The election for the leadership of the PSD Parliamentary Group is set to take place today between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM at the parliament. Hugo Soares has proposed four new vice-presidents, including former Secretaries of State Cristina Vaz Tomé and Paulo Lopes Marcelo.
The other two proposed new vice-presidents are Deputy Bruno Ventura, elected from Lisbon, and Deputy Dulcineia Moura, elected from Guarda, who was already a secretary of the parliamentary group.
In the list up for voting, the parliamentary leader and general secretary of the PSD suggests the continuation of eight of the 12 vice-presidents: former president of the Portuguese Medical Association Miguel Guimarães, former deputy general secretary Hugo Carneiro, former Secretary of State Regina Bastos, municipal coordinator Pedro Alves, former mayor of Rio Maior Isaura Morais, former JSD leader Alexandre Poço, Lisbon deputy António Rodrigues, and Porto deputy Andreia Neto.
The new secretaries proposed for the group are Fernando Queiroga, former mayor of Boticas, and João Antunes dos Santos, elected from Leiria.
In the XXIV Constitutional Government, the first executive led by Luís Montenegro, Cristina Vaz Tomé served as Secretary of State for Health Management, and Paulo Lopes Marcelo was the Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
From the previous parliamentary group leadership, Cristóvão Norte is leaving to run for the Faro Municipal Council, Hugo Oliveira is a candidate for Caldas da Rainha Council, and two others have left to join the Government: João Valle e Azevedo, Secretary of State for the Presidency, and Silvério Regalado, Secretary of State for Local Administration.
Hugo Soares, the PSD parliamentary leader, announced his candidacy for re-election at the first meeting of the new parliamentary group on June 2.
“It’s where I feel I can best contribute to the country, and secondarily to the Government,” justified the PSD general secretary.
In the last legislature, Hugo Soares was elected as the leader of the social-democratic parliamentary group with 98.7% of the vote on April 9 of the previous year.
Hugo Soares had previously been the leader of the social-democratic group, first elected on July 19, 2017, with 85.4% of votes, succeeding Luís Montenegro. However, he called for early parliamentary group elections in February 2018, after the new PSD president Rui Rio expressed a wish to work with a different leadership. Fernando Negrão succeeded him, elected with less than 40% of the votes.
Born in Braga on March 2, 1983 (42 years old), Hugo Soares has been a close ally of Montenegro in recent years. As the President of Social Democratic Youth between 2012 and 2014, he served as a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic from June 2011 to October 2019, and again since 2024.
A lawyer by profession and a business administrator, he returned to the forefront of political life with the victory of the current PSD president in the 2022 internal elections, taking up the role of general secretary. In the legislative elections on May 18 of this year, he was re-elected as a deputy, leading the list for Braga.
