Portugal's next president will be elected in a runoff, according to results from yesterday's election. Moderate socialist Antonio Jose Seguro and far-right candidate Andre Ventura topped the polls.
With 80 percent of the vote counted, Seguro had 30 percent of the vote, while Ventura had 26 percent. Joao Cotrim Figueiredo of the right-wing "Liberal Initiative" came in third out of 11 candidates.
The second round of voting is scheduled for February 8. "Reuters" notes that in Portugal, the presidency is largely ceremonial, but it has some key powers, including dissolving parliament under certain circumstances, calling early parliamentary elections and vetoing bills.
Ventura is the leader of the anti-establishment and anti-immigrant party "STIGA!" ("JOKE!" - Port. ez.), which he founded in 2019 and made it the second largest parliamentary force in last year's parliamentary elections. His rise has changed government policies, especially on immigration.
However, all recent opinion polls suggest that he would lose the runoff due to the high rate of disapproval of his rhetoric.