(Reuters) – Moderate socialist António José Seguro is close to winning a landslide victory in Portugal’s second round of presidential elections on Sunday, opinion polls show, after prominent conservatives backed him to stop far-right leader André Ventura’s victory.
As Seguro and Ventura ended their campaigns in storm-hit areas of Portugal this Friday, all polls indicated that Seguro would get 50% to 60% of the vote, about double Ventura’s percentage. Approximately two-thirds of those interviewed say they would never vote for Ventura.
Conservatives, including former president Aníbal Cavaco Silva and some ministers in the current center-right government, as well as most first-round candidates, supported Seguro against what they see as Ventura’s authoritarian tendencies.
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‘This is quite unusual in Europe… to see them (the centre-right) supporting a socialist,’ said Javier Carbonell, political analyst at the Center for European Policy think tank.
“There’s a status quo element and a democratic front element that they think needs to be preserved.”
VENTURA’S ASCENSION
Ventura, a charismatic former sports commentator, said he was ‘stunned’ by the centre-right’s support for Seguro. However, the vote is expected to further expand its political influence, reflecting the rise of the far right across Europe.
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His anti-establishment and anti-immigration party Chega, which many analysts describe as a ‘one-man show’, became the second largest parliamentary force in last year’s general elections.
As in much of Europe, the influence of the far right has already shaken government policies, particularly regarding immigration, leading to a more restrictive stance.
Now, Ventura, who visited areas devastated by storms and floods last week and accused the government of responding too slowly, could approach or even surpass the 31.2% support achieved by the Democratic Alliance, currently in power, in the 2025 parliamentary elections, according to some projections.
Ventura stated that, if elected on Sunday, he would seek constitutional changes to expand the president’s limited powers and would be a more ‘interventionist’ head of state.
However, after obtaining 23.5% of the vote against Seguro’s 31.1% in the first round last month, Ventura was unable to realize his stated ambition of uniting the right for the second round.
‘It seems that society wants to preserve this democratic and constitutional order, while Ventura is a threat to the balance between the center-left and the center-right,’ said political scientist Adelino Maltez.
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‘Still, any additional percentage point, especially if he overtakes the ruling alliance, is something of a victory for him.’
