Portuguese presidential election, 1958

Portuguese presidential election, 1958

8 June 1958

Candidate Americo Thomaz Humberto Delgado Party UN Independent Popular vote 765,081 236,057 Percentage 76.4% 23.6%

President before election Craveiro Lopes UN Elected President Americo Thomaz UN

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. The National Union, the sole legal political party levied naval minister Américo Thomaz, a conservative. The democratic opposition backed General Humberto Delgado, who ran as an independent in an attempt to challenge the regime.

The official tally was 76.4 percent for Thomaz and about 24 percent for Delgado. The regime's secret police force, PIDE, harassed Delgado's supporters, and there were many reports of massive electoral fraud.^[1] Indeed, many neutral observers believe that Delgado would have won had the election been honest. The results nevertheless shocked Salazar, and in 1959, he had the Constitution amended to transfer the presidential election to the National Assembly, which was a pliant tool of the regime. Universal suffrage was not reintroduced until after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.

Official Results

Summary of the 8 June 1958 Portuguesepresidentialelection results

References