Filipe Amorim / LUSA
André Ventura and Carlos Moedas during the State Council meeting
Leonor Beleza, Carlos Moedas, Pedro Duarte and André Ventura. PS advances with its own ticket – without José Luís Carneiro.
O PSD will indicate to the Advice of State its first vice-president, Leonor Beauty, the mayor Carlos Moedas and the former minister Pedro Duarte, on a joint list with the He arrives which includes André Ventura.
The announcement was made by the PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, in statements to journalists at the Assembly of the Republic, in which he detailed that the first name will be Leonor Beleza and the second Ventura.
The Social Democrats are putting forward a joint list with Chega to the consultation body of the President of the Republic, in an election that will be held on April 16, by secret vote, according to the principle of proportional representation (Hondt method).
O PS announced that it will move forward with a own list to the State Council, headed by the party president, Carlos César, with four other names in which not included that of the secretary general José Luís Carneiro.
In the note, the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group (GPPS) announces that “it has reached, with the PPD/PSD Parliamentary Group (GPPSD), a global political understanding regarding the composition of the lists of external bodies to be elected by the Assembly of the Republic”.
However, the socialist bench presents, “as this is its understanding”, a list specific to the State Council, with election using the Hondt method, headed by the president of the PS, Charles Caesar – as had already been announced – which will be followed, on an equal basis, by Francisca Van Dunem, Alexandre Quintanilha, Edite Estrela and Alberto Arons de Carvalho.
Constitutional Court
Hugo Soares also revealed to journalists that there is “a understanding threesome” – with PS e He arrives – for the election of four judges do Constitutional Court, without wanting to reveal names or the distribution of proposals.
The deputy stated that the three parties “understood that the elections for the Constitutional Court should not be divided”.
“We understand from the three parliamentary groups that the elections for the Constitutional Court should be held at once, when four judges are elected, because it is known that the president of the Constitutional Court will leave, probably during the month of May”, he explained.
Asked whether the PSD will propose two names and the PS and Chega one each, the PSD parliamentary leader did not want to definitively confirm this distribution, but stated that the responsibility for the proposal is closed and “it is evident”.
“It seems clear to me what this composition will be like (…) It is a three-way understanding so that the composition of the Constitutional Court can be definitively made during the joint election of 4 members of the Constitutional Court”, he said.
PS and PSD agreed to to postpone parliamentary elections to replace missing judges for the Constitutional Court for the beginning of May. And Chega “gave the go ahead”, said André Ventura.
Other appointments
The PS indicated today Tiago Antunes for or charge of ombudsman and the PSD proposed the reappointment of Luis Pais Antunes as president of the Economic and Social Council (CES).
The nominations came after an understanding between the two parties, the socialists announced.
For the position of ombudsman, the PS appointed Tiago Antunes, who was Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and Deputy Secretary of State for Prime Minister António Costa, as well as Secretary of State for European Affairs.
Previously, he was head of the office of the Deputy Secretary of State of Prime Minister José Sócrates, between 2009 and 2011.
He is also an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and main researcher at CIDP – Public Law Research Center.
The position of Ombudsman has been unfilled since Maria Lúcia Amaral left in June 2025 to assume the role of Minister of Internal Administration, a position from which she resigned in February this year.
Luís Pais Antunes was elected president of the CES in July 2024 for the period of one legislature, which was interrupted by the early legislatures of May last year.
He has been a lawyer since 1982, was Secretary of State in the XV and XVI Governments (led by Durão Barroso and Pedro Santana Lopes) and deputy to the Assembly of the Republic for the PSD, among other positions.
