Portuguese presidential election, 1958

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on June 8, 1958, during the authoritarian

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...

Estado Novo regime led by Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Portugal

Prime Minister is the current title of the chief of the Portuguese Government. As chief executive, the Prime Minister coordinates the action of ministers, representing the Government from the other organs of state, accountable to Parliament and keeps the President informed...

António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...

.

Incumbent President

President of Portugal

Portugal has been a republic since 1910, and since that time the head of state has been the president, whose official title is President of the Portuguese Republic ....

Francisco Craveiro Lopes

Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes da Silva de Tovero , 6th Viscount de Molenos-Craveiro, GCTE, ComC, GCA, , was a Portuguese politician and military man...

had clashed with Salazar and did not seek another term, neither as candidate of the regime or for the opposition, which deemed the incumbent president capable of winning the race. The National Union

National Union (Portugal)

The National Union was the only legal political party in Portugal for most of the period of the Estado Novo, a right-wing dictatorship dominated by António de Oliveira Salazar....

, the sole legal political party

Single-party state

A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...

levied naval minister Américo Thomaz

Américo Thomaz

Américo de Deus Rodrigues Tomás, GCC, GOA, GOSE , archaic spelling: Américo Thomaz, was a Portuguese admiral and politician.-Career:Tomás became minister of the Navy in 1944...

, a conservative. The democratic

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

opposition backed General Humberto Delgado

Humberto Delgado

Humberto da Silva Delgado, GCL was a General of the Portuguese Air Force and politician.Delgado was born in Brogueira, Torres Novas. He was the son of Joaquim Delgado and wife Maria do Ó Pereira and had three younger sisters, Deolinda, Aida and Lídia....

, who ran as an independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

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

Secret police

Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....

force, PIDE

PIDE

In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...

, harassed Delgado's supporters, and there were many reports of regime electoral fraud

Electoral fraud

Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...

.. The results nevertheless shocked the dictatorship

Dictatorship

A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...

and in 1959, the constitution was amended to transfer the resonsibility to elect the president from the Portuguese people to the National Assembly. The method of universal election was later reintroduced, as democracy was restored.

Results

Américo Thomaz

Américo de Deus Rodrigues Tomás, GCC, GOA, GOSE , archaic spelling: Américo Thomaz, was a Portuguese admiral and politician.-Career:Tomás became minister of the Navy in 1944...

| align="center" | National Union

National Union (Portugal)

The National Union was the only legal political party in Portugal for most of the period of the Estado Novo, a right-wing dictatorship dominated by António de Oliveira Salazar....

Humberto Delgado

| align="center" | Independent

Independent (politician)

| align="center" | 236,057
| align="center" | 23.58
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=3| Total Vote (turnout %)
| align="center" | 1,001,138
| align="center" | 100.00
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=3| Registered Voters
| align="center" |
| align="center" |
|-
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
| colspan=6 align=left|Source: Fórum História
|}

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