Portugal Presidential election 2021 — Results
Election day: January 24, 2021
- Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa: 60.67%
- Ana Gomes: 12.96%
- André Ventura: 11.93%
- João Ferreira: 4.31%
- Marisa Matias: 3.96%
- Tiago Mayan Gonçalves: 3.24%
- Vitorino Silva: 2.95%
Turnout: 39.26%
About this election
The political system
The President of Portugal is directly elected for a five-year term by a two-round majority system, with a single re-election permitted. The office combines a largely non-executive, unifying role with significant reserve powers — appointing the prime minister, vetoing laws and dissolving parliament. The 2021 election took place under exceptional conditions: the country was in lockdown amid record infections, and although voting proceeded with health precautions, turnout was expected to fall sharply, complicating predictions about the relative standing of the challengers.
Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.
In numbers
- 47.71 points separated Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa from Ana Gomes — 1,990,869 votes.
- The top two shared 73.63% of the vote between them, and 3 lists cleared 5%.
- Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa moved +8.67 points against the 2016 presidential election (52.00% → 60.67%).
- Support for Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa ranged from 72.16% in Madeira to 51.30% in Beja — a spread of 20.86 points across 20 regions, and it led in 20 of 20.
- Turnout of 39.26% is the lowest of the 2 presidential elections covered here since 2016.
Calculated from the official figures on this page and from the other elections of this type in our archive.
Understanding this election
- Presidential vs Parliamentary Elections — why forming a government takes months in some systems
- Why Official Results Sometimes Take Weeks — the stages between the count and the legal result
- Why Election Maps Look Different From the Popular Vote — why a map can look one-sided when the vote was close