2001 Portuguese presidential election

2001 Portuguese presidential election

← 1996 14 January 2001 2006 →
Turnout	49.71% ( 16.58pp)
Candidate Jorge Sampaio Ferreira do Amaral António Abreu Party PS PSD PCP Popular vote 2,401,015 1,498,948 223,196 Percentage 55.55% 34.68% 5.16%
Results by district Results by municipality Sampaio   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Amaral   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%
President before election Jorge Sampaio PS Elected President Jorge Sampaio PS

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 14 January 2001.

The victory of incumbent president Jorge Sampaio was never in doubt and the turnout was therefore quite low (49.71 percent). Again, the incumbent president was re-elected, like what happened with Mário Soares and Ramalho Eanes.

As the re-election of the left-wing president was almost certain, both the Portuguese Communist Party and the Left Bloc, the latter for its first time, presented their own candidates, as their support against the right-wing candidate was not necessary. The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers also presented its own candidate for the first time in its history, Garcia Pereira.

On the right, Ferreira do Amaral was supported by the two major parties, the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party which, again, could not achieve their old objective of electing a right-wing president for the first time since the Carnation Revolution.