The 2018 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election was held on 13 January 2018. The leadership election was held after then PSD leader

Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 118th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) b ...

confirmed he would not run for another term in the aftermath of the poor results of the PSD in the 2017 local elections. Only two candidates came forward:

Rui Rio Rui Fernando da Silva Rio (born 6 August 1957) is a Portuguese economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He was the Mayor of Porto from 2002 to 2013. Between 2018 and 2022, he was President of the PSD and Leader of the Opp ...

, former mayor of

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, and Pedro Santana Lopes, former PSD leader,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and mayor of

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. This was Santana Lopes 5th leadership campaign, as he also ran in 1995, 1996, 2000, and 2008. As only two candidates were on the ballot, a second round wasn't necessary. On January 13, 2018, Rui Rio defeated Pedro Santana Lopes by a 54% to 46% margin, thus becoming the new leader of the PSD. Pedro Santana Lopes was, again, defeated in a PSD leadership contest for a 5th time. Rui Rio was confirmed as the new party leader on a party national congress held in

between 16 and 18 February 2018. Six months after this leadership election, Santana Lopes left the PSD to form his own party, Alliance."Santana Lopes formaliza saída do PSD e prepara-se para formar um novo partido "
'' SIC Notícias'', 4 August 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2020.

Candidates

Withdrawn candidates

Luís Montenegro Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves (born 16 February 1973) is a Portuguese politician who is the President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He was a member of the Assembly of the Republic from the Aveiro District from 2002 ...

, PSD caucus leader (2011–2017) *

Miguel Pinto Luz --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disa ...

, Deputy mayor of

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...

city (2017–Incumbent)

Opinion polls

All voters

PSD voters/PSD members

Results

References

External links

Election Results

PSD Official Website
{{PSD Leadership Elections 2018 in Portugal Political party leadership elections in Portugal 2018 elections in Portugal January 2018 events in Portugal Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election