(Reuters) Far-right leader André Ventura and a former Navy admiral running as an independent are tied in voting intentions for Portugal’s January presidential election, a poll showed on Friday.
An ICS/ISCTE poll for Expresso showed Ventura and independent candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo tied with 18% support. Former social democratic leader Luis Marques Mendes comes next, with 16%, while former socialist leader Antonio José Seguro obtained 10%.
No candidate is expected to win in the first round on January 18, making a second round on February 8 almost certain.
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Portugal’s presidency is largely ceremonial, but it plays a key role in uniting its fractured political landscape and has the power to dissolve Parliament and dismiss the government.
His strong performance reflects the rapid rise of his far-right Chega party, founded in 2019 and currently the second-largest party in Parliament after overtaking the Socialists in May’s general election.
The 42-year-old former sports commentator and law professor argued that it may be easier to transform the country by winning the presidency than through legislative elections and promised to be ‘an interventionist agent’ if he wins.
Still, the poll suggests that Ventura would lose to Gouveia e Melo or Marques Mendes in a second round, reflecting a high level of rejection from the electorate beyond his party’s base.
‘Ventura wants to take advantage of this electoral campaign to continue to establish his party in the country, but he knows that if he reaches the second round of elections, he probably won’t win,’ said Adelino Maltez, a political scientist at the University of Lisbon.
Ventura committed to combating corruption among the main parties that governed the country for five decades. He has faced criticism for comments seen as racist towards the Roma community and South Asian immigrants.
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Gouveia e Melo, aged 65, gained national prominence in 2021 as coordinator of the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in Portugal.
Positioning himself between socialism and social democracy, he has insisted that he is the only truly independent candidate.
The Nov. 7-17 survey of 807 people had a margin of error of 3.5.
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