The news emerged this morning following the meeting of the party’s governing body, which approved the final version of all lists for the legislative elections. Attempts were made to contact Sérgio Sousa Pinto, but without success.
A source from the PS leadership reported that after initially agreeing to run again, the deputy communicated to Pedro Nuno Santos this morning that he did not wish to be on the lists due to his position and the three names preceding him.
In the list approved by the National Political Commission, Sérgio Sousa Pinto is preceded by head of the list and former minister Mariana Vieira da Silva, former Secretary of State Miguel Cabrita, and former vice-president of parliament Edite Estrela.
On Monday, the PS’s Lisbon Federation (FAUL) had already approved the list, with Sérgio Sousa Pinto in fifth place, having moved up a position in the final version due to the departure of Pedro Delgado Alves, initially second for Lisbon, who will now head the list for Coimbra.
The report indicated that Sérgio Sousa Pinto’s decision to withdraw from the lists was due to not feeling comfortable with the team.
The PS National Political Commission approved all the candidate deputies for the forthcoming legislative elections on Wednesday night, making changes to 12 of the 22 heads of lists compared to the last elections.
According to the party’s website, these lists have already been approved, with a dozen heads of lists retained from last year’s elections and a total of seven women topping the lists.
As per reports, the PS will present deputy Pedro Delgado Alves as the head of the list for Coimbra and Vice President of Parliament Marcos Perestrello for Santarém. Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos will return as number one for Aveiro, and Mariana Vieira da Silva for Lisbon.
