Portuguese presidential election, 1958
Portuguese presidential election, 1958
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Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 8 June 1958, during the authoritarian Estado Novo regime led by Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar.
Incumbent President Francisco Craveiro Lopes had clashed with Salazar and did not seek another term, neither as candidate of the regime or for the opposition, which deemed the incumbent president capable of winning the race. The National Union, the sole legal political party levied naval minister Américo Thomaz, a conservative. The democratic opposition backed General Humberto Delgado, who ran as an independent in an attempt to challenge the regime.
The official tally was 76.4 percent for Thomaz and about 24 percent for Delgado. The regime's secret police force, PIDE, harassed Delgado's supporters, and there were many reports of massive electoral fraud.[1] Indeed, many neutral observers believe that Delgado would have won had the election been honest. The results nevertheless shocked Salazar, and in 1959, he had the Constitution amended to transfer the presidential election to the National Assembly, which was a pliant tool of the regime. The method of universal election was later reintroduced after the Carnation Revolution.
Official Results
| Vote share 1st Round |
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| Americo Thomaz |
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76.42% |
| Humberto Delgado |
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23.58% |
| Blank/Invalid |
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0% |
| Abstention |
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0% |
References
- ↑
