Duarte Cordeiro announced that he will not run for office but intends to contribute towards a unified solution rather than a factional one. In a statement, he expressed the need to “give time” to choose among the best candidates rather than electing the quickest ones. “Those who run should work with everyone, respect the past, and maintain a constructive attitude,” he asserted, without revealing any names.
Cordeiro also emphasized the need for consensus among potential candidates regarding election schedules. Pedro Nuno Santos is set to step down as Secretary-General of the Socialist Party (PS) on Saturday, following the National Committee meeting. Party President Carlos César will temporarily assume the leadership, as confirmed by an official party source.
The PS National Committee was convened for Saturday in Lisbon to approve the internal electoral calendar and analyze the legislative election outcomes following Pedro Nuno Santos’s resignation from leadership. The agenda includes a “review of the political situation in light of the election outcomes” and the “approval of electoral calendars and regulations.”
The PS recorded its third-worst legislative result in history, nearly tying with Chega, prompting leader Pedro Nuno Santos to resign, just a year and a half after his election. Sunday’s snap legislative elections, won by AD, had significant repercussions for the PS. During his concession speech, Santos announced he had requested the Party President to convene the National Committee for internal elections, in which he would not run.
According to provisional results, with expatriate votes yet to be counted, the PS lost 20 parliamentary seats, now holding 58 with 23.38% of the vote, totaling 1,394,491 votes. This result sees the PS almost tied with Chega, a loss of roughly 365,000 votes compared to last year’s results, excluding emigration.
This turnout marks the PS’s third-worst historical percentage, surpassed only by results in 1985 under Almeida Santos and 1987 with Vítor Constâncio. In acknowledging the defeat, Santos accepted responsibility, declared his immediate readiness to resign as Secretary-General, and expressed his desire not to hinder the PS’s forthcoming decisions. Santos reflected, “As Mário Soares said, only those who give up fighting are defeated, and I will not stop fighting. See you soon. Thank you all,” he emphasized.
