marques Mendes, the government-backed candidate, who received 11.3%.
The fragmentation of the political landscape and the rise of the far right have led the country to a presidential runoff for the first time since 1986, and only the second time since democracy was established in 1976.
