1958 Portuguese presidential election
Introduction 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, either as candidate of the regime or for the opposition, which deemed the incumbent president capable of winning the race. In Craveiro Lopes' place, the National Union, the sole legal political party, levied naval minister Américo Tomás, a conservative.The democratic opposition backed Air Force General Humberto Delgado, who ran as an independent in an attempt to challenge the regime. When asked if he would retain Salazar if elected, Delgado famously replied, "Obviously, I'll sack him." Delgado knew that under Portugal's corporatist constitution, the president still had the right to dismiss the prime minister, which was effectively the only check on Salazar's power.The official tally was 76.4 percent for Tomás and 23.6 percent for Delgado. The regime's secret police force, PIDE, harassed and attacked Delgado voters and supporters, and there were many reports of widespread electoral fraud. For example, Salazar refused to allow opposition representatives to observe the counting of ballots.Many neutral observers believe that Delgado would have won in a landslide had Salazar allowed an honest election. Nevertheless, the results came as a shock to Salazar. Leaving nothing to chance, in 1959 he had the Constitution amended to transfer the presidential election to the National Assembly, which was a pliant tool of the regime. As a result, the 1958 election would be the only presidential election during the 48 years of the Second Portuguese Republic (in both of its incarnations as the ''Ditadura Nacional'' and the ''Estado Novo'') in which an opposition candidate actually stayed in the race until election day. In previous years, whenever the opposition put forward any candidates at all, they were intimidated into withdrawing before the polls opened.Universal suffrage was not reintroduced until after the Carnation Revolution and the return of democracy in 1974.
Official Results ===National summary===Candidates Supporting parties 	First roundVotes% '''Américo Tomás'''National Union'''765,081''''''76.42'''Humberto DelgadoIndependent236,05723.58 Arlindo VicentePortuguese Communist Party''left the race'''''Total valid''''''1,001,138''''''100.00'''Blank/Invalid ballots 340 0.03'''Total''' '''1,001,478''''''77.35''''''Registered voters''''''1,294,779'''Candidate left the race in favour of Humberto Delgado.Source: Fórum História,  Elections in Portugal, ===Results by district=== District Tomás Delgado Votes % Votes %   Aveiro '''40,087''' '''69.43%''' 17,651 30.57%   Beja '''14,540''' '''86.81%''' 2,209 13.19%   Braga '''48,813''' '''72.19%''' 18,809 27.81%   Bragança '''19,534''' '''75.93%''' 6,193 24.07%   Castelo Branco '''30,783''' '''93.13%''' 2,271 6.87%   Coimbra '''33,944''' '''71.35%''' 13,629 28.65%   Évora '''13,101''' '''77.22%''' 3,865 22.78%   Faro '''22,179''' '''86.69%''' 3,405 13.31%   Guarda '''29,565''' '''83.17%''' 5,983 16.83%   Leiria '''33,284''' '''76.14%''' 10,433 23.86%   Lisbon '''110,939''' '''71.90%''' 43,359 28.10%   Portalegre '''16,542''' '''81.27%''' 3,812 18.73%   Porto '''69,174''' '''66.10%''' 35,473 33.90%   Santarém '''37,645''' '''64.22%''' 20,974 35.78%   Setúbal '''12,973''' '''70.57%''' 5,409 29.43%   Viana do Castelo '''20,797''' '''73.91%''' 7,342 26.09%   Vila Real '''26,899''' '''85.62%''' 4,519 14.38%   Viseu '''46,692''' '''85.19%''' 8,117 14.81%  Angra do Heroísmo '''11,255''' '''99.72%''' 32 0.28%   Funchal '''16,024''' '''85.59%''' 2,698 14.41%  Ponta Delgada '''13,796''' '''95.25%''' 688 4.75%   Angola '''22,295''' '''67.71%''' 10,630 32.29%   Cape Verde '''13,191''' '''97.67%''' 314 2.33%   Guinea '''1,624''' '''79.07%''' 430 20.93%   Macau '''1,507''' '''100.00%''' 0 0.00%   Mozambique '''13,385''' '''61.29%''' 8,454 38.71%   Portuguese India '''16,773''' '''95.64%''' 765 4.36%   São Tomé and Príncipe '''5,249''' '''100.00%''' 0 0.00%   Timor '''1,853''' '''100.00%''' 0 0.00% Source:===Maps===File:Mapa das eleições presidenciais portuguesas de 1958 por concelhos.png|Strongest candidate by municipality. (Continental Portugal only)
References
See also * President of Portugal* Portugal* Politics of Portugal