Portugal: President Rebelo de Sousa re-elected

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, incumbent President of Portugal, has been re-elected for his second five-year term. As usual, Portugal's pluralistic political climate saw candidates from left to center to right present themselves but the re-election of who the Portuguese refer to endearingly as "Marcelo" came as no surprise. The Portuguese President, despite the fact that his power base used to be the Social Democratic Party (political right), of which he was its President between 1996 and 1999, understands the psyche of the Portuguese people and over five years synchronised every action with the soudbites that they wanted to hear and the actions that they wanted to see. True, he followed Anibal Silva, whose personal characteristics made him far more distant from the people but President "Marcelo" has been truly popular without being populist, taking "selfies" with whoever approached him and asked for one, always with a kind comment, speaking to all strate of society, in public, from the elites to the homeless and being ever-present alongside the Prime Minister, António Costa during the pandemic crisis. A typical example of his omnipresential style was when a tram came off the rails where he happened to be taking a walk in Lisbon and he directed the operations, rescuing tourists and Portuguese passengers onboard until the emergency services arrived, prompting the interest of those involved, who asked "Who is that man?" "The President" "Of the municipality?" "No, the Republic". This, contrasting with a personal style which saw him driving around in his own car and walking along the beaches apparently without any security detail at all, contrasts with the United States of America where tens of thousands of troops had to protect the newly elected President during his inauguration. Other Presidents before Aníbal Silva acted in a similar fashion.