The presidential elections are scheduled for January 18th.

The cycle of 28 debates began on November 17th, with the president of Chega, André Ventura, and the former secretary of the PS, António José Seguro.

"With 24 of the 28 debates already held, this head-to-head debate, broadcast by TVI, continues to be the most watched," having registered "a total audience of 1,520,000 viewers, an average audience of 1,042,000 viewers and a share of 21.2%."

In second and third place are also debates "with the participation of André Ventura," says UM.

Second place "belongs to the head-to-head debate with Luís Marques Mendes, broadcast by SIC and moderated by Clara de Sousa, which reached a total audience of 1,449,000 viewers, an average audience of 1,019,000 viewers and a share of 21.6%."

In third place is the debate between André Ventura and Catarina Martins, former leader of the Left Bloc, "which gathered a total audience of 1,244,000 viewers, representing an average audience of 817,000 viewers and a share of 18.8%".

According to Universal McCann, the debates broadcast so far by RTP1 have the "lowest audiences".

Even so, "the confrontation this week between Gouveia e Melo and André Ventura stands out, entering directly into sixth position in the ranking", according to the analysis.

The debate had a total audience of 1,142,000 viewers, corresponding to an average audience of 755,000 viewers and a share of 16.1%.

Voting intentions

"The voting intentions of the Portuguese seem to follow the level of interest in the debates," points out UM, noting that "in the latest published poll, the three candidates with the lowest voting intentions (Catarina Martins, António Filipe and Jorge Pinto) are also those who register the worst audience in the debates."

Of the seven least-watched debates so far, "all of them involved one of these candidates or are confrontations between them," it emphasizes.

"The second-to-last least-watched debate was the head-to-head between António Filipe, supported by the PCP, and Jorge Pinto, the candidate supported by Livre," which was broadcast on RTP1 and registered a total audience of 880,000 viewers, corresponding to an average audience of 435,000 viewers and a share of 9.1%.

The least-watched episode aired on December 10th and pitted António Filipe against Catarina Martins, reaching a total audience of 717,000 viewers, an average audience of 374,000 viewers, and an 8.1% share.