2023 Portuguese Socialist Party leadership election

The Socialist Party (PS), led by then Prime Minister António Costa, won an absolute majority in the 2022 legislative election with 41 percent of the votes and 120 seats in the 230 seat Assembly of the Republic.

António Costa's third government was sworn in on 30 March 2022. This government proved to be unstable and experienced several scandals. By mid-2023, the government had seen the resignations of 11 secretaries of state and two ministers.^[4] The biggest scandal involved TAP Air Portugal and a compensation payment to a government member, Alexandra Reis.^[5] This case was followed by a violent incident, in late April 2023, at the Ministry of Infrastructure, between government staff members and an advisor to Minister João Galamba regarding an alleged stolen laptop.^[6] The deployment of the Portuguese Secret Services in this case stirred a clash between Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the incumbent president of Portugal, and Prime Minister António Costa concerning the future of Galamba and the government itself.^[7]

On 7 November 2023, the Public Security Police and the Public Prosecutor's office carried out a series of searches at the official residence of the Prime Minister and other ministries, leading to the arrest of the Prime Minister's chief of staff.^[8] Costa was named as a suspect in a corruption case involving the awarding of contracts for the lithium and hydrogen businesses, but denied any wrongdoing.^[9] He met President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in the Presidential Palace and announced his resignation shortly after, stating that he would not run for re-election.^[10]

Following Costa's resignation the Socialist Party proposed a new cabinet led either by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva,^[11] the Governor of the Bank of Portugal, Mário Centeno,^[12] or by the former minister António Vitorino,^[13] that would last until the end of the government's term in 2026. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa however, after meeting with the Council of State, dissolved the assembly and called an early election for 10 March 2024.^[14]

The Prime Minister's resignation was not made official immediately; it was postponed until 8 December 2023, so that the State Budget for 2024 could be approved by parliament.^[15][16] It was the first time a single party majority government did not complete its full term in democratic Portugal.^[17]

Name		Born	Experience	Announcement date	Ref.
José Luís Carneiro		4 October 1971 (age 52) Baião	Minister of Internal Administration (2022–2024) Member of Parliament for Braga (since 2022) Deputy Secretary-general of the Socialist Party (2019–2022) Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities (2015–2019) Mayor of Baião (2005–2015) Member of Parliament for Porto (2005; 2015–2022)	10 November 2023	[18]
Pedro Nuno Santos		13 April 1977 (age 46) São João da Madeira	Member of Parliament for Aveiro (since 2005) Minister of Infrastructure and Housing (2019–2023) Secretary of State for Parliament Affairs (2015–2019) Secretary-general of the Socialist Youth (2004–2008)	13 November 2023	[19]
Daniel Adrião		1 September 1967 (age 56)	Member of the National Commission of the Socialist Party (2016–2025) Political activist Candidate in the PS leadership elections of 2016, 2018 and 2021	17 November 2023	[20]

• Ana Catarina Mendes – Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (2022–2024)^[21]
• António José Seguro – former Secretary-general of the Socialist Party (2011–2014)^[22]
• Fernando Medina – Minister of Finance (2022–2024); former Mayor of Lisbon (2015–2021)^[23] (endorsed José Luís Carneiro)
• Francisco Assis – former MEP of the Socialist Party (PS) (2004–2009; 2014–2019); former mayor of Amarante (1990–1995)^[24] (endorsed Pedro Nuno Santos)
• Mariana Vieira da Silva – Minister of the Presidency (2019–2024)^[25]
• Marta Temido – former Minister of Health (2018–2022); chair of the Lisbon Socialist Party (2023–2024)^[26][27]
• Mário Centeno – governor of the Bank of Portugal (since 2020); former President of the Eurogroup (2018–2020); former Minister of Finance (2015–2020)^[28]

José Luís Carneiro and Daniel Adrião proposed a series of debates between the candidates, but Pedro Nuno Santos refused to participate in any debate. Therefore, no debates between the candidates to the leadership were held.^[66]

The following table shows a breakdown of the results of the election by party federation, which are mostly equal to the electoral circles.^[67]

• Elections in Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal