Response to Salazar’s unexpected victory in RTP’s phone-in to elect “The Greatest Portuguese” has been muted, despite him winning the ballot by a margin never seen in any major political poll held in the country’s 33-year old democracy. While some observers have said not too much should be read into this poll, other analysts believe it is a sign of changing times and burgeoning dissatisfaction.

Forget Dom Afonso Henriques, Marqûes de Pombal, Luis de Camões or Infante Dom Henrique, António de Oliveira Salazar is the greatest man Portugal has produced in its long and illustrious history one of the biggest non-political polls ever staged in the country has shown.

Almost 220,000 citizens paid premium phone-in rates (129,000 euros) to cast their vote, with ‘Benevolent Dictator’ Salazar obtaining more than twice the votes of second-placed Álvaro Cunhal, who obtained 19 percent of the vote, 22 percent behind the winner.

The election of Communist Party-founder Cunhal also comes as a surprise, given his Stalinist viewpoints, which he maintained to his deathbed, 15 years after the Berlin Wall had been reduced to rubble.

In third, was Aristides de Sousa Mendes, whose podium finish is as much a revelation as that of Salazar and Cunhal, as he never achieved cult status despite being widely considered as Portugal’s greatest diplomat and recognised as the saviour of scores of Jews from Nazi persecution during the Second World War.

The top five is completed by D. Afonso Henriques and Luís Vaz de Camões, respectively.

The programme ‘Greatest Portuguese’ is based on the BBC brainchild and has been staged in a number of countries across the world, with Portugal undoubtedly providing the biggest surprise to date.

France elected Charles de Gaulle, Americans voted for Ronald Reagan and Britain chose Winston Churchill.

Each of the ten finalists in Portugal were represented by prominent figures who would fight their contestant’s cause in the run-in to the election that was held this past weekend.

University Professor Jaime Nogueira Pinto took Salazar under his wing played down any moves to scrutinise the election as being indicative of discontent brewing.

“This is essentially a competition. We cannot say this has been a political catastrophe”, but he stressed that accepted to ‘sponsor’ Salazar as “there is a part of 20th century history that has been told incorrectly”.

Diplomat and anti-CIA rendition flight campaigner Ana Gomes, who represented Vasco da Gama (who ended tenth in voting), said: “I think the results portray a terrible image of Portugal and Portuguese, which do not correspond with the reality of the country, though I am not challenging the results of voting”.

The most critical voice was that of Odete Santos, who led Álvaro Cunhal to second place.

She argued, “Sympathising with fascism is prohibited by the constitution”, adding that the manner in which Salazar has been portrayed has resulted in the “dilution of fascism.”

On a political front, the Left Bloc and Communist Party have lashed out at RTP, the ruling Socialists divided and the centre-right saying the competition is merely a television show.

The station has also been criticised for the manner in which it presented the show, with constant references being made to the precedents set in Germany, Spain and Italy.

In Germany, Adolf Hitler was excluded, while Spain and Italy declined to air the show, believing it could cause “national embarrassment”.

Shortly after Salazar was elected Portugal’s greatest, residents from his hometown, Santa Comba Dão heard that the government had turned down their request to turn the house in which Salazar was born into a museum, saying such a venture would not be viable.

In a related story, the far-right seems to looking to cash in on the growing sympathy emerging for the former dictator and some of his policies.

A billboard, located in the heart of the capital (at the Marquês de Pombal traffic circle) has been erected by the National Renewal Party (PNR) calling for immigrants to be repatriated.

The billboard headlines, “Stop Immigration”, and is followed by “Nationalism is the Solution”.

An image of a plane taking off and is captioned, “Have a pleasant journey” in reference to immigrants heading back home.

The “advertisement” concludes by demanding: “Portugal to the Portuguese”.