According to the spokesman for the National Elections Commission (CNE), João Tiago Machado, polling stations opened across the country without major problems and without any reported cases of boycotts.

The main complaints were related to “complaints from people in queues, waiting for the counting of early votes”, and the situation is now normalised.

The waiting time in these cases varied depending on the amount of early votes received in each parish, explained João Tiago Machado, specifying that there were places that had “zero early votes” to count, but there were others that had many, such as Cascais, that will have had more than five thousand votes.

The polling stations for the presidential elections close at 19:00.

In the Azores, polling stations opened and closed one hour later in relation to Lisbon time, due to the time difference.

More than 10.8 million voters are asked to choose the new President of the Republic, who will succeed Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with seven candidates accepted.

If one of the candidates obtains more than 50 percent of the votes, they will be elected head of state today, but otherwise there will be a second round, on February 14, with the two candidates with the most votes coming head to head.

The seven candidates appear on the ballot are: Marisa Matias (supported by the Left Block), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (PSD and CDS / PP), Tiago Mayan Gonçalves (Liberal Initiative), André Ventura (Arrives), Vitorino Silva , best known for Tino de Rans, João Ferreira (PCP and PEV) and PS activist Ana Gomes (PAN and Livre).