We are choosing a figure who will represent the country in a historical cycle of difficulties and uncertainties that perhaps did not exist in 1986
Historian José Manuel Sardica outlines the commonalities between these elections and the 1986 presidential election, the only one to elect a president in a second round.
"The country was experiencing very high political tension." Mário Crespo and Henrique Garcia recall the 1986 presidential duel
Mário Crespo and Henrique Garcia recall the 1986 presidential elections, one of the most intense in the history of Portuguese democracy.
The Marinha Grande Blow
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.
Soares was the elected president with the highest percentage of the vote
Veteran socialist Mário Soares was the President of the Republic elected with the highest vote share: he received 70.35% in the 1996 election.
Mário Soares in 1986: the wildest presidential election ever inspired a fine TV series
A snapshot of a political era, the series “A Duas Voltas: Mário Soares e as Presidenciais de 1986” revisits Portugal’s most hotly contested presidential elections using archive footage (televised debates, interviews, reports) and previously unseen interviews.
Mário Soares and Freitas do Amaral: the historic 1986 presidential elections, 40 years on
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?
50 years of presidential elections in posters — from smiles to slogans
Posters have long been a staple of political campaigns. They are the communication category with the highest projected spending for the 2026 presidential election, in a contest that puts Luís Marques Mendes in the lead. But what about the past of this communication tool? What stories do the campaigns of 1976, 1986, 1996, ... tell about Portugal?
Piaçá Carneiro, cleaning up other people's mess since 1980
In the middle of that bulletin, Sá Carneiro would pick António Filipe for Belém — not for the Palace, but for the Coach Museum across the road.
The country of the Julianas and the Julianos
For those who work on the history of the dictatorship and consult many original documents, this is a widespread and distressing reality for those who confront it. Opinion by José Pacheco Pereira
"A Duas Voltas" and the 1986 presidential election: "In the shantytowns there was political debate; there wasn't the fear-mongering we have now"
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”.
Pintasilgo almost withdrew, Zenha could have been elected and other stories from Januaries past
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.
Ten years of New Year's messages from Marcelo
Over ten years of messages from the President of the Republic, the country's political history is recounted.
Cavaco defeated Soares and 'stumbled' in the BPN crisis
Cavaco Silva won the 2006 presidential election with the Socialist Party divided, in a contest that reunited him with Mário Soares, the President with whom the former PSD prime minister shared power for ten years.
Soares, from division to President of all the Portuguese
Mário Soares, the Socialist Party's historic leader, was the first civilian President in the democratic era, elected in 1986 in a poll that split the country in two and went to a second round — the first and only time this has happened.