1958 Portuguese presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 8 June 1958, during the authoritarian Estado Novo regime led by Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar.

1958 Portuguese presidential election

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

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 Thomaz, 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."[1] 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 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.[2] For example, Salazar refused to allow opposition representatives to observe the counting of ballots.[1] Indeed, many neutral observers believe that Delgado would have won had the regime allowed an honest election.

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. As a result, the 1958 election would be the only presidential election under the Estado Novo in which an opposition candidate actually stayed in the race until election day. In previous years, when the regime's candidate didn't run unopposed, any opposition candidates were forced to withdraw before the polls opened. Universal suffrage was not reintroduced until after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.