2008 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election
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31 May 2008
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| Turnout | 59.1%  3.3 pp | ||||||||||||||||
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The 2008 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election was held on 31 May 2008. This was a snap leadership election following the surprise resignation of then party leader Luís Filipe Menezes, elected just seven months before in September 2007, from the party's leadership.[1]
Menezes was facing heavy internal criticism for his leadership and opposition strategy but, nonetheless, his resignation surprised party members and structures.[2] Four candidates entered in this snap race: Manuela Ferreira Leite, Pedro Passos Coelho, Pedro Santana Lopes and Mário Patinha Antão.
On election day, Ferreira Leite won the leadership by capturing almost 38% of the votes, while Passos Coelho got 31% of the votes and Santana Lopes polled just below 30%.[3] Patinha Antão polled well below 1%, just 0.7% of the party members votes.
Manuela Ferreira Leite became the first woman to lead a major political party in Portuguese history.[4]
Ferreira Leite would lead the PSD to victory in the 2009 European Parliament election in Portugal,[5] but was defeated in the 2009 general elections held in the fall of the same year.[6]
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| Name | Born | Experience | Announcement date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Pedro Passos Coelho |
24 August 1964 (age 43) Coimbra |
Social Democratic Youth leader (1990–1995) Member of Parliament for Lisbon (1991–1999) |
18 April 2008 | [7] |
| Mário Patinha Antão | 26 June 1945 (age 62) Loulé |
Member of Parliament for Braga (1999–2002) Member of Parliament for Faro (2002–2009) |
21 April 2008 | [8] |
 Pedro Santana Lopes |
29 June 1956 (age 52) Lisbon |
Prime Minister (2004-2005) President of the Social Democratic Party (2004–2005) Mayor of Lisbon (2002-2004); (2005) Mayor of Figueira da Foz (1997-2001) Secretary of State of Culture (1990-1994) Member of Parliament for Lisbon (1980–1991); (1999–2002); (2005–2009) Member of the European Parliament (1987–1989) |
24 April 2008 | [9] |
 Manuela Ferreira Leite |
3 December 1940 (age 67) Lisbon |
Minister of Finance (2002–2004) Minister of Education (1993–1995) Member of Parliament for Lisbon (1999–2005); (2009–2011) Member of Parliament for Lisbon (1995–1999) |
28 April 2008 | [10] |
- António Neto da Silva – former Secretary of State of Foreign Trade (1990–1991)[11]
Opinion polls
All voters
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | |
|
|
Others /Undecided |
Lead | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferreira Leite | Passos Coelho | Santana Lopes | Patinha Antão | |||||
| Marktest | 17–20 May 2008 | 800 | 27.3 | 12.2 | 9.6 | N/a | 50.9 | 15.1 |
| Intercampus | 16–20 May 2008 | N/a | 43.3 | 19.2 | 20.2 | 1.0 | 16.3 | 23.1 |
| Eurosondagem | 23–29 Apr 2008 | N/a | 29 | 15.5 | 25 | 3 | 27.5 | 4 |
PSD voters
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | |
|
|
Others /Undecided |
Lead | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferreira Leite | Passos Coelho | Santana Lopes | Patinha Antão | |||||
| Marktest | 17–20 May 2008 | 800 | 43.2 | 9.1 | 17.4 | N/a | 30.3 | 25.8 |
| Aximage | 5–9 May 2008 | N/a | 40.8 | 3.0 | 13.2 | N/a | 43.0 | 27.6 |
Results
| Candidate | 31 May 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ||||
| Manuela Ferreira Leite | 17,278 | 37.90 | |||
| Pedro Passos Coelho | 14,160 | 31.06 | |||
| Pedro Santana Lopes | 13,495 | 29.60 | |||
| Patinha Antão | 308 | 0.68 | |||
| Total | 45,241 | ||||
| Valid votes | 45,241 | 99.23 | |||
| Invalid and blank ballots | 351 | 0.77 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 45,592 | 59.14 | |||
| Registered voters | 77,090 | ||||
| Sources: Official results | |||||