Rebelo de Sousa leads Portuguese presidential election poll

Candidate Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is the front runner in the Portuguese presidential election to be held on Sunday, according to the latest opinion poll published on Friday.

The poll conducted by Portuguese Catolic University showed Rebelo de Sousa, a veteran political of Social Democratic Party (PSD) will get 52 percent of votes while independent Sampaio da Novoa, a former president of Lisbon University, will obtain 22 percent and Maria de Belem, former president of the Socialist Party, only 8 percent.

A record 10 candidates are running for president of Portugal this year and two of them are female.

According to Portugual's Constitution, only a candidate who secures more than 50 percent of votes will be elected president, otherwise the two who get the most votes will contend in an run-off, on February 14 for this year.

The 67-year-old Rebelo de Sousa, a law professor graduated from Law School of Lisbon University, is a popular TV commentator and former secretary-general of PSD.

Portuguese president serves five-years in a term and can be elected for another. The president is powered to dissolve the parliament, call a snap election and appoint who wins the election as the country's prime minister.

The incumbent president Anibal Cavaco Silva, aged 76, was elected president in January 2006 and reelected in 2011.

Source: XINHUA