On election night, live television becomes a national instrument. The story is not told after the fact; it is built in real time. Numbers move, expectations shift, and the entire country watches the same data take form on screen.

Portugal’s 2026 Presidential Election is living that reality twice. After the first round aired on January 18 with no candidate reaching 50%, the country heads to a second round on February 8. wTVision remains in place with its clients to support election night operations and the programming that follows.

This year, that support spans three of Portugal’s leading news environments: RTP and the Media Capital group’s two distinct broadcasts, TVI and CNN Portugal. Different studios, different editorial identities, different visual languages. The common requirement is always the same: deliver clarity at speed with the steadiness live coverage demands.

That steadiness starts long before the first result appears on air. Behind the studio lights, wTVision runs a proprietary elections workflow designed to turn official data into real-time on-air storytelling. Elections CG sits at the core, managing data sources and populating templates, while the R³ Space Engine renders complex visuals live, from large-format studio canvases to interactive layers. Studio CG completes the loop by orchestrating playout and automation so the workflow behaves predictably under pressure, even when the election does not.

For RTP, the challenge was consistency across three broadcasts without flattening the identity of each one. The on-air package includes structured results boards and full-screen layouts designed to stay readable deep into the night, supported by a ticker layer built for continuous updates as the narrative evolves. In the studio, large-format storytelling plays a central role, with LED wall graphics and scenography-driven visuals helping presenters translate raw numbers into live explanation.

Interactivity is also a defining element of RTP’s 2026 operation. In Lisbon, wTVision delivers a dedicated touchscreen project tailored to a presidential election context, optimised for fast access and presenter-driven navigation. For Madeira and the Açores, the same editorial intent was supported through tablet-driven control, designed to fit regional operational realities while keeping the broadcast language aligned with the main election narrative.

For TVI and CNN Portugal, the complexity comes from deliberate divergence. These are two independent broadcasts, with two different tones. TVI leans into a more pop, high-energy style, while CNN Portugal stays aligned with its established election look. The approach is not to reinvent everything. It is to re-orchestrate what works, restructure the graphic assets to fit a new operational model, and introduce new outputs where they genuinely expand storytelling.

In 2026, wTVision rebuilt the structure around existing election assets and introduced new outputs, including TVI-exclusive augmented reality, a reworked sidebar and ledwall layer for results storytelling, and Magic Wall touchscreen interactions to keep navigation fast and explanations visual when the pace accelerates.

“Election coverage is not a show. It is a live system that must stay stable while everything around it moves. Our role is to engineer that stability, so broadcasters can focus on the story, and audiences receive clarity at the exact pace democracy demands.” — Paulo Ferreira, CCO & Board Member at wTVision

Elections test trust, not just technology. With the second round approaching, wTVision continues to support RTP, TVI and CNN Portugal with the systems and the live operation that keep results coverage clear, consistent and credible at speed.