2001 Portuguese presidential election

← 1996 14 January 2001 2006 →
Turnout	49.7% 16.6 pp
PSD Candidate Jorge Sampaio Ferreira do Amaral António Abreu Party PS PSD PCP Popular vote 2,401,015 1,498,948 223,196 Percentage 55.6% 34.7% 5.2%
District Results Municipality Results Sampaio   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Amaral   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%
President before election Jorge Sampaio PS Elected President Jorge Sampaio PS

The 2001 Portuguese presidential election was held on 14 January.

The victory of incumbent president Jorge Sampaio was never in doubt and the turnout was therefore quite low (49.71%). Again, the incumbent president was reelected, like what happened with Mário Soares and Ramalho Eanes.

As the re-election of the left-wing president was almost certain, both the Portuguese Communist Party and the Left Bloc, the latter for its first time, presented their own candidates, as their support against the right-wing candidate was not necessary. The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers also presented its own candidate for the first time in its history, Garcia Pereira.

On the right, Ferreira do Amaral was supported by the two major parties, the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party which, again, could not achieve their old objective of electing a right-wing president for the first time since the Carnation Revolution.

Procedure

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 7500 and 15000 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.

Candidates

• Jorge Sampaio, President since 1996 and eligible for a second term, leader of the PS between 1989 and 1992, supported by the Socialist Party;
• Joaquim Martins Ferreira do Amaral, former minister of public works of Cavaco Silva government between 1990 and 1995, supported by the Social Democratic Party and by the People's Party;
• António Abreu, alderman in Lisbon between 1997 and 2001, supported by the Portuguese Communist Party;
• Fernando Rosas, Portuguese academic and politician, supported by the Left Bloc;
• Garcia Pereira, Secretary-General of the PCTP/MRPP;

Unsuccessful candidacies

There were also four candidates rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court for not complying with the legal requirement of being proposed by 7500 voters:

• Pedro Maria Braga;
• Maria Teresa Lameiro;
• Josué Rodrigues Pedro;
• Manuel João Vieira;

These four candidates were present in the draw of the ballot position, but did not appear in the final ballot.

Campaign period

Party slogans

Candidates' debates

Opinion polls

  Exit poll

Polling firm	Date released	Sample size						Others	Lead
			Sampaio PS	Amaral PSD	Abreu PCP, PEV	Rosas BE	Pereira PCTP/MRPP
Election Results	14 Jan 2001	—	55.6	34.7	5.2	3.0	1.6	—	20.9
UCP–CESOP/RTP	14 Jan 2001	—	54–59	32–36	4–7	2–3.5	1–2.5	—	22.5
Eurosondagem/SIC	14 Jan 2001	—	55.9–58.7	31.1–34.9	4.2–6.4	1.7–3.3	1.1–2.3	—	24.4
Intercampus/TVI	14 Jan 2001	—	54.8–59.2	30.9–35.1	4.5–6.5	1.9–3.3	1.3–2.5	—	24.0
UCP–CESOP/RTP	12 Jan 2001	—	63.5	29.1	2.4	2.7	2.2	—	34.4
Euroexpansão/Expresso	12 Jan 2001	—	64.8	31.9	1.2	1.7	0.4	—	32.9
Eurosondagem/SIC	12 Jan 2001	—	67.6	27.6	1.5	2.2	0.9	—	40.0
UCP–CESOP/RTP	7 Jan 2001	—	67.9	27.2	2.2	1.9	0.8	—	40.7
UCP–CESOP/RTP	18 Dec 2001	—	62.0	31.6	1.7	2.0	0.2	2.5	30.4
Euroexpansão/Expresso	1 Apr 2000	—	67	17	—	—	—	5[a]	50

Results

National summary

Results by district

Maps

• 
  Strongest candidate by electoral district. (Azores and Madeira not shown)
• 
  Strongest candidate by municipality.