Latest news and stories about presidential debate in Portugal for expats and residents.
Miguel Relvas and Pedro Adão e Silva analysed the debate between António José Seguro and André Ventura, the last before the second round of the presidential election.
Polígrafo assesses the truthfulness of some of the claims made by the two presidential candidates during the only debate before the run-off elections.
“We cannot want to go to a run-off in the presidential election and then try to avoid the debates,” says André Ventura, criticising António José Seguro for allegedly wanting to hold only one debate — information that has not yet been officially confirmed by Seguro's campaign. Referring to the various figures from the PSD and IL who announced they will vote for Seguro, he adds: “I couldn't care less about the notables. My committee of honour is the Portuguese people.”
It was two and a half hours of debate and brought all the candidates, or “contenders” as they were called, for the presidential election on 18 January into the studio. The confrontation between the 11 candidates was followed by 317,101 viewers on RTP1, to which a further 82,135 on RTP Notícias were added. That made 399,236 viewers who watched...
At 6pm, Marcelo said that the presidential debates have been enlightening and clarifying.
While campaigning in his home town, the presidential candidate backed by the PS commented on the latest head-to-head: 'I hated it. I have no other word to say. I hated it.'
Scheduled for 8am, this is the last televised debate before the presidential election.
Coverage of the final televised debate in the presidential election.
After a marathon of 28 debates, what impact did the head-to-heads have on the race for the 18 January election? A conversation with Rui Pedro Antunes, Political Editor at Observador.
While the Benfica–Famalicão match for the national championship was underway, the final televised debate of this presidential campaign was vying for the attention of the Portuguese. And whereas the game at Luz was lukewarm, in the TVI/CNN studios we saw Henrique Gouveia e Melo relentlessly attacking Luís Marques Mendes. The answer to the first question, ...
The head-to-head was marked by an exchange of accusations over transparency, or the lack of it.
Ahead of the presidential election on 18 January 2026, listen to another of the 28 debates that put Catarina Martins, the candidate backed by BE, and Jorge Pinto, the candidate backed by Livre, face to face. It was moderated by Vítor Gonçalves and broadcast on RTP.
