Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 22 January 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Jorge Sampaio, who was term-limited from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round for Aníbal Cavaco Silva of the Social Democratic Party candidate, the former Prime Minister, won 50.54 percent of the vote in the first round, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election. It was the first time in which a right-wing candidate was elected President of the Republic since the 1974 Carnation Revolution.

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2006 Portuguese presidential election

← 2001 22 January 2006 2011 →
Opinion polls
Turnout	61.53% ( 11.82pp)
Candidate Aníbal Cavaco Silva Manuel Alegre Mário Soares Party PSD Independent PS Popular vote 2,773,431 1,138,297 785,355 Percentage 50.54% 20.74% 14.31%   Candidate Jerónimo de Sousa Francisco Louçã Party PCP BE Popular vote 474,083 292,198 Percentage 8.64% 5.3%
Results by district Results by municipality Cavaco Silva   20-30%   30-40%   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Alegre   20-30%   30-40% Soares   20-30% Sousa   20-30%   30-40%   40-50%
President before election Jorge Sampaio PS Elected President Aníbal Cavaco Silva PSD

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Voter turnout was 62%.

In the presidential election of 14 January 2001, the outgoing Socialist Jorge Sampaio was re-elected in the first round with 55% of votes. Because he was term-limited, he was forbidden, by the Constitution, to run for a third consecutive term.

In the parliamentary elections of 20 February 2005, the Socialist Party, led by José Sócrates, won for the first time in its history with an absolute majority of seats, while the Social Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes fell below 30%, their worst result since 1983.

To cope with the bad fiscal situation, the government introduced a policy of fiscal restraint, combining higher taxes, lower public treatments and privatizations. Adding to this, a bad summer in terms of wildfires put more pressure in the government. This policies were not popular and as a result, the Socialists were defeated in the local elections on 9 October 2005. In the follow-up for the presidential elections, the Socialists decided to nominate their former secretary-general, Mário Soares, President of the Republic between 1986 and 1996. This decision divided the party, which led Manuel Alegre, a member of the party parliamentary group, to announce his candidature as an independent. The Social Democratic Party opted to support their former leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995, and presidential candidate defeated in 1996.

Any Portuguese citizen over 35 years old has the opportunity to run for president. In order to do so it is necessary to gather between 7,500 and 15,000 signatures and submit them to the Portuguese Constitutional Court.

According to the Portuguese Constitution, to be elected, a candidate needs a majority of votes. If no candidate gets this majority there will take place a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Thirteen citizens sought election officially, but only six gathered the 7,500 signatures required under the constitution to be a candidate in the poll:

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas. Due to lack of data from the 2001 election, it's not possible to compare the turnout throughout election day between the two elections.

More information Turnout, Time ...

Turnout	Time
	12:00		16:00		19:00
	2001	2006	2001	2006	2001	2006	±
Total	—	19.32%	—	45.56%	49.71%	61.53%	11.82 pp
Sources[8][9]

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