UPDATE - Portugal's President Coming Ahead in 1st Round of Presidential Election With Over 60%

MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Portugal's incumbent center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has been re-elected in the first round, according to presidential election results released after 90% of the votes had been counted.

De Sousa has 63 percent, while Andre Ventura from the right-wing Chega party comes second with 12 percent of votes. Socialist candidate and former member of the European Parliament, Ana Gomes is currently third with 11 percent of the votes.

After 99.5% of the votes were counted, it appeared that de Sousa had 61 percent, while Ventura had 11.9 percent of the votes.

Ana Gomes surpassed Ventura with 12.8 percent.

The remaining candidates have managed to win only four or less percent of the votes.

The first round of the presidential election was held in Portugal on Sunday, despite the state of emergency introduced over COVID-19. A total of seven candidates participated in the election.

Ahead of the vote, polls showed that Rebelo de Sousa was expected to get over 60 percent and win in the first round. The voter turnout was expected to be around 45-50 percent.

According to preliminary results, the actual voter turnout at the Sunday election was 39 percent.