Portuguese presidential election, 2001

Portuguese presidential election, 2001
Portugal
14 January 2001

 
Candidate Jorge Sampaio Ferreira do Amaral
Party PS PSD
Popular vote 2,401,015 1,498,948
Percentage 55.6% 34.7%

President before election

Jorge Sampaio
PS

President-elect

Jorge Sampaio
PS

Portugal

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal

The Portuguese presidential election of 2001 was held on 14 January.

The victory of incumbent president Jorge Branco de Sampaio was never in doubt and the turnout was therefore quite low (49.71%). Again, the incumbent president was reelected, like what happened with Mário Soares and Ramalho Eanes.

As the election of a center-left president was almost certain, both the Portuguese Communist Party and the Left Bloc, this last for the first time, presented their own candidates, as their support against the right wing candidate was not necessary. The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers also presented its own candidate for the first time in its history, Garcia Pereira.

On the right, Ferreira do Amaral was supported by the two major parties, the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party which, again, could not achieve their old objective of electing a right-wing president for the first time since the Carnation Revolution.

There were also four candidates rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court for not complying with the legal requirement of being proposed by 7500 voters:

These four candidates were present in the draw of the ballot position, but did not appear in the final ballot.

It was the first time Portuguese abroad could vote for the presidency.

Candidates

Results

Most voted candidate per municipality
 Summary of the 14 January 2001 Portuguese presidential election results
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Jorge Sampaio Socialist Party 2,401,015 55.55
Ferreira do Amaral Social Democratic Party, People's Party 1,498,948 34.68
António Simões de Abreu Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" 223,196 5.16
Fernando Rosas Left Bloc 129,840 3.00
António Garcia Pereira Workers' Communist Party 68,900 1.59
Total valid 4,321,899 100.00
Blank ballots 82,391 1.85
Invalid ballots 45,510 1.02
Total (turnout 49.71%) 4,449,800
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Jorge Sampaio
 
55.55%
Ferreira do Amaral
 
34.68%
António Simões de Abreu
 
5.16%
Fernando Rosas
 
3.00%
António Garcia Pereira
 
1.59%
Blank/Invalid
 
2.87%
Abstencion
 
50.29%

References

External links

See also