The choice fell to the current parliamentary leader and should be announced in the coming days. After all, Mariana Vieira da Silva’s option was not closed.
The parliamentary leader Alexandra Leitão is the choice of the Socialist Party (PS) to head the party list and face Carlos Moedas in the next municipal elections in Lisbon.
The decision, confirmed by several national press bodies, should be made official in the coming days, and came after the parliamentary leader stood out as the strongest name in internal polls carried out by the party.
Coalition in sight
To recover the Lisbon municipality, led since 2021 by Carlos Moedas, who won the PS after 14 years of socialist governance, the socialist strategy is to gather support from the left, with the possibility of coalition which should include parties such as Bloco de Esquerda, Livre and PAN, as had already been announced.
The PCP will advance with its own candidacy for the capital’s chamber, confirmed general secretary Paulo Raimundo, who guarantees to carry João Ferreira’s candidacy to the end.
Alexandra Leitão’s candidacy forces the PS to elect a new parliamentary leader, a position that Leitão will continue to occupy until she is officially nominated as a candidate for the Lisbon Chamber. Pedro Delgado Alves, vice-president, may ascend to the position.
Alexandra Leitão was previously Minister of State Modernization and Public Administration, as well as Deputy Secretary of State and Education in the governments of António Costa.
After all, it’s not Vieira da Silva
The deputy and leader Mariana Vieira da Silva was another name considered for the socialist candidacy: the socialist selection process for the CML was given as , but the polls favored the current parliamentary leader, who also stood out for her proximity to the party’s general secretary, Pedro Nuno Santos.
Despite the supposed favoritism, a SIC source says that Mariana Vieira da Silva was not Pedro Nuno’s option: “He didn’t speak to Mariana”, says the source.
The alleged PS favorite, Duarte CordeiroI don’t charge.
Paulo Rangel reacted
The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, was the first to react to the news, and chose to reinforce Moedas’ role as “great president of the Lisbon City Council” and to attack the populism by Alexandra Leitão, on issues such as security.
“I have great confidence in the exercise of Carlos Moedas’ mandate. He has been a great president of Lisbon City Council, under very difficult conditions, as the Government has a slim majority. That’s why, Whoever the PS candidate is, he will have difficulty matching Carlos Moedas“, said Rangel on .
Pedro Nuno Santos should meet with Carla Tavares, current president of FAUL, to consolidate local support for the candidacy.
Alexandra Leitão’s choice is not unanimous within the PS. It advances that some leaders of the Federation of the Urban Area of Lisbon (FAUL) maintain reservations regarding its name, partly due to controversial episodes with Ricardo Leão, former leader of FAUL.