José Luís Carneiro, a candidate for the leadership of Portugal’s Socialist Party (PS), stated on Tuesday that it is up to the judiciary to investigate Luís Montenegro’s family business, Spinumviva. He described this approach as “reasonable, appropriate, and sensible.”
“The Socialist Party cannot forgo any of the scrutiny tools concerning government actions. Inquiry commissions are one of the government’s scrutiny tools. However, it is public knowledge that the Attorney General’s Office is currently conducting an inquiry to clarify prevailing doubts on these matters. Let the matter be handled by the judiciary. It seems reasonable, appropriate, and sensible given the information we currently possess,” José Luís Carneiro told journalists when asked if the inquiry commission would take precedence or if he would await judicial outcomes.
The socialist emphasized that “the decision is not solely that of the Secretary-General,” as the Socialist Party has established bodies, such as the National Directorate, and a parliamentary group that contributes to decision-making.
“Any statement from me beyond my position, regarding the powers of the bodies, would mean substituting the democratically constituted party organizations, ” he asserted.
Recently, the Attorney General’s Office requested “additional information” regarding two ongoing inquiries—one involving Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the company Spinumviva, and another concerning former PS Secretary-General Pedro Nuno Santos and a property purchase in Lisbon.
The Spinumviva case led to the collapse of the government following the failure of a vote of confidence in the National Assembly, prompting early elections.
The AD coalition (PSD/CDS-PP), led by the incumbent Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, won the May 18 legislative elections with over 32% of the vote, without an absolute majority. The coalition elected 89 deputies—87 from the PSD and two from the CDS-PP—more than a third of the 230 parliamentary seats, yet far from an absolute majority.
Without the final results from the two diaspora constituencies, the PS ranked second with 23.38% of the votes and 58 deputies, equal to the Chega party, which received a lesser vote share of 22.56%.
According to provisional results released by the Secretariat-General of the Ministry of Internal Administration, IL placed fourth with 5.53% of the votes and nine deputies, followed by Livre with 4.2% and six elected members.
