LISBON, Portugal — A center-right candidate scored a resounding victory in Portugal’s presidential election Sunday, warning he would use the largely ceremonial post to prevent the center-left anti-austerity government from worsening the debt-heavy country’s financial health.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a veteran moderate politician and law professor, collected more than half the votes against nine rivals.
With 99 percent of the votes counted, Rebelo de Sousa won 52 percent while his nearest rival came in with less than half of that.
Rebelo de Sousa will move into the head of state’s riverside pink palace in Lisbon in March, replacing Anibal Cavaco Silva, who has served the maximum of two five-year terms.