With a broad base of support that comprised the center-left and the center-right, Ramalho Eanes won the election on the first round and became the first elected President of Portugal after the Carnation Revolution.

The Portuguese Communist Party presented its own candidate, Octávio Pato, a well known anti-fascist.

One of the major responsibles for the military operations during the Carnation Revolution, in 1974, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, was also a candidate.

In order to do so it is necessary to gather between 7,500 and 15,000 signatures and submit them to the Portuguese Constitutional Court.

There was also one candidate rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court for not complying with the legal requirements: