Tiago Petinga / Lusa
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with the former Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo.
Almirante Gouveia e Melo remains the favorite in the polls on possible candidates for the Presidency of the Republic in 2026. There is a notable rejection of the other advanced names and only António Guterres shadows the military man.
Henrique and Antônio Guterres appear tied in the survey carried out by Pitagórica for TVI, a and Jornal de Notícias which assesses the Portuguese people’s preferences for .
Both the military and the current UN Secretary General collect 28% of preferences of respondents who say that would vote “for sure” in one of them.
The percentage drops to 23% in the case of Passos Coelhoe Antonio Costa collects 22% of preferences.
Follow Mario Centeno with 17% and Brands Mendes com 15%.
Durão Barroso, Rui Rio and João Cotrim de Figueiredo gather 13% each.
Then they appear Ana Gomes and Paulo Portas with 12% safe votes from those surveyed.
Andre Ventura collects only 11% of the votes along with Antonio Vitorino which adds up to the same percentage.
Already Antonio José Seguro collects only 8% of voting intentions.
Guterres would have to resign from the UN to be a candidate
His term as Secretary General of the United Nations ends at the end of 2026. Therefore, to be a candidate for Belém would have to resign of the position.
This scenario is not on the table, but it cannot be completely ruled out, especially because the PS has not yet been able to find a consensus candidate not party.
In any case, at this moment, and considering the possible names, Gouveia e Melo seems to have an open path to Belém – although he has not yet made his candidacy official.
André Ventura rejected by 80% of respondents
Gouveia e Melo is also the candidate with a lower bounce ratewith 39% of those interviewed emphasizing that they would “never vote” for him. Guterres is rejected by 44% of people interviewed.
Afterwards, all candidates have rejection rates above 50%, with André Ventura standing out. 80% of respondents state that they would “never” vote for Chega’s leader.
Insurance has a 63% rejection rateAna Gomes 69% and Marques Mendes 58%.
Mário Centeno is rejected by 54% of those interviewed and Passos Coelho by 57%.
António Costa has a 59% rejection rate.
