Portuguese Brave Lockdown To Re-elect President Rebelo De Sousa

Lisbon, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2021 ) :Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won re-election Sunday, according to media projections, after a poll affected by the country's virus lockdown.

Centre-right incumbent Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had been widely expected to win another term.

The television station projections put Socialist challenger Ana Gomes in second followed by far-right candidate Andre Ventura.

Opinion polls had pointed to a first-round victory for Rebelo de Sousa, a former political commentator known for candid moments like queueing at the supermarket in shorts, plunging into the sea to help girls whose canoe had capsized or sharing a meal with homeless people.

Turnout reached 35.4 percent by 1600 GMT, only slightly lower than at the same time five years ago, soothing fears that abstentions might top 70 percent.

In the capital Lisbon, voters queued outside polling stations, being let in one by one under coronavirus social distancing rules.

"To those who can and who want to vote, overcome your fears", Rebelo de Sousa said after casting his ballot in Celorico de Basto, his stronghold in the northern region of Minho.

- National lockdown - Another voter, architect Jose Barra, 54, told AFP: "Nothing would have stopped me from voting, but I think elderly people, for example, will be discouraged both by the virus and by the queues." As mail-in ballots are not well-established in Portugal, early voting was available last Sunday, drawing nearly 200,000 voters.

Portugal has been under a second national lockdown for the past 10 days aimed at braking a surge in coronavirus cases.

The country recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll on Sunday, bringing fatalities to almost 10,500.

More than 85,000 infections and almost 1,500 deaths were reported in the past week, the highest rate worldwide in proportion to its population of more than 10 million, according to an AFP tally based on government figures.

Almost every new day brings a fresh record in case numbers, and the government has now shut schools for two weeks on top of shops and restaurants.