2006 Portuguese presidential election

In the presidential election of 14 January 2001, the outgoing Socialist Jorge Sampaio was re-elected in the first round with 55 percent of votes.^[5] Because he was term-limited, he was forbidden by the Constitution to run for a third consecutive term.^[6] Sampaio's second term began with the continuation of the institutional relationship with the Socialist Prime Minister António Guterres, which ended after the early election of March 2002, when a new cohabitation started, now with a PSD Prime Minister, José Manuel Durão Barroso.^[7] Portugal's role in the Iraq War, in which the Barroso government sided with the USA, created some discomfort between the government and the president.^[8] In the summer of 2004, Barroso resigned in order to become President of the European Commission,^[9] and Sampaio nominated the Social Democrats' new leader, Pedro Santana Lopes, as prime minister,^[10] against the objection of the PS.^[11] A few months later, a series of controversies within Santana's government, led to a split between president and prime minister, with Sampaio dismissing the government and calling a snap election.^[12] In the parliamentary election of 20 February 2005, the Socialist Party (PS), led by José Sócrates, won for the first time in its history an absolute majority of seats,^[13] while the Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by Pedro Santana Lopes, fell below 30 percent, one of their worst result since 1983.^[13] The last year of Sampaio's second term was, once again, of coexistence with a prime minister from his own party.

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.

Thirteen citizens sought election officially, but only six gathered the 7,500 signatures required under the constitution to be a candidate in the poll. All the candidates except for Cavaco Silva are considered to be from the Portuguese political left.

Official candidates

More information Candidate, Party support ...

Candidate		Party support	Political office(s)	Details
Aníbal Cavaco Silva (66)		Social Democratic Party   CDS – People's Party	Prime Minister (1985–1995) President of the Social Democratic Party (1985–1995) Minister of Finance (1980–1981)	Social Democratic Party (PSD) member; candidate in the 1996 presidential election, finishing second with 46.1% of the votes.
Manuel Alegre (69)		Democratic Party of the Atlantic	Vice President of the Assembly of the Republic (1995–2009) Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1975–2009) Member of the Council of State (1996–2002; 2005–2015) Secretary of State Adjunct of the Prime Minister (1977–1978) Secretary of State for Social Communication (1976–1977)	Socialist Party (PS) member, failed to receive the support of the party; writer and poet.
Mário Soares (81)		Socialist Party	Member of the European Parliament (1999–2004) President of the Republic (1986–1996) Prime Minister (1976–1978; 1983–1985) Secretary-general of the Socialist Party (1973–1985) Minister without portfolio (1975) Minister of Foreign Affairs (1974–1975) Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1975–1986)	Former President after winning the 1986 presidential election in the second round with 51.2% of the votes, and after being reelected in the 1991 presidential election with 70.4% of the votes; eligible for a third non-consecutive term.
Jerónimo de Sousa (58)		Portuguese Communist Party   Ecologist Party "The Greens"	Secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party (2004–2022) Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1976–2022)	Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) member; candidate in the 1996 presidential election, withrew before the ballot.
Francisco Louçã (49)		Left Bloc	Coordinator of the Left Bloc (1999–2012) Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1999–2012)	Left Bloc (BE) founding member; former Socialist Revolutionary Party leader.
António Garcia Pereira (53)		Portuguese Workers' Communist Party	Secretary-general of the Portuguese Workers' Communist Party (1982–2015)	Portuguese Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP) member; lawyer; candidate in the 2001 presidential election; finished fifth with 1.6% of the votes.

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Unsuccessful candidacies

The other potential candidates who, according to the Constitutional Court, did not gather enough signatures, were:

• Josué Rodrigues Gonçalo Pedro;
• Luís Filipe Guerra – leader of the Humanist Party;
• Teresa Lameiro;
• Manuela Magno – nuclear physicist;
• Carmelinda Pereira – leader of the Workers Party of Socialist Unity (POUS);
• Luís Botelho Ribeiro;
• Diamantino da Silva;

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas. Due to lack of data from the 2001 election, it's not possible to compare the turnout throughout election day between the two elections.

More information Turnout, Time ...

Turnout	Time
	12:00		16:00		19:00
	2001	2006	2001	2006	2001	2006	±
Total	—N/a	19.32%	—N/a	45.56%	49.71%	61.53%	11.82 pp
Sources[24][25]

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