24 January 2016•Update: 24 January 2016
By Senhan Bolelli
MADRID
About 9.7 million Portuguese voters head to the polls Sunday to elect their president for the next five years.
Voting began at 8.00 a.m. local time (0800GMT) and will close at 7.00 p.m. local time. A total of 10 candidates are running in the election, in which current President Anibal Cavaco Silva did not participate.
Silva, 76, was the 19th president of Portugal after being re-elected in 2011 for a second five-year term. According to the constitution, Silva cannot run for a third term.
If a candidate does not receive more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round will take place on Feb. 14.
The president of the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, 67, is seen as the favorite.
