Around 9.8 citizens are called on this Sunday to elect a new president in Portugal. And that in the middle of the corona pandemic and during a shutdown that came into effect a few days ago. Due to the high risk of infection, there is an extremely low turnout – and this calls into question the re-election of the popular incumbent, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, which has meanwhile been regarded as certain.
The vote is taken at a very inopportune time. The new coronavirus variant B1.1.7, which was first detected in England, is contributing to ever new highs in the number of infections and victims in the southern European country. In Portugal, a new record of 221 corona deaths within one day was reported on Thursday. As early as Wednesday, a new peak in daily new infections of 14,647 cases was reached in the country with ten million inhabitants, which has held the EU Council Presidency since January 1.
Leading the polls: President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
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Because of the worrying situation and the nationwide corona lockdown, the traditional final spurt of the election campaign was canceled. The authorities organized an election day for early voting on Sunday a week ago. In addition, volunteer teams picked up the voting papers of around 13,000 people in quarantine across the country. Around 200,000 voters took advantage of the early election offer. The pictures of long queues in front of polling stations, especially in the capital Lisbon, did not help to reduce the fear of a corona infection when voting.
Seven candidates
In addition to Rebelo de Sousa, there are six other candidates for the office of President, who mainly takes on representative tasks in Portugal. The 72-year-old head of state, who can dissolve parliament and schedule new elections, is elected by universal suffrage for five years, with a maximum of two terms of office.
A year ago, Rebelo de Sousa’s ambitions for a second term in office looked like a “stroll”, says Paula Espirito Santo from the University of Lisbon. Now it may be “not that easy”. Rebelo de Sousa said this week: “It would only take a 70 percent non-participation rate to make a second round of elections almost inevitable.” Before Rebelo de Sousa, all four presidents had been re-elected for a second term since the end of the dictatorship in 1976.
Rebelo de Sousa is popular in the country. He works amicably with the socialist head of government António Costa. There are also many sympathetic anecdotes about the 72-year-old: that he waits patiently at the supermarket checkout in Bermuda shorts for his turn, that he shares his meal with homeless people and that he jumps into the sea to meet two girls, theirs Boat overturned to come to the rescue.
The MP Ana Gomes is also hoping for the high office
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Does a right-wing populist benefit?
Because Rebelo de Sousa has been a clear favorite for so long, he may find it difficult to mobilize his voters. Right-wing populist candidate André Ventura could benefit from this. The 38-year-old founder of the anti-establishment party Chega (Enough) is counting on getting a strong result in the election and thus giving his party a tailwind. Chega entered the Portuguese parliament for the first time last year with 1.3 percent of the vote.
Polls now predict up to ten percent of the vote for Ventura. That would be “an excellent result” for him, says the political expert António Costa Pinto. According to the polls, the runner-up is likely to be the former socialist MP Ana Gomes. The career diplomat is committed to the fight against corruption and is a staunch critic of Prime Minister Costa.
kle / ack (afp, dpa)
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