Latest news and stories about 1986 election in Portugal for expats and residents.
“Based on the results already known, I recognise the victory of Dr Mário Soares. I offer him my congratulations and sincerely wish him every success in carrying out the highest office of the nation, for the good of Portugal and all Portuguese.” It was shortly after 22:20 on 16 February 1986, and there were still 141 results to be tallied...
Mário Soares dominated the vote in only eight municipalities in the first round of the 1986 presidential election and in 140 municipalities in the second round. Freitas do Amaral won in most municipalities, but lost the election.
Mário Crespo and Henrique Garcia recall the 1986 presidential elections, one of the most intense in the history of Portuguese democracy.
The most emblematic presidential election of 1986 was the only one in which a President of the Republic was elected in the second round. The race for Belém Palace began with four candidates but ended up pitting Mário Soares against Freitas do Amaral.
In this episode of 'History Repeats Itself', Margarida de Magalhães Ramalho and Lourenço Pereira Coutinho invited journalist João Reis Alves, author of the book 'The Second Round, 1986: the elections that changed the country', to discuss the historic 1986 presidential elections. What was the Portuguese political, economic and social context on the eve of those elections?
In the midst of the presidential campaign, Ivan Nunes and Paulo Pena released a series about the same election, but from the heady year of 1986. A poorer country, more politically mobilised and with major candidates. What parallels can we draw? In the podcast “No Último Episódio”, film and television critic José Paiva Capucho hosts the authors of “A Duas Voltas”.
The 1986 presidential election bears similarities with the present: parliamentary fragmentation, a minority government and a divided left. But presidential elections in Portugal have rarely been predictable.
