1991 Portuguese presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 13 January 1991.

1991 Portuguese presidential election

← 1986 13 January 1991 1996 →
Turnout	62.16% ( 13.23pp)
Candidate Mário Soares Basílio Horta Carlos Carvalhas Party PS CDS PCP Popular vote 3,459,521 696,379 635,373 Percentage 70.35% 14.16% 12.92%
Results by district Results by municipality Soares   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Carvalhas   40-50%   50-60%
President before election Mário Soares PS Elected President Mário Soares PS

The re-election of the hugely popular Mário Soares was never in doubt, specially after the then-ruling PSD, led by Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva announced its support. Therefore, the election held on 13 January 1991 was a landslide, and no second round was needed.

As the election of a left-wing candidate was assured, other left-wing parties, the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union, presented their own candidates. The communists presented Carlos Carvalhas, who had been Assistant General Secretary of the Party a year before (Álvaro Cunhal was the secretary-general). Carvalhas would later be elected secretary-general, in 1992.

On the right, as the Social Democratic Party supported Soares, the Democratic and Social Centre presented the only right-wing candidate, Basílio Horta.

Mário Soares achieved the majority of the votes in every district of the country, and 295 of the then 305 municipalities. His score was the biggest ever in a presidential election in Portugal.

Electoral system

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 7,500 and 15,000 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

• Mário Soares, Incumbent President since 1986 and eligible for a second term, supported by the Socialist Party, and tacitly by the Social Democratic Party;
• Basílio Horta, Minister in previous governments, supported by the Democratic and Social Centre;
• Carlos Carvalhas, supported by the Portuguese Communist Party and Ecologist Party "The Greens";
• Carlos Manuel Marques, supported by the People's Democratic Union;

Decided not to run

• Francisco Lucas Pires, Former leader of the Democratic and Social Centre (1983-1986);^[1]

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidate		Original slogan	English translation	Refs
	Mário Soares	« Soares é fixe »	"Soares is cool"	[2]
	Basílio Horta	« Um Homem às direitas »	"An upright man"	[3]
	Carlos Carvalhas	« Portugal pode ser melhor »	"Portugal can be better"	[4]
	Carlos Manuel Marques	« A coragem de ser solidário »	"The courage to be supportive"	[5]

Candidates' debates

1991 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-invitee
			Soares	Horta	Carvalhas	Marques	Refs
21 Nov 1990	RTP1	Vicente Jorge Silva Maria Elisa Domingues	P	A	P	P	[6]
4 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	N	N	P	P	[7]
6 Dec 1990	RTP1	Mário Crespo	P	P	N	N	[8]
11 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	P	N	P	N	[9]
13 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	N	P	N	P	[10]
19 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	P	N	N	P	[11]
20 Dec 1990	RTP1	-	N	P	P	N	[12]
21 Dec 1990	RTP2	Joaquim Furtado	P	P	P	P	[13]

Opinion polls

  Exit poll

Polling firm	Date released	Sample size					Lead
			Soares PS	Horta CDS	Carvalhas PCP	Marques UDP
Election results	13 Jan 1991	—	70.4	14.2	12.9	2.6	56.2
Euroexpansão/RTP	13 Jan 1991	—	69.5–73.4	14.1–17.2	9.3–12.6	1.6–2.9	55.8

Results

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Mário Soares	Socialist Party	3,459,521	70.35
	Basílio Horta	Democratic and Social Centre	696,379	14.16
	Carlos Carvalhas	Portuguese Communist Party–The Greens	635,373	12.92
	Carlos Manuel Marques [pt]	Popular Democratic Union	126,581	2.57
Total			4,917,854	100.00
Valid votes			4,917,854	96.45
Invalid votes			68,037	1.33
Blank votes			112,877	2.21
Total votes			5,098,768	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			8,202,212	62.16
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Results by district

District		Soares		Horta		Carvalhas		Marques		Turnout
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Aveiro	250,336	77.27%	49,675	15.33%	17,894	5.52%	6,065	1.87%	64.36%
	Azores	75,530	80.66%	12,192	13.02%	3,652	3.49%	6,685	6.39%	51.79%
	Beja	48,694	54.06%	5,293	5.88%	33,796	37.52%	2,294	2.55%	60.34%
	Braga	287,287	77.49%	50,991	13.75%	26,230	7.08%	6,210	1.68%	66.41%
	Bragança	51,571	67.48%	19,373	25.35%	3,869	5.06%	1,615	2.11%	53.18%
	Castelo Branco	82,470	71.63%	18,627	16.18%	10,593	9.20%	3,443	2.99%	60.29%
	Coimbra	166,041	76.86%	26,416	12.23%	19,084	8.83%	4,498	2.08%	61.08%
	Évora	50,805	53.99%	7,710	8.19%	33,313	35.40%	2,281	2.42%	64.94%
	Faro	123,550	72.40%	21,332	12.50%	20,481	12.00%	5,280	3.09%	60.92%
	Guarda	69,632	71.33%	19,874	20.36%	5,815	5.96%	2,293	2.35%	58.23%
	Leiria	150,993	72.41%	38,014	18.23%	14,969	7.18%	4,535	2.17%	60.93%
	Lisbon	675,760	64.89%	156,424	15.02%	177,275	17.02%	31,860	3.06%	61.73%
	Madeira	70,632	67.22%	23,981	22.91%	3,652	3.49%	6,685	6.39%	57.98%
	Portalegre	48,170	64.25%	7,693	10.26%	17,271	23.03%	1,844	2.46%	66.26%
	Porto	627,195	76.50%	101,665	12.40%	75,517	9.21%	15,536	1.89%	65.39%
	Santarém	161,301	68.96%	30,938	13.23%	34,996	14.96%	6,662	2.85%	63.33%
	Setúbal	198,977	55.83%	29,955	8.40%	113,232	31.77%	14,248	4.00%	62.93%
	Viana do Castelo	92,312	75.26%	18,397	15.00%	9,263	7.55%	2,693	2.20%	59.35%
	Vila Real	84,358	75.05%	20,139	17.92%	5,738	5.10%	2,174	1.93%	54.63%
	Viseu	145,010	75.41%	33,945	17.65%	9,869	5.13%	3,480	1.81%	57.96%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Maps

• 
  Strongest candidate by electoral district.
• 
  Strongest candidate by municipality.

References

1. "Lucas Pires anuncia desistência da candidatura à Presidência". RTP (in Portuguese). 7 September 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
2. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (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 12 May 2020.
5. "Candidatura de Carlos Marques à Presidência da República". RTP (in Portuguese). 6 May 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
6. "Debate entre os candidatos à Presidência da República". RTP (in Portuguese). 21 November 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
7. "Página Principal".
8. "Os debates".
9. "Página Principal".
10. "Página Principal".
11. "Página Principal".
12. "Página Principal".
13. "Página Principal".

• "CNE Resultados". Comissão Nacional de Eleições. Archived from the original on 8 April 2005. Retrieved 17 May 2005.
• "Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político". Archived from the original on 2006-08-18. Retrieved 17 May 2005.

External links

• Portuguese Electoral Commission
• NSD: European Election Database - Portugal Archived 2014-12-20 at the Wayback Machine publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010