(Adnkronos) – António José Seguro is the new president of the Republic of Portugal. The former Socialist Secretary General has become the most voted politician in the country’s history, breaking the absolute record of votes obtained by Mário Soares in his re-election in 1991. With 3,482,481 votes obtained yesterday, the president-elect won in all districts and autonomous regions. With 99.2% of the ballots counted, the candidate supported by the left won with 66.82% of the votes, against 33.18% obtained by André Ventura, candidate and leader of the far-right party Chega.
“This victory has a very special flavor because it is about the election of the President of the Republic,” Seguro told the press from the Cultural and Congress Center of Caldas da Rainha, north of Lisbon. “The Portuguese people are the best people in the world,” he added before stating his goal: “To help serve.” Seguro’s rival, Ventura, declared that during the campaign “I sought an alternative line, to say what needed to change in this country,” but “despite a very significant increase compared to both the legislative elections and the first round, I was unable to do what I advocated, which was to win these elections.”
The outgoing president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, congratulated Seguro and announced that he would receive him this afternoon. The president “called António José Seguro to congratulate him on his victory in the presidential elections and wish him every happiness and success for the mandate entrusted to him by the Portuguese people,” the Presidency informed. For his part, the Portuguese Prime Minister, the conservative Luís Montenegro, congratulated Seguro as the guarantor of the “spirit of convergence” and assured that the government would show the new head of state “all its availability” and “cooperation” to serve the Portuguese people.
