Secretary-General of the Socialist Party (Portugal)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The secretary-general of the Socialist Party is the leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party.[1] Currently, the position is held by José Luís Carneiro, following his victory in the July 2025 leadership election.[2]
.jpg)
| Secretary-general of the Socialist Party | |
|---|---|
| Status | Party leader |
| Inaugural holder | Mário Soares |
| Formation | 19 April 1973 |
| Deputy | Deputy Secretary-general of the Socialist Party |
The post of Secretary-general was created in 1973, after the party's foundation in Bad Münstereifel. Its first holder was Mário Soares, who held several important offices such as Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1985, and President of the Republic, from 1986 to 1996.
Until 1998, party Secretary-generals were elected by delegate votes in a party congress, but in that same year, party rules were changed and registered party members, with membership fees updated, gained the right to elect the president secretary-general of delegates in a congress, with the possibility of a second round if no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes in the first round of voting.[3]
To this day, four Secretaries-general of the Socialist Party have become Prime Minister of Portugal: Mário Soares (1976 and 1983), António Guterres (1995), José Sócrates (2005) and António Costa (2015). In addition, Mário Soares (1986), Jorge Sampaio (1996) and António José Seguro (2026), also former Secretaries-general, held the office President of the Republic.
List of Secretaries-general of the Socialist Party
| Colour key (for political parties) |
|---|
| # | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Term in office | Election | Prime Minister | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | ||||||||
| 1 |  |
Mário Soares (1924–2017) |
Lisbon | 19 April 1973 |
13 June 1985 |
1973 | Marcelo Caetano (1968–1974) | [4] | |
| Adelino da Palma Carlos (1974) | |||||||||
| 1974 | Vasco Gonçalves (1974–1975) | ||||||||
| José Pinheiro de Azevedo (1975–1976) | |||||||||
| 1976 | himself (1976–1978) | ||||||||
| Alfredo Nobre da Costa (1978) | |||||||||
| Carlos Mota Pinto (1978–1979) | |||||||||
| 1979 | Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (1979–1980) | ||||||||
| Francisco Sá Carneiro (1980) | |||||||||
| Diogo Freitas do Amaral (1980–1981) | |||||||||
| 1981 | Francisco Pinto Balsemão (1981–1983) | ||||||||
| 1983 | himself (1983–1985) | ||||||||
| – | .png) |
António de Almeida Santos (interim) (1926–2016) |
Guarda (1976–1980) Porto (1980–1995) Lisbon (1995–2002) Coimbra (2002–2005) |
19 June 1985 |
13 November 1985 |
1985 | Mário Soares (1985) | [5] | |
| Aníbal Cavaco Silva (1985–1995) | |||||||||
| – | António Macedo (interim) (1906–1989) |
Porto | 13 November 1985 |
29 June 1986 |
– | [6] | |||
| 2 | _(cropped).jpg) |
Vítor Constâncio (b. 1943) |
Lisbon | 29 June 1986 |
16 January 1989 |
1986 | [7] | ||
| 1988 | |||||||||
| 3 |  |
Jorge Sampaio (1939–2021) |
Lisbon (1976–1987) Santarém (1987–1991) Lisbon (1991–1992) |
16 January 1989 |
23 February 1992 |
1989 | [8] | ||
| 1990 | |||||||||
| 4 |  |
António Guterres (b. 1949) |
Castelo Branco | 23 February 1992 |
19 January 2002 |
1992 | [9] | ||
| himself (1995–2002) | |||||||||
| 1999 | |||||||||
| 2001 | |||||||||
| 5 |  |
Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues (b. 1949) |
Lisbon (1985–1987) Aveiro (1987–1991) Lisbon (1991–1999) Leiria (1999–2002) Lisbon (2002–2022) |
19 January 2002 |
27 September 2004 |
2002 | António Guterres (2002) | [10] | |
| José Durão Barroso (2002–2004) | |||||||||
| Pedro Santana Lopes (2004–2005) | |||||||||
| 6 |  |
José Sócrates (b. 1957) |
Castelo Branco | 27 September 2004 |
23 July 2011 |
2004 | [11] | ||
| 2006 | himself (2005–2011) | ||||||||
| 2009 | |||||||||
| Mar. 2011 | |||||||||
| Pedro Passos Coelho (2011–2015) | |||||||||
| 7 | .png) |
António José Seguro (b. 1962) |
Lisbon (1985–1987) Porto (1991–1995) Guarda (1995–1999) Lisbon (2002–2005) Braga (2005–2014) |
23 July 2011 |
28 September 2014 |
Jul. 2011 | [12] | ||
| 2013 | |||||||||
| – |  |
Maria de Belém Roseira (interim) (b. 1949) |
Porto (1999–2002) Aveiro (2002–2005) Lisbon (2005–2009) Aveiro (2009–2011) Lisbon (2011–2015) |
28 September 2014 |
22 November 2014 |
– | [13] | ||
| 8 | .jpg) |
António Costa (b. 1961) |
Lisbon (1991–2002) Leiria (2002–2005) Lisbon (2005–2024) |
22 November 2014 |
7 January 2024 |
2014 | [14] | ||
| 2016 | himself (2015–2024) | ||||||||
| 2018 | |||||||||
| 2021 | |||||||||
| 9 | ,_cropped_(cropped-2).png) |
Pedro Nuno Santos (b. 1977) |
Aveiro | 7 January 2024 |
24 May 2025 |
2023 | António Costa (2024) | [15] | |
| Luís Montenegro (since 2024) | |||||||||
| – | ,_cropped.png) |
Carlos César (interim) (b. 1956) |
Azores | 24 May 2025 |
28 June 2025 |
– | [16] | ||
| 10 | |
José Luís Carneiro (b. 1971) |
Porto (2005–2022) Braga (since 2022) |
28 June 2025 |
Incumbent | 2025 | [17] | ||
| 2026 | |||||||||
By time in office
| # | Name | Time in office | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mário Soares | 1973–1985 | 12 years, 55 days |
| 2 | António Guterres | 1992–2002 | 9 years, 330 days |
| 3 | António Costa | 2014–2024 | 9 years, 46 days |
| 4 | José Sócrates | 2004–2011 | 6 years, 299 days |
| 5 | António José Seguro | 2011–2014 | 3 years, 67 days |
| 6 | Jorge Sampaio | 1989–1992 | 3 years, 38 days |
| 7 | Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues | 2002–2004 | 2 years, 252 days |
| 8 | Vítor Constâncio | 1986–1989 | 2 years, 201 days |
| 9 | Pedro Nuno Santos | 2024–2025 | 1 year, 137 days |
| 10 | José Luís Carneiro | 2025–present | 1 year, 91 days (Incumbent) |
| 11 | António Macedo (interim) | 1985–1986 | 228 days |
| 12 | António de Almeida Santos (interim) | 1985 | 147 days |
| 13 | Maria de Belém Roseira (interim) | 2014 | 55 days |
| 14 | Carlos César (interim) | 2025 | 35 days |
Deputy Secretary-general of the Socialist Party
The Deputy Secretary-general of the Socialist Party is a position created in 2012 to replace the Secretary-general as the representative of the party in the case where the Secretary-general held the office of Prime Minister of Portugal.[18]
| # | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Term in office | Secretary-general | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | ||||||
| – | Vacant | 31 March 2012 |
5 December 2015 |
António José Seguro | |||
| António Costa | |||||||
| 1 |  |
Ana Catarina Mendes (b. 1973) |
Setúbal | 5 December 2015 |
27 October 2019 |
[19] | |
| 2 | .png) |
José Luís Carneiro (b. 1971) |
Porto (2005–2022) Braga (since 2022) |
27 October 2019 |
9 April 2022 |
[20] | |
| 3 |  |
João Torres (b. 1986) |
Porto | 9 April 2022 |
13 January 2024 |
[21] | |
| – | Vacant | 13 January 2024 |
Incumbent | Pedro Nuno Santos | |||
| José Luís Carneiro | |||||||