Mayor of Lisbon between 1989 and 1995, leader of the Socialist Party between 1989 and 1992, supported by the Socialist Party; Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister between 1985 and 1995, leader of the Social Democratic Party between 1985 and 1995, supported by the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party; Jerónimo de Sousa, Official candidate of the Portuguese Communist Party and Ecologist Party "The Greens", Left the race to support Jorge Sampaio; Alberto Matos, Official candidate of the People's Democratic Union, Left the race to support Jorge Sampaio; Campaign period Party slogans Candidates' debates Opinion polls Note, until 2000, the publication of opinion polls in the last week of the campaign was forbidden. Results Summary of the 14 January 1996 Portuguese presidential election results |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Candidates !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Supporting parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan="2"|First round |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;"|% |- |style="width:10px;background-color:#FF66FF;text-align:center;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Jorge Sampaio |style="text-align:left;"|Socialist Party |style="text-align:right;"|3,035,056 |style="text-align:right;"|53.91 |- |style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#FF9900;text-align:center;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Aníbal Cavaco Silva |style="text-align:left;"|Social Democratic Party, People's Party |style="text-align:right;"|2,595,131 |style="text-align:right;"|46.09 |- |style="width: 5px" style="background-color:red;text-align:center;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Jerónimo de Sousa |style="text-align:left;"|Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" |colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |left the race |- |style="width: 5px" style="background-color:#E2062C;text-align:center;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Alberto Matos |style="text-align:left;"|People's Democratic Union |colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |left the race |- |colspan="3" style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,630,187 |width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |- |style="text-align:right;" colspan="3"|Blank ballots |width="65" style="text-align:right;"|69,328 |width="40" style="text-align:right;"|1.20 |- |style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" |Invalid ballots |width="65" style="text-align:right;"|63,463 |width="40" style="text-align:right;"|1.10 |- |colspan="3" style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="65" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,762,978 |width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=3|Registered voters/turnout ||8,693,636||66.29 |- | colspan=5 style="text-align:left;"|Both candidates left the race in favour of Jorge Sampaio. |- |colspan=5 style="text-align:left;"|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições |} Maps Notes References External links Portuguese Electoral Commission NSD: European Election Database - Portugal publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010 See also President of Portugal Portugal Politics of Portugal 1996 elections in Portugal 1996 January 1996 events in Europe