Luís Montenegro

Local politics

Montenegro was president of the Social Democratic Youth in Espinho from 1994 to 1996. He served on the city's council from 1997 to 2001, and ran for mayor in 2005, losing to José Mota of the Socialist Party (PS) by a 45% to 38% margin.^[2][6]

Assembly of the Republic

In 2002, 29-year-old Montenegro was elected to the Assembly of the Republic for Aveiro. He was invited by Pedro Santana Lopes to join his cabinet as a Secretary of State, but he refused.^[7]

After being promoted in politics by Luís Marques Mendes, he supported his candidacy for party leader in 2005. In the 2007 leadership election, Montenegro endorsed Luís Filipe Menezes, who defeated Marques Mendes and, after Menezes resigned in 2008, he supported Santana Lopes's candidacy, being his spokesperson.^[7]

He became the PSD parliamentary group's deputy leader to Santana Lopes in 2007 and Miguel Macedo in 2010, and he received 86% of the votes to lead the group in June 2011, after PSD member Pedro Passos Coelho had been elected prime minister.^[8]

The early years of Montenegro's leadership in parliament coincided with the European troika intervention to deal with the financial crisis; he was criticised in January 2014 for saying "the life of the people is no better, but the life of the country is a lot better".^[3] He defended the implementation of a strict economic austerity programme negotiated by Portugal in exchange for an international financial bailout.^[9] He left parliament in February 2018 after Passos Coelho's resignation, warning that the PSD should not turn into new leader "Rui Rio's group of friends".^[10]

In early January 2019, amid bad polling numbers for the PSD, Montenegro challenged Rio to call a leadership ballot, with Montenegro announcing he would run against him.^[11] Rio refused to call a leadership ballot, but instead called for a motion of confidence in his leadership.^[12] Rio won the motion by a 75 to 50 vote.^[13][14]

Following the Social Democrats' defeat in the 2019 legislative election, in January 2020, Montenegro agaim challenged Rio for the PSD leadership election. During the campaign, Rio attacked Montenegro for being a Freemason.^[15][16] In the run-off, Rio won with 53.2% of the votes, against the 46.8% for Montenegro.^[17]

Leader of the PSD

Rio resigned following the PSD's poor performance in the 2022 Portuguese legislative election. Montenegro was the first person to put himself forward for the party leadership election,^[18] in which he ran against former minister Jorge Moreira da Silva. Montenegro won with 72.47% of the votes, beating his opponent in every district.^[19]

Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD reached an agreement in January 2024 with the CDS-PP for a pre-electoral alliance as they sought to bolster their chances of winning the national elections later that year.^[20] The Democratic Alliance took the most seats in the election with 80, two more than the PS.^[21] One of Montenegro's campaign promises was the full privatisation of TAP Air Portugal.^[22]

On 21 March 2024, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa invited Montenegro to form a government. Montenegro's new government was approved by the president on 28 March.^[23][24]

First government (2024–2025)

Montenegro was sworn-in as prime minister of Portugal, heading the XXIV Constitutional Government, on 2 April 2024 at a ceremony in the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon.^[25][26] Prior to taking office, Montenegro vowed to govern with a minority government instead of forming a coalition with the ascendant right-wing populist party Chega, and decried their leader André Ventura as "often xenophobic, racist, populist and excessively demagogic".^[27]

In May 2024, the Portuguese government under Montenegro announced that a new Lisbon airport would be built in Alcochete and would be ready by 2034.^[28]

Days before the 2024 European Parliament election, Montenegro announced a toughening of Portugal's immigration laws; the country had previously allowed those with a tourist visa to apply for residency. He said that the existing laws had led to "excessive abuse of our willingness to receive".^[29]

In July 2024, he announced a reduction in corporate income tax from the current 21% to 15%. This measure would cost the public purse around 500 million euros a year.^[30]

In September 2024, Montenegro ran unopposed in the PSD leadership election. He received 97.45% of the votes, while the majority of party members did not vote.^[31]

2025 election

Main article: 2025 Portuguese legislative election

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had made clear that he would call snap elections if the government did not pass the motion of confidence.^[52][53] An election was called for 18 May 2025,^[54] in which Montenegro's alliance retained its plurality in parliament, but again fell short of a majority. The Democratic Alliance gained seats, while the PS lost seats and Chega made gains.^[55]

Second government

On 29 May, Montenegro was invited once again to form a new government.^[56] The XXV Constitutional Government of Portugal was sworn in on 5 June.^[57] His second term has been dominated by issues like immigration, with the approval of new legislation, supported by Chega, which further restricts migration policy,^[58] labour reforms that have received strong criticisms from trade unions,^[59] reforms to the National Health Service^[60] and to the welfare state,^[61] in addition to trying to address the growing housing crisis.^[62]

His government's response to environmental disasters, such as the August 2025 Portuguese wildfires and the January 2026 Storm Kristin, have also raised questions of alleged slow response and lack of coordination, with the latter leading to the resignation of Maria Lúcia Amaral as minister of home affairs.^{[63][64][65][66]}

During the 2026 U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran, Montenegro urged maximum restraint by all parties and condemned Iran's strikes on neighboring states, while reiterating that Iran must end its nuclear program.^[67] He defended his government's decision to allow the United States to use Lajes Air Base in the Azores for logistical support during military operations against Iran.^[68]

Espinho City Council election, 2005

PSD leadership election, 2020

PSD leadership election, 2022

Legislative election, 2024

PSD leadership election, 2024

Legislative election, 2025