António José Martins Seguro (born 11 March 1962) is a Portuguese politician for the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS). Seguro was Secretary General of the PS from 2011 until September 2014, and he was the leader of the largest opposition party in the

Portuguese Parliament The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: ''Assembleia da República'', ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament ...

Early life and education

Seguro was born on 11 March 1962 in

Penamacor Penamacor ( or ) is a municipality in the district of Castelo Branco in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 5,682, in an area of . The mayor is António Luís Beites Soares. The municipal holiday is Easter Monday. Parishes Administrativel ...

. He entered politics at a very young age and became a member of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) as a youth. He attended the 1st cycle program in business organization and management at the ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute, but he did not graduate. Seguro has a degree in

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

awarded later by the

Autonomous University of Lisbon In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

Career

Seguro became involved in political activities from a very young age, always linked to the

(PS). He was successively secretary general of Socialist Youth, president of the National Youth Council and chairman of the Youth Forum of the European Communities. He was first elected to the

in 1991, and again eight years later. In 1995, the Socialist Party won the parliamentary elections, leaving the leader

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

to form a government. Seguro initially was Secretary of State for Youth and later assistant secretary of State's prime minister. After a cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister. He also played the role of coordinator of the Standing Committee of the Portuguese Socialist Party and president of the Municipal Assembly of Penamacor. In 1999, António Guterres's PS again won the legislative elections and formed the XIV Constitutional Government, but Seguro moved to other functions. The former cabinet member was elected deputy to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, between July 1999 and July 2001. In these two years, serving in the parliament, he was an effective member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (in these functions he was co-author of the Report on the

Treaty of Nice The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European Co ...

and the Future of the European Union) and a substitute for the Commission for Employment and Social Affairs. He was also president of the Delegation for Relations with Central America and Mexico, vice president of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament and president of the Portuguese Socialist delegation. After leaving Parliament, he returned to the parliament, being reelected in the elections of 2002. He was also appointed member of the National Secretariat of the Socialist Party. After the municipal elections of December 2002, he accumulated these positions with membership in the Municipal Assembly of Gouveia. After Prime Minister

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

resigned as PS General Secretary on the election night of 5 June 2011, having lost the general election by a margin higher than expected, Seguro was elected leader of the party on 23 July 2011, winning 68% of the vote; his challenger, Francisco Assis, got 32%.

Electoral history

PS leadership election, 2011

* (Source
Official results

PS leadership election, 2013

* (Source

PS prime ministerial primary election, 2014

* (Source:)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seguro, Antonio Jose 1962 births Living people People from Penamacor Socialist Party (Portugal) politicians Government ministers of Portugal Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) MEPs for Portugal 1999–2004 Socialist Party (Portugal) MEPs