Luís Montenegro, president of the PSD
In the motion with which he re-applied for the leadership of the party, the president of the PSD states that he will maintain his commitment to “not have a government solution with neither Chega nor the PS”, but considers it absurd to talk about “sanitary fences” in parliament.
The president of the PSD, Luis Montenegrowas re-elected this Saturday with 94.8% of the votes in direct party elections, in which he ran without internal opposition, for a two-year term as leader of the Social Democrats.
According to data released by the PSDB National Jurisdiction Council, of a total of 56,868 registered members, 15,261 voted. Luís Montenegro obtained 14,467 votes and still registered 525 blank votes and 269 null votes.
The “direct elections” for the position of president of the PSD National Political Commission took place simultaneously with the election of delegates for the 43rd National Congress, scheduled for June 20th and 21st in Anadia, in the district of Aveiro.
Prime Minister since April 2, 2024Luís Montenegro was elected president of the PSD for the first time on May 28, 2022, in an election in which he defeated the former social-democratic leader with more than 72% of the votes Jorge Moreira da Silva. He was then re-elected in 2024, this time without opponents.
Two years ago, 16,602 members voted in direct elections for president of the National Political Commission, out of a total of 41,863 members with electoral capacity. I.e, in the direct elections of 2024, more activists votedin a smaller electoral universe than the current one.
In these two mandates under the leadership of Luís Montenegro, the social democrats contested and won two legislative elections anticipated in coalition with the CDS-PP, returning to the Government in April 2024.
O PSD lost the European elections that same yearbut it would later come to win municipal elections in 2025regaining the presidency of the National Association of Municipalities and Parishes, as well as the regional ones in Madeira and the Azores.
In the motion “Work – Make Portugal Greater”, with which he was re-elected to the party leadership, Montenegro states that he will maintain his commitment to “not have a government solution neither with Chega nor with PS”, but considers it absurd to talk about “sanitary fences” in parliament.
“The meaning of ‘no is no’ with Chega It’s the same as the ‘no to the central bloc’ with the PS”, he highlights, adding that “not establishing a governance agreement cannot, nor should it mean rejection of dialogue and political negotiation”.
Especially in parliament, it is proposed “continue political dialogue with the oppositions and in particular with the two parties that in the opposition have sufficient representation to make initiatives viable”, that is Chega and PS.
In the first public presentation of the motion, in Sintra, the PSD president admitted that still has an absolute majority “in its sights”, despite defending compliance with the legislature until 2029.
At a National Council in early March, the PSD leader and also prime minister surprised the party by announcing that he would propose holding direct elections in May (instead of in September, as in 2024), in order to coincide with the four years of its first election, on May 28, 2022.
Montenegro then challenged anyone who had a “different and alternative path” to come forward, in what was interpreted as a reply to Pedro Passos Coelhoat a time when the former head of the Government and former social-democratic president initiated a series of critical interventions in relation to the performance of the current Government.
Pedro Passos Coelho clarified a few days later that he would not be “a candidate for anything”, saying that, it would only be for a “imperative of conscience”.
