LISBON — Center-right candidate Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won Portugal’s presidential election Sunday, setting up a period of potentially prickly cohabitation with the Socialist-led minority government, which took office in November.

A 67-year-old former TV pundit, Rebelo de Sousa won 52 percent of the vote, surpassing the 50 percent-plus-one needed to avoid a second-round run off against his nearest rival, left-wing university professor António Sampaio da Nóvoa.

Backed by several Socialist Party heavyweights, António Sampaio da Nóvoa scored 22.9 percent, well ahead of the other eight candidates.

Rebelo de Sousa immediately offered to work with Prime Minister António Costa, whose government is dependent for support on the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the radical Left Bloc (BE) party.

“It’s time to turn the page and pacify the economic, social and political landscape in Portugal,” the president-elect said in a victory speech. “We need to rebuild the spirit of compromise in the national interest.”

The relationship however will be tested as Costa seeks to balance left-wing demands to roll back austerity measures introduced by the previous center-right government with Portugal’s commitments to eurozone fiscal discipline rules.

Here are five takeaways from the election:

1) Marcelo’s the man

The margin of Rebelo de Sousa’s victory is remarkable given it’s just two months since the government led by his center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) was kicked out of power, punished by voters disenchanted with four years of painful economic reforms.

Unlike the others, he didn’t need to tell voters who he was.

He did it without the backing of the party machine, standing as an independent and appealing for moderation and cross-party consensus. Standing alone left him on a tight budget — his €157,000 campaign fund was less than a quarter of war chest mustered by the Communist candidate who risked coming a disappointing sixth.

Alone among the leading candidates Rebelo de Sousa eschewed the giant roadside billboards that are a trademark of Portuguese election campaigns.

Unlike the others, he didn’t need to tell voters who he was. Rebelo de Sousa was already a household name, his popularity based on a savvy, good-humored image built up during years as a prime-time pundit on the TVI network’s Sunday night news show.

His straight-talking style and encyclopedic knowledge of the political scene, earned wide public respect — despite his own less-than-glorious political career before Sunday’s vote.

As a youthful lawmaker, Rebelo de Sousa helped write Portugal’s constitution in 1976 — two years after revolution toppled four decades of right-wing dictatorship. He briefly led the PSD in opposition, but his career peaked after failing to get elected mayor of Lisbon in 1989, despite publicity stunts that included plunging into a polluted river to highlight environmental concerns.

2) Cohabitation on the edge

Throughout the campaign, Rebelo de Sousa stressed his willingness to work with the Socialist government.

Chatting with students in an upscale Lisbon shopping mall a week before the vote, he listed among his presidential priorities stable government, building unity among politicians and greater social cohesion.

“I’m not going to be an alternative to the government, they are in charge,” he insisted. “War” between the parties, he added, “makes no sense.”

Rebelo de Sousa frequently cites the consensus politics of northern European countries as a model. “The best democracies are those with the most consensus,” he told the students.

Putting that into practice will be difficult. Since coming to power two months ago, Costa’s government has fast unpicked policies introduced by the previous government, from abolishing primary school exams to halting subway system privatization plans. Those moves have deepened the polarization of Portuguese politics.

Rebelo de Sousa’s role will be crucial in deciding if the government can struggle on.

Cohabitation will be complicated by tricky economic context. Investor jitters are growing over losses incurred in Portuguese bank collapses, Costa’s aversion to planned privatizations and the austerity rollback plans.

The government on Friday presented a draft budget that aims to stay within eurozone limits despite tax cuts and increases in public sector wages. However, there plenty of doubters in Lisbon and Brussels about the numbers, which rely heavily on optimistic growth forecasts.

As president, Rebelo de Sousa will have powers to challenge policy by ordering reviews of contentious legislation. Most significantly, he can dismiss the government and order new elections if the “normal operation” of democracy is threatened.

Should Costa’s efforts to juggle anti-austerity demands with eurozone commitments lead to a rift with his far-left partners, Rebelo de Sousa’s role will be crucial in deciding if the government can struggle on.

3) Voters hit the moderation default button

Portugal’s political mould has not been broken. Almost 80 percent voted for mainstream politicians — either Marcelo or the two mainstream, Socialist-linked candidates.

As with the parliamentary elections in October, there was no swing towards radical alternatives like the breakthroughs achieved by the far-left Podemos party in Spain, or Syriza in Greece.

The Left Bloc candidate Marisa Matias did well to come third with over 10 percent, the Communist Edgar Silva flopped with just under 4 percent — both had advocated a more confrontational approach with the European Union and support Portugal’s withdrawal from the NATO alliance.

In Portugal, the radical left have a share in power due to political deals with a Socialist party that remains dominant on the left, rather than a fundamental leftward shift among voters.

Costa’s deal with the far left is being closely watched in Europe. It could yet be a model for a left-of-center alliance in Spain. Britain’s Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says he wants to work with Costa to forge “an anti-austerity coalition across Europe.”

Rebelo de Sousa’s victory and the modest showing of the two far-left candidates underscore the limits of Portuguese radicalism.

Costa — who has made clear his anti-austerity drive will be done within eurozone limits — might even be grateful voters have given him a center-right president. Rebelo de Sousa may help him moderate the leftist ambitions of his Left Bloc and Communist allies.

 

4) Socialist disarray is less serious than it seems

No less than five of the 10 candidates in Sunday’s election were Socialist Party members or sympathizers, yet the party gave official support to none.

It’s wrong to read too much into the lack of presidential accord in terms of party unity. The left was hoping a wide range of candidates could win over voters of diverse opinions to force a second-round runoff with Rebelo de Sousa, who was the clear frontrunner from the start.

The party figure best placed to have run for presidency — António Guterres, a former prime minister and former United Nations high commissioner for refugees — ruled himself out and is poised to launch a challenge to become U.N. secretary-general.

Sampaio da Nóvoa, who is not a party member, was the strongest challenger from the center-left, but his political future is uncertain.

The other leading Socialist-linked candidate had a disastrous night. Maria de Belém Roseira, a former health minister, scored less than 5 percent.

Her chances evaporated after revelations she was among a group of lawmakers who successfully appealed to the Constitutional Court last week to overturn a law tightening limits on politicians’ pensions — one of the few austerity measures with wide public support.

There are divisions in the Socialist Party. Many moderates grumble over the alliance with the far left, yet for the moment Costa is firmly in charge. That will change should the deal with the Communists and Left Bloc start to unravel.

5) Girl Power works for the Left

As in October’s parliamentary election, the Left Bloc did significantly better than the Communists.

European Parliament member Matias did much better than expected to finish in third place with more than double the score of Silva, a former priest turned Communist.

As in October, the Left Bloc deployed a youthful female candidate who connected to a wide range of voters and appeared more in touch with disaffected young voters than the hardline Communists. Matias, 39, was campaigning to be the youngest-ever president, as well as the first woman.

However Matias and party leader Catarina Martins are far from emulating their Podemos allies across the border, despite support from the Spanish radicals’ leader Pablo Iglesias who declared “Marisa has something magical,” when he jetted into Lisbon last week.

The Communists face a struggle to reverse electoral decline, but they remain an influential force, not least through ties to the biggest trade union confederation, which warned Costa of labor unrest if he relaxes the anti-austerity rollback.

This article was updated to reflect the full official results.