Centre-left candidate Antonio Jose Seguro scored a convincing win over far-right rival Andre Ventura in the Portuguese presidential election, in a run-off vote held after days of devastating storms.

With 95% of the votes counted, Mr Seguro had won 66% of the vote to Mr Ventura's 34%.

That means the 63-year-old Socialist candidate will, as expected, succeed the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as president.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed Mr Seguro's win, hailing it as a victory for "shared European values".

"The Portuguese citizens have spoken and, in the face of devastation caused by the storms, demonstrated remarkable democratic resilience," she posted on X.

The election campaign had been upended by two weeks of storms and fierce gales that killed at least seven people and caused an estimated €4 billion in damage.

The storm disruption forced around 20 of the worst-hit constituencies to postpone the vote by a week, but it went ahead for nearly all the 11 million eligible voters in Portugal and abroad.

The 43-year-old Mr Ventura had criticised the government's response to fierce weather and sought in vain to have the entire election postponed.

Mr Seguro is a veteran political operator and former Socialist party leader, having begun his career in the party's youth wing.

In 2014 he lost an internal power struggle, and was pushed out as secretary general of the party by future prime minister Antonio Costa, who is now president of the European Council.

Despite being out of the public eye for the past decade, he never renounced his belief in a "modern and moderate left".

He began his presidential campaign without the backing of the Socialist Party's leadership, though most of them came around to support him.

He slowly climbed in the polls, with one on Wednesday crediting him with 67% of voting intentions in the run-off election - a figure reflected in today's exit polls.

Mr Seguro took the most votes in the first round of the election in January, in which 11 candidates stood, with 31.1%, ahead of Mr Ventura on 23.5%.

Since no one won a majority, the top two went through to a second round.

Mr Seguro secured the support of many political figures from the far-left, centre and the right.

But Prime Minister Luis Montenegro declined to endorse either candidate in the second round.

His minority centre-right government has to rely on support from either the Socialists or the far right to get legislation through parliament.

Mr Ventura is the first extreme-right candidate to make it through to a run-off vote in Portugal. His Chega (Enough) party, created as recently as 2019, became the leading opposition force at the May 2025 general election.

He is seeking to "assert himself as the true leader of the Portuguese right", political science professor Jose Santana Pereira said.

In Portugal, the head of state has the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections but otherwise has a largely symbolic role.

The new president will take office in early March.

Socialist candidate Antonio Jose Seguro (L) and far\u002Dright candidate Andre Ventura casting their votes

\u003Cp\u003EAntonio Jose Seguro took the most votes in the first round of the election in January, in which 11 candidates stood, with 31.1%, ahead of Andre Ventura on 23.5%Caption\u003C/p\u003E