1991 Portuguese presidential election

1991 Portuguese presidential election

← 1986 13 January 1991 1996 →
Turnout	62.16% ( 13.23pp)
Candidate Mário Soares Basílio Horta Carlos Carvalhas Party PS CDS PCP Popular vote 3,459,521 696,379 635,373 Percentage 70.35% 14.16% 12.92%
Results by district Results by municipality Soares   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Carvalhas   40-50%   50-60%
President before election Mário Soares PS Elected President Mário Soares PS

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 13 January 1991.

The re-election of the hugely popular Mário Soares was never in doubt, specially after the then-ruling PSD, led by Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva announced its support. Therefore, the election held on 13 January 1991 was a landslide, and no second round was needed.

As the election of a left-wing candidate was assured, other left-wing parties, the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union, presented their own candidates. The communists presented Carlos Carvalhas, who had been Assistant General Secretary of the Party a year before (Álvaro Cunhal was the secretary-general). Carvalhas would later be elected secretary-general, in 1992.

On the right, as the Social Democratic Party supported Soares, the Democratic and Social Centre presented the only right-wing candidate, Basílio Horta.

Mário Soares achieved the majority of the votes in every district of the country, and 295 of the then 305 municipalities. His score was the biggest ever in a presidential election in Portugal.