Second round of the Portuguese presidential elections, scheduled for Sunday (8), could be postponed
And cexceptional rain caused by storm Leonardo continued to punish the Iberian Peninsula this Thursday (5), leaving thousands of people displaced in Spain and Portugal. In the center of the Portuguese country, in the Santarém region, Civil Defense increased the risk of flooding due to the rise of the Tagus River, which “has reached the red level, its maximum level”. Municipal authorities ordered the “mandatory evacuation” of nearby areas within seven hours.
“We haven’t experienced a situation like this in the Tagus basin since 1997“, highlighted in a press conference the national commander of Civil Defense, Mário Silvestre. Portugal, which last week was hit by storm Kristin, leaving five dead, recorded its second rainiest January since the year 2000, according to the national meteorological agency.
O To date, the balance of storm Leonardo is that of one person dead in Portugal and a woman missing in Andalusia, in the south of Spainafter she threw herself into a river to try to save her dog. The Iberian Peninsula is at the forefront of climate change and has been experiencing increasingly longer heat waves for years, which begin even before summer, and increasingly frequent episodes of intense rain. Storm Leonardo is the sixth of its kind since the beginning of 2026, just a month ago, according to the Spanish state meteorological agency, Aemet.
In Spain, a river in Dúdar completely overflowed its banks, flooding the surrounding area with muddy water and forcing residents to leave their homes. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Spain, especially in Andalusia. Areas in central and northwestern Spain are also on orange alert (the second highest level), mainly due to strong winds.
Rail and road traffic remain largely affected this Thursday. The Spanish meteorological agency indicated in X that “on Friday the rains will be more intermittent, but on Saturday they will intensify again in areas where it has already rained a lot in the previous days”.
Postponement of elections in Portugal
On Sunday (8), the Portuguese will go to the polls for the second round of the presidential elections, however, the election may be postponed. “I will propose today to the other candidate, to the President of the Republic and to the various municipal powers, for the sake of equality among all Portuguese, that the electoral act be postponed for a week”, declared André Ventura, referring to a proposal that did not seem to convince his socialist opponent, António José Seguro, a right-wing candidate.
Local authorities may decide to postpone the election; Alcácer do Sal City Hall, one of the municipalities most affected by the floods, has already decided to postpone it. “We are not in a position to hold elections on Sunday,” said the mayor, Clarisse Campos, claiming that there are isolated residents in this location with around 10,000 voters.
*With AFP
