Former Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos was elected yesterday Saturday to the leadership of the Socialist Party of Portugal (PS) ahead of the March 10th parliamentary elections in the Iberian country. He succeeds Antonio Costa as secretary general of the PS, whose resignation as prime minister led to an early appeal to the polls.

Securing a percentage of around 62%, 46-year-old Pedro Nuno Santos prevailed over moderate Interior Minister Jose Luis Carneiro in the intra-party election process.

Nuno Santos, who has described himself as “the grandson of a shoemaker and the son of a businessman”, comes from the left wing of the PS and is known for successfully coordinating parliamentary support for the coalition government’s work with the Left Bloc and the Communist Party (2015-2019).

Antonio Costa – Portugal’s prime minister since 2015 – resigned on November 7 amid a corruption investigation that rocked his government.

Nuno Santos had resigned at the end of 2022 amid a scandal involving exorbitant severance pay paid by national carrier TAP, which he oversaw as infrastructure minister. Although the scandal dented his popularity, political analysts have long seen Pedro Nuno Santos as Antonio Costa’s successor.

In his victory speech, Nuno Santos praised Costa, citing the strong growth of the Portuguese economy, financial stability and a significant reduction in public debt. “We want to build a Portugal in which no one is excluded, nor forgotten,” he said and advocated a strong welfare state.

His main opponent in the upcoming election is 50-year-old Luis Montenegro, head of the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), who has promised tax cuts and appears convinced he will change the country’s political landscape.

Most opinion polls predict a close fight between PS and PSD, while several political analysts fear a possible post-election deadlock and a possible strengthening of the role of the far-right party “Chega” (“Enough!”).