1980 Portuguese presidential election

The 1980 Portuguese presidential election was held on 7 December.

1980 Portuguese presidential election
7 December 1980
Turnout84.4% Increase 8.9 pp
 
António Ramalho Eanes.jpg
António Soares Carneiro.jpg
Candidate António Ramalho Eanes António Soares Carneiro
Party Independent[lower-alpha 1] AD
Popular vote 3,262,520 2,325,481
Percentage 56.4% 40.2%
President before election

António Ramalho Eanes
Independent

 Elected President

António Ramalho Eanes
Independent

Incumbent president General Ramalho Eanes gathered the support of the Socialist Party, despite the objection of their leader, Mário Soares, and also the support of the Portuguese Communist Party, whose candidate, Carlos Brito, withdrew the week before the election giving his support to Eanes. The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers also gave support to Eanes, whose picture became a feature on numerous walls around the country, painted by Communist Party activists.

One of the major players in the democratic revolution of 1974, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, was also a candidate, for the second time, but finished far behind his previous result of 1976. The newly-founded Workers Party of Socialist Unity presented its own candidate, Aires Rodrigues.

His main opponent, General Soares Carneiro, was known for his right-wing views and was branded by opponents as a hardliner, with links to the dictatorial regime that had been overthrown only six years earlier. He was supported by the Democratic Alliance, a centre-right coalition of the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Social Center, and the smaller People's Monarchist Party.

Two days before the election, two of Soares Carneiro's leading supporters, Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro (no relation) and Defence Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa, died in the 1980 Camarate air crash while they were heading for a rally in Oporto. Despite the accident, the election went ahead as planned, and predictions that a second round would be needed were shown to be wrong, with Ramalho Eanes winning with almost 57 percent, against 40 percent for Soares Carneiro.

Procedure

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 7500 and 15000 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.

Candidates

Official candidates

Campaign period

Party slogans
Candidate Original slogan English translation Refs
António Ramalho Eanes « O Presidente de todos os Portugueses » "The President of all Portuguese" [1]
António Soares Carneiro « Maioria, Governo, Presidente »
« Segurança no futuro »		 "Majority, Government, President"
"Safety in the future"		 [2]
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho « Na Presidência um amigo » "A friend in the presidency" [3]
Carlos Galvão de Melo « Candidato de Portugal » "Portugal's candidate" [4]
António Pires Veloso « Vota Portugal » "Vote Portugal" [5]

Results

National summary
Summary of the 7 December 1980 Portuguese presidential election results
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
António Ramalho Eanes Independent supported by the PS, PCP and the PCTP/MRPP 3,262,520 56.44
António Soares Carneiro Democratic Alliance (PSD, CDS, PPM) 2,325,481 40.23
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho Popular Unity Force 85,896 1.49
Carlos Galvão de Melo Independent 48,468 0.84
António Pires Veloso Independent 45,132 0.78
António Aires Rodrigues Workers Party of Socialist Unity 12,745 0.22
Carlos Brito[A] Portuguese Communist Party left the race
Total valid 5,780,242 100.00
Blank ballots 44,014 0.75
Invalid ballots 16,076 0.28
Total 5,840,332
Registered voters/turnout 6,920,86984.39
A Left the race in favor of Ramalho Eanes.
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share First Round
António Ramalho Eanes
 
 56.44%
António Soares Carneiro
 
 40.23%
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
 
 1.49%
Carlos Galvão de Melo
 
 0.84%
António Pires Veloso
 
 0.78%
António Aires Rodrigues
 
 0.22%
Blank/Invalid
 
 1.03%

Results by district
District Eanes Carneiro Otelo Galvão de Melo Pires Veloso Rodrigues Turnout
Votes  % Votes  % Votes  % Votes  % Votes  % Votes  %
  Aveiro 161,264 46.09% 177,116 50.62% 2,924 0.84% 4,441 1.27% 3,441 0.98% 699 0.20% 84.56%
  Azores 65,399 57.22% 46,059 40.30% 656 0.57% 1,150 1.01% 863 0.76% 175 0.20% 74.09%
  Beja 87,644 74.49% 24,395 20.73% 3,210 2.73% 888 0.75% 916 0.78% 618 0.53% 82.03%
  Braga 197,162 52.12% 170,796 45.15% 3,380 0.89% 2,541 0.67% 3,746 0.99% 692 0.18% 88.18%
  Bragança 35,628 36.21% 59,809 60.66% 696 0.71% 745 0.76% 1,354 1.37% 294 0.30% 77.51%
  Castelo Branco 80,341 55.07% 61,140 41.90% 1,500 1.03% 984 0.67% 1,570 1.08% 367 0.25% 81.74%
  Coimbra 147,345 57.03% 102,930 39.84% 3,129 1.21% 2,274 0.88% 1,891 0.73% 776 0.30% 80.43%
  Évora 85,820 70.40% 31,270 25.65% 2,870 2.35% 901 0.74% 587 0.48% 451 0.37% 87.02%
  Faro 128,720 64.94% 61,282 30.92% 3,607 1.82% 1,934 0.98% 1,979 1.00% 699 0.35% 81.45%
  Guarda 50,349 40.37% 70,556 56.68% 870 0.70% 875 0.70% 1,573 1.26% 351 0.28% 81.13%
  Leiria 111,447 45.33% 126,203 51.33% 3,087 1.26% 2,655 1.08% 1,810 0.74% 678 0.28% 82.69%
  Lisbon 792,652 60.72% 469,173 35.94% 24,178 1.85% 11,323 0.87% 6,019 0.46% 2,011 0.15% 86.25%
  Madeira 52,208 44.34% 60,160 51.10% 2,446 2.08% 1,494 1.27% 1,198 1.02% 230 0.20% 77.46%
  Portalegre 65,466 68.58% 27,485 28.79% 918 0.96% 777 0.81% 524 0.55% 285 0.30% 85.75%
  Porto 523,634 57.85% 355,723 39.30% 10,251 1.13% 5,726 0.63% 8,627 0.95% 1,197 0.13% 88.17%
  Santarém 173,821 61.41% 99,911 35.30% 3,901 1.38% 2,723 0.96% 1,839 0.65% 872 0.31% 83.87%
  Setúbal 299,596 74.75% 82,290 20.53% 13,826 3.45% 2,804 0.70% 1,363 0.34% 919 0.23% 86.41%
  Viana do Castelo 63,172 44.76% 74,052 52.47% 1,156 0.82% 991 0.70% 1,426 1.01% 328 0.23% 80.17%
  Vila Real 53,884 39.06% 80,420 58.30% 969 0.70% 744 0.54% 1,538 1.11% 398 0.29% 78.65%
  Viseu 82,370 36.04% 139,077 60.59% 1,934 0.84% 2,425 1.06% 2,764 1.20% 601 0.26% 79.04%
Source: SGMAI Presidential Election Results

Maps
  • Strongest candidate by electoral district.
    Strongest candidate by electoral district.
  • Strongest candidate by municipality: Eanes - magenta; Soares Carneiro - darkblue.
    Strongest candidate by municipality: Eanes - magenta; Soares Carneiro - darkblue.

Notes
  1. Independent supported by the Socialist Party (PS), the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Workers' Communist Party (PCTP/MRPP)

See also

References
  1. "ELEIÇÕES PRESIDENCIAIS DE 1980 – CANDIDATURA DE RAMALHO EANES". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "ELEIÇÕES PRESIDENCIAIS DE 1980 – CANDIDATURA DE SOARES CARNEIRO". EPHEMERA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  5. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
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