António José Seguro tipped to beat populist André Ventura with support of mainstream politicians on left and right
The centre-left Socialist candidate, António José Seguro, is heavily favoured to defeat the far-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s runoff presidential election on Sunday, in a 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 8am 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 11pm (2300 GMT). Eleven million Portuguese are eligible to vote.
