Socialist to face far-right candidate for Portugal's presidency

LISBON

Socialist candidate Jose Antonio Seguro waves a Portuguese flag as he addresses supporters on the night of Portugal's presidential election first round in Caldas da Rainha on Jan. 18.

Portugal's socialist candidate won the first round of the presidential election and will face the far-right candidate in the second round, near-complete results showed on Jan. 18.

With votes from 95 percent of constituencies counted, Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro was leading with 30.6 percent of the vote, while far-right contender Andre Ventura came in second with 24.2 percent.

The liberal candidate Joao Cotrim Figueiredo was in third place with 15.5 percent.

Ventura and Seguro will face off on Feb. 8 to decide who succeeds conservative incumbent Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the election had suggested that Ventura was the favorite for the first round.

This will nevertheless be the first time a far-right candidate has made it to the second round of the presidential race.

During the campaign, Seguro had argued that he was the only one capable of defeating Ventura's "extremism" and had called on "all democrats" to unite behind him.

While the role of president is largely ceremonial, in times of crisis the incumbent can dissolve parliament, call elections or dismiss a prime minister.

Portugal's prime minister, right-winger Luis Montenegro, said he would not be giving any advice on who to vote for in the second round.

His minority government already relies on Ventura's Chega party for support to implement some of its policies.