Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was re-elected in January 2021, securing nearly 61 percent of the votes in the first round. He took the oath of office on 9 March 2021, and continued the period of
cohabitation with
Socialist Party Prime Minister
António Costa, which lasted until April 2024. This cohabitation ended after the
March 2024 elections, which saw
Luís Montenegro, from the
Social Democratic Party (the same party as the President), nominated as prime minister. Within the Portuguese political system, the president serves as the
head of state with primarily ceremonial duties, though the president holds some political influence and can dissolve Parliament during a crisis. The president resides at the
Belém Palace in Lisbon. Since the Carnation Revolution, all Portuguese presidents have been re-elected for a second term and never tried a third, with one exception:
Mário Soares (PS), who sought a non-consecutive third term in the
2006 presidential election but lost. Thus, every president since 1976 has served exactly two terms. During his decade-long presidency, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa suffered
a considerable decline in his public approval according to polling.
Pre-campaign Admiral
Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who rose to prominence as the coordinator of Portugal's
COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force, quickly emerged as a leading candidate in early polling as far back as mid-2022. Over the next two years, he repeatedly oscillated in his public statements regarding his intentions to run, fueling speculation. By November 2024, having declined to be renominated as
Chief of the Naval Staff, Gouveia e Melo started preparing his path for the presidency, signaling the support from local politicians and stating that he didn't want the support of any party. He ultimately announced his candidacy in May 2025. as well as former party leaders
Luís Marques Mendes and
Rui Rio, and former Minister
Leonor Beleza. but, after he declined to seek the presidency, CDS declared support for Marques Mendes, despite internal divisions. as the last time the PS had supported a candidate was
Manuel Alegre in the
2011 presidential election. Multiple socialist figures soon emerged as potential contenders, but, as the political landscape changed, many of these started losing momentum. Former
president of the Assembly of the Republic,
Augusto Santos Silva, was considered as a strong candidate The governor of the
Bank of Portugal,
Mário Centeno, was also considered as a strong contender, due to his popularity as
Minister of Finance, until he declined to run in January 2025. , 17 December 2025. By then, two main candidates emerged to represent the traditional left, the former PS leader,
António José Seguro, who had been out of politics since 2014, and the former director-general of the
International Organization for Migration,
António Vitorino, as a group of high-profile socialists rejected the possibility of Seguro being the party's candidate, even suggesting an internal referendum to decide the party's presidential candidate, an idea that was ultimately rejected. Vitorino, who had by then failed to gain much support within the party's leadership as was expected, ended up backing away from the race following the poor results of the PS in the
May 2025 legislative election, Despite the attempt from Seguro's opponents to draft the runner-up of the
2016 presidential election,
António Sampaio da Nóvoa, and a final failed effort from Santos Silva to gain support to run, receiving an almost unanimous support of the PS following the
2025 Portuguese local elections. On the left of the PS, the absence of Sampaio da Nóvoa from the race eliminated the prospects for a united left front, prompting each party to run their own candidates, despite attempts from Seguro supporters for a single left-wing candidacy. The
Communist Party announced the candidacy of former vice president of the
Assembly of the Republic,
António Filipe, in June 2025, with Filipe resolutely stating that he would not withraw from the race.
Catarina Martins, former leader of the
Left Bloc, and incumbent
MEP, entered the race in September 2025, followed in October by
Jorge Pinto, a
LIVRE MP from
Porto.
André Ventura, the leader of the
radical right-wing populist
Chega, and a candidate in the
previous presidential election, announced his candidacy in January 2025. Following unprecedentedly strong results in the
May 2025 legislative election, that made him the
leader of the opposition, Ventura considered alternative candidates, such as Passos Coelho, the former CDS leader
Manuel Monteiro, Major general Isidro Morais Pereira, and even considered the idea of supporting Gouveia e Melo. Nonetheless, Ventura ended up confirming his own candidacy in September 2025. However, Rocha later resigned as party leader following the 2025 legislative election, and Leitão shifted her focus to run for the liberals' leadership, withdrawing from the presidential race. In August, former leader and incumbent liberal MEP,
João Cotrim de Figueiredo, announced his candidacy, becoming a major right-wing contender, precluding figures, like outgoing mayor of Porto
Rui Moreira, from entering the race. Both
People Animals Nature and
Together for the People decided not to present or back any candidate for the first round of the election, while PAN has said they would likely support a candidate in the second round. Despite that, both
Inês Sousa Real and
Filipe Sousa, sole deputies from both parties, supported Seguro in the first round. ==Electoral system==