HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

António Luís Santos da Costa (; born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as
President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...
since 2024. He previously served as the 118th
prime minister of Portugal The prime minister of Portugal (; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, is accountable to Ass ...
from 2015 to 2024 and the secretary-general of the Socialist Party from 2014 to 2024. Born in Lisbon, Costa was Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs from 1995 to 1997, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from 1997 to 1999,
Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
from 1999 to 2002, Minister of Internal Administration from 2005 to 2007, as well as Mayor of Lisbon from 2007 to 2015. Costa was elected secretary-general of the Socialist Party in 2014. Costa's near 9-year tenure as Prime Minister is the second longest, with Costa also being the longest serving politician in government functions, in Portuguese democracy, and the longest of any
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
national leader in the 21st century. On 7 November 2023, Costa resigned following an investigation involving members of his government in connection with alleged corruption and malfeasance in handling lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country. The President of Portugal decided to dissolve Parliament and called for a snap election. Costa stayed as Prime Minister in a caretaker capacity until 2 April 2024 when he was succeeded by Luís Montenegro. In December 2024, Costa succeeded
Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...
as
President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...
. As President of the European Council, Costa reaffirmed support for
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
.


Early life and education

António Luís Santos da Costa was born on 17 July 1961 in
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
, Portugal, the son of writer Orlando da Costa and journalist Maria Antónia Palla. He is of Portuguese and Goan descent. In Goa, Costa is affectionately known as ''Babush'', a word in
Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...
meaning 'a young loved one'. Costa graduated from the
Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...
of the
University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...
in the 1980s when he first entered politics and was elected as a Socialist deputy to the municipal council. He completed the mandatory military service in 1987 and later practised law briefly from 1988, before entering politics full-time.Axel Bugge (4 October 2015)
Portuguese Socialist leader Costa candidate for PM
''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
''.


Political career

António Costa joined the Socialist Youth in 1975, at the age of fourteen. In the 1982 local elections, Costa was elected as a member of the Lisbon municipal assembly, being re-elected in
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
and
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
. In the 1991 legislative election, Costa was elected as member of the Assembly of the Republic from the district of
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
. For the 1993 local elections, Costa was picked as the mayoral candidate for the municipality of
Loures Loures () is a city and a municipality in Portugal which is part of the Lisbon District, District and Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Metropolitan area of Lisbon. It is the fifth most populous municipality in the country, with a total population of 201, ...
, a suburb of
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
. This contest threw national attention because Costa did a campaign stunt by promoting a race between a
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
and a Donkey to highlight the difficulty in roads and transportation to Lisbon, and to point for the necessity of better roads and a subway connection to Loures. Costa narrowly lost the mayoral race to the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) candidate by a 35 to 34 percent margin. In the 1996 presidential election, António Costa was the campaign director of Jorge Sampaio's successful run for the Presidency of the Republic. Costa's first role in a Socialist government was as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs under Prime Minister
António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
between 1997 and 1999. In Guterres' second term, Costa held the office of
Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
from 1999 to 2002. Costa also coordinated the organization of the Expo '98 in Lisbon. In the 2002 legislative election, Costa was elected a member of parliament from the district of
Leiria Leiria () is a city and municipality in the Central Region, Portugal, Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, after Coimbra, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat o ...
and, due the defeat of the PS in this election, became the party's parliamentary leader in opposition. During the 2003 Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal, António Costa's name was involved in wiretaps where he appears to want to interfere with the Public Prosecutor's Office to avoid the arrest of the PS deputy Paulo Pedroso. Costa was a
member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
for the Socialist Party (
Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
), heading the list for the 2004 European elections after the death of top candidate António de Sousa Franco. On 20 July 2004, he was elected as one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament. He also served on the
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...
. Costa would remain a member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) coalition. Costa resigned as an MEP on 11 March 2005 to become Minister of State and Internal Administration in the government of José Sócrates following the 2005 national elections.


Mayor of Lisbon

António Costa resigned from all government offices in May 2007 to become his party's candidate for the municipality of
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
, Portugal's capital city. He was elected as Lisbon's mayor on 15 July 2007 and reelected in 2009 and 2013, with a bigger majority each time. In April 2015 he resigned his duties as a mayor, while he was already the secretary general of the Socialist Party and the party's candidate for Prime Minister, so that he could prepare his campaign for the October 2015 general elections.
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
(25 November 2015)
Portugal gets Antonio Costa as new PM after election winner only lasted 11 days
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''.


Candidate for prime minister

In September 2014, the Socialist Party chose Costa as its candidate to be prime minister of Portugal in the 2015 national elections. In a ballot to select the party's candidate, gaining nearly 70 per cent of the votes, he defeated party leader António José Seguro, who announced his resignation after the result. By April 2015, he stepped down as mayor to focus on his campaign.Axel Bugge (1 April 2015)
Lisbon Socialist mayor steps down to campaign for Portugal PM
''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
''.
During the campaign, Costa pledged to ease back on
austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
and give more
disposable income Disposable income is total personal income minus current taxes on income. In national accounting, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income or household disposable income. Subtracting personal outlays ( ...
back to households. He proposed to boost incomes, hiring and growth to cut the
budget deficit Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit, the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budg ...
s while scrapping austerity measures and cutting taxes for the middle and lower classes, asserting that would still allow deficits to reduce in line with the Euro convergence criteria. Also, he pledged to roll back a hugely unpopular hike in
value added tax A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...
on restaurants and reinstate some benefits for civil servants.


Prime Minister of Portugal


First term (2015–2019)

On 4 October 2015, the conservative Portugal Ahead coalition that had ruled the country since 2011 came first in the elections winning 38.6% of the vote, while the Socialist Party (PS) came second with 32.3%. Passos Coelho was reappointed Prime Minister the following days, but António Costa formed an alliance with the other parties on the left (the Left Bloc, the
Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...
and the Ecologist Party "The Greens"), which altogether constituted a majority in Parliament, and toppled the government on 10 November (the People–Animals–Nature party also voted in favour of the motion of rejection presented by the left alliance). After toppling the conservative government, Costa was chosen as the new prime minister of Portugal by President Cavaco Silva on 24 November and assumed office on 26 November. By March 2017, polls put support for Costa's Socialists at 42 per cent, up 10 points from their share of the vote in the 2015 election and close to a level that would give them a majority in parliament were the country to vote again. In the 2017 local elections, Costa further consolidated power in Portugal as his party captured a record haul of 158 town halls out of the country's 308 cities and towns; nationwide, the Socialists’ vote share topped 38 per cent, again up from their result in the 2015 parliamentary election. During his tenure, Portugal experienced its deadliest wildfires ever, firstly in Pedrogão Grande in June 2017 (65 dead) and later across the country in October 2017 (41 dead). In October 2017, the opposition People's Party (CDS) launched a
motion of no-confidence In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an obse ...
in Costa's government over its failure to prevent the loss of human lives in the lethal Iberian wildfires, the second such disaster in four months; the motion was largely symbolic as the minority Socialist government continued to be backed in parliament by two left-wing parties. In April 2018, ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
'' reported that, "Since coming to power, Costa's government has managed to combine fiscal discipline with measures to support growth, while reversing most of the austerity policies imposed by the previous centre-right administration during the 2010–13 debt crisis. Various reforms were also carred out during Costa’s first term in office, including social protection for children, free books for all students up until the age of 18, far cheaper public transport tickets, and a social electricity price; with lower bills for low-income families. In early 2019, Costa's government survived another opposition motion of no confidence lodged over a wave of public sector strikes. Ahead of the 2019 national elections, Costa ruled out a coalition government with the hard left if, as expected, his governing party won the election but fell shy of a parliamentary majority. Instead, he indicated he favoured a continuation of the current pact in parliament with the Communists and/or the Left Bloc – rather than any formal coalition in which they would have government ministers.


Second term (2019–2022)

Costa's second government was sworn in on 26 October 2019, the biggest government in Portuguese democracy, with 70 members: 20 ministers, including the Prime Minister, and 50 secretaries of state. This government would prove to be very unstable due to the lack of an agreement between the left-wing parties, and, in the vote of the 2020 budget, BE and CDU abstained while the Socialists were the only party voting in favour. Despite the political instability from the lack of an agreement, the XXII government was dominated by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The first case appeared on 2 March 2020, and shortly after, the government declared a state of emergency, that was signed by the President, and a lockdown was also issued. The lockdown and restrictions were lifted in June 2020, but new measures would be enacted in the following months as infections and deaths rose. By mid-2022, Portugal had become one the worst affected countries in the world by the pandemic, with a death rate of 25.8 per 1 million, and an infection rate of 1,090 per 1 million. The Covid vaccination campaign in Portugal, led by Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, which was nominated by the government, was a major success with more than 28 million vaccines given and nearly 9 million people fully vaccinated (85% of the population), one of the biggest rates in the world. Between 1 January and 30 June 2021, António Costa presided over the
Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...
. In the 2021 local elections, the Socialist Party remained the largest party in the country but suffered heavy losses in several cities, especially Lisbon which was lost to a centre-right coalition. The results were seen as a "yellow card" to António Costa. At the same time, the left-wing parties, BE and CDU, were threatening to reject the 2022 budget if Costa's government didn't made more concessions. The President warned that budget rejection would lead to snap elections, which ultimately happened as the left-wing parties joined forces with the right-wing and rejected the 2022 budget, the first rejection in democracy. Snap elections were called for 30 January 2022. Further reforms were carried out durng Costa’s second term, including a new housing and urban planning law, the extension of free early childhood education and care to all vulnerable children, extended bereavement leave, and a duty on employers “to refrain from contacting employees outside regular working hours.”


Third term (2022–2024)

Costa was re-elected in the 2022 Portuguese legislative election, with the PS winning 120 seats, up from 108 seats, in a surprise outright majority in the Assembly. In the weeks leading up to the election, polling suggested that Costa and the Socialist Party would retain their status as the largest party in the Assembly but would need the help of other parties to achieve a majority. In his victory speech, Costa thanked voters for giving him "an increased responsibility" and promising to govern "with and for all Portuguese". This gave him the mandate to form the XXIII Constitutional Government of Portugal. During Costa’s third term, several amendments to the country’s Labour Code were carried out. However, his third term was marred by a wave of scandals and resignations that affected his popularity negatively in the opinion polls. 11 ministers and secretaries of state left their roles, over allegations of corruption and past misconduct or questionable practices. The most significant scandal was the TAP scandal where Costa's government has been involved. Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos submitted his resignation in December 2022, following a public backlash over a hefty severance pay a secretary of state received from state-owned TAP, which fell under his remit. Costa replaced Santos with João Galamba who submitted his resignation in May 2023 as the TAP scandal widened. Opposition parties said that Galamba concealed from parliament that he had proposed that then TAP CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener meet Socialist lawmakers to prepare for a parliamentary hearing about her severance package. Widener was later fired after an official inspection found that the severance was illegal. Galamba initially said the preparatory meeting was TAP's idea, but acknowledged it was he who had told Widener that, if she wanted, she could attend the meeting where his advisors would also be present. Galamba added that one of his advisors, who took notes on what was discussed at the meeting, had been fired, and taken a laptop with confidential information with him. The laptop was later recovered by the national intelligence service SIS, leading to accusations from the opposition of a government overreach since such cases were a police matter. Costa denied that neither he nor any member of the government had given orders to SIS to recover the laptop. He added that he would reject the resignation of Galamba, keeping him in the job against president
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...
's and the opposition's request. President Rebelo de Sousa responded by issuing a warning that Costa's government needed to work on preserving its credibility, while refraining from using his power to dissolve parliament.


Resignation

On 7 November 2023, Portuguese
prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
s detained Costa's chief of staff Vítor Escária and named João Galamba a formal suspect in an investigation into alleged corruption in
lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...
mining, green hydrogen production and a data centre deals. Over 40 searches were carried out, some of which in government and local government buildings, including Escária's office, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Action. Costa was also under suspicion of enabling the lithium and green hydrogen deals, and was to be inquired by the Supreme Court of Justice. In a televised statement in the afternoon, Costa announced his resignation from the position of prime minister, saying that "the dignity of the functions of prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion about his integrity, his good conduct and even less with the suspicion of the practice of any criminal act". The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, accepted Costa's resignation on the same day. However, the resignation of Costa and his government was only made official on 8 December, to have the State Budget for 2024 approved. The Assembly of the Republic was also dissolved. The president scheduled early elections to be held on 10 March 2024. Costa's government remained in office in a caretaker capacity until the new government (led by Luis Montenegro) was sworn in after the elections. The investigation has since attracted criticism after the prosecutors admitted several mistakes, including confusion between the names of António Costa and then Minister of Economy António Costa Silva in the transcript of a
wiretap Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connecti ...
. Costa would become the longest-serving Portuguese prime minister during Portuguese democracy. He served as head of government longer than any other
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
national leader in the 21st century.


President of the European Council

In the aftermath of the
2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...
, Costa was seen as the frontrunner candidate for the Presidency of the European Council. On 27 June 2024, António Costa was elected as
President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...
, one of the three most important leadership posts of the European Union, by the 27 EU member state leaders. He started in the position on 1 December 2024. As President of the European Council, Costa reaffirmed support for the Ukrainian government of
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
on the third anniversary of the 2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. In March 2025, Costa met in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.


Personal life

In 1987, Costa married Fernanda Maria Gonçalves Tadeu, a teacher. The couple have a son and a daughter. Costa also holds an Overseas Citizenship of India. Costa is a supporter of the
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club S.L. Benfica, and was a frequent spectator at their matches while mayor of Lisbon. He also accompanied Benfica to both
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
finals, in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
and
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
.


Electoral history


Loures City Council election, 1993

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Demétrio Alves , , 55,524 , , 34.6 , , 4 , , style="color:red;", –1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 53,749 , , 33.5 , , 4 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD , align=left , João Malato Correia , , 34,727 , , 21.7 , , 3 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDS–PP , align=left , – , , 6,348 , , 4.0 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PCTP/MRPP , align=left , – , , 4,117 , , 2.6 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 5,829 , , 3.6 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 160,294 , , 61.01 , , 11 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Autárquicas 1993


European Parliament election, 2004

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 1,516,001 , , 44.5 , , 12 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", FP , align=left , João de Deus Pinheiro, , 1,132,769 , , 33.3 , , 9 , , style="color:red;", –2 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Ilda Figueiredo , , 309,401 , , 9.1 , , 2 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Miguel Portas , , 167,313 , , 4.9 , , 1 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PCTP/MRPP , align=left , Garcia Pereira , , 36,294 , , 1.1 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 108,338 , , 3.2 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 134,166 , , 4.0 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 3,404,782 , , 38.60 , , 24 , , style="color:red;", –1 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições


Lisbon City Council by-election, 2007

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 56,732 , , 29.5 , , 6 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", Ind. , align=left , Carmona Rodrigues , , 31,990 , , 16.6 , , 3 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD , align=left , Fernando Negrão , , 30,401 , , 15.8 , , 3 , , style="color:red;", –5 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", Ind. , align=left , Helena Roseta , , 19,754 , , 10.3 , , 2 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Ruben de Carvalho , , 18,163 , , 9.4 , , 2 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , José Sá Fernandes , , 13,132 , , 6.8 , , 1 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDS–PP , align=left , Telmo Correia , , 7,148 , , 3.7 , , 0 , , style="color:red;", –1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PCTP/MRPP , align=left , Garcia Pereira , , 3,021 , , 1.6 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 4,530 , , 2.3 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 7,483 , , 3.9 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 192,354 , , 36.70 , , 17 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Intercalares 2007


Lisbon City Council election, 2009

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 123,372 , , 44.0 , , 9 , , style="color:green;", +3 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD/ CDS–PP/ MPT/ PPM , align=left , Pedro Santana Lopes , , 108,457 , , 38.7 , , 7 , , style="color:green;", +4 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Ruben de Carvalho , , 22,623 , , 8.1 , , 1 , , style="color:red;", –1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Luís Fazenda , , 12,795 , , 4.6 , , 0 , , style="color:red;", –1 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 5,911 , , 2.1 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 7,152 , , 2.5 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 280,310 , , 53.43 , , 17 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Autárquicas 2009


Lisbon City Council election, 2013

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 116,425 , , 50.9 , , 11 , , style="color:green;", +2 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD/ CDS–PP/ MPT , align=left , Fernando Seara , , 51,156 , , 22.4 , , 4 , , style="color:red;", –3 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , João Ferreira , , 22,519 , , 9.9 , , 2 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , João Semedo , , 10,533 , , 4.6 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:blue;", , align="left", PPM/ PPV/ PND , align=left , José Jorge Andrade , , 2,814 , , 1.2 , , 0 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PCTP/MRPP , align=left , Joana Miranda , , 2,378 , , 1.0 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 1,838 , , 0.8 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 15,792 , , 6.9 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 228,682 , , 45.06 , , 17 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Autárquicas 2013


PS Primary election, 2014

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , António Costa , align=right , 120,188 , align=right , 67.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , António José Seguro , align=right , 55,928 , align=right , 31.5 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 1,234 , align=right , 0.7 , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 177,350 , align=right , 70.71 , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source: Resultados


Legislative election, 2015

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PàF , align=left ,
Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the List of prime ministers of Portugal, 117th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 201 ...
, , 2,085,465 , , 38.6 , , 107 , , style="color:red;", –25 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 1,747,730 , , 32.3 , , 86 , , style="color:green;", +12 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Catarina Martins , , 550,945 , , 10.2 , , 19 , , style="color:green;", +11 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Jerónimo de Sousa , , 445,901 , , 8.3 , , 17 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:teal;", , align="left", PAN , align=left , André Silva , , 75,170 , , 1.4 , , 1 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:black;", , align="left", PDR , align=left , Marinho e Pinto , , 61,920 , , 1.1 , , 0 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PCTP/MRPP , align=left , Garcia Pereira , , 60,045 , , 1.1 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 178,937 , , 3.3 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 201,979 , , 3.7 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 5,408,092 , , 55.84 , , 230 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Diário da República


Legislative election, 2019

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 1,903,687 , , 36.3 , , 108 , , style="color:green;", +22 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD , align=left , Rui Rio , , 1,454,283 , , 27.8 , , 79 , , style="color:red;", –10 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Catarina Martins , , 498,549 , , 9.5 , , 19 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Jerónimo de Sousa , , 332,018 , , 6.3 , , 12 , , style="color:red;", –5 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDS–PP , align=left , Assunção Cristas , , 221,094 , , 4.2 , , 5 , , style="color:red;", –13 , - , style="background:teal;", , align="left", PAN , align=left , André Silva , , 173,931 , , 3.3 , , 4 , , style="color:green;", +3 , - , style="background:#202056;", , align="left", Chega , align=left , André Ventura , , 67,502 , , 1.3 , , 1 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left", IL , align=left , Carlos Guimarães Pinto , , 67,443 , , 1.3 , , 1 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left",
LIVRE Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Fre ...
, align=left , Joacine Katar Moreira , , 56,940 , , 1.1 , , 1 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 207,162 , , 4.0 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 254,875 , , 4.9 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 5,237,484 , , 48.60 , , 230 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições


Legislative election, 2022

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , António Costa , , 2,302,601 , , 41.4 , , 120 , , style="color:green;", +12 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD , align=left , Rui Rio , , 1,618,381 , , 29.1 , , 77 , , style="color:red;", –2 , - , style="background:#202056;", , align="left", Chega , align=left , André Ventura , , 399,659 , , 7.2 , , 12 , , style="color:green;", +11 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", IL , align=left , João Cotrim Figueiredo , , 273,687, , 4.9 , , 8 , , style="color:green;", +7 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Catarina Martins , , 244,603 , , 4.4 , , 5 , , style="color:red;", –14 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Jerónimo de Sousa , , 238,920 , , 4.3 , , 6 , , style="color:red;", –6 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDS–PP , align=left , Rodrigues dos Santos , , 89,181 , , 1.6 , , 0 , , style="color:red;", –5 , - , style="background:teal;", , align="left", PAN , align=left , Inês Sousa Real , , 88,152 , , 1.6 , , 1 , , style="color:red;", –3 , - , style="background:;", , align="left",
LIVRE Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Fre ...
, align=left , Rui Tavares , , 71,232 , , 1.3 , , 1 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 91,299 , , 1.6 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 146,824 , , 2.6 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 5,564,539 , , 51.46 , , 230 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições


Honours


National honours

* Grand Cross of the
Military Order of Christ The Military Order of Christ is a Honorific orders of Portugal, Portuguese honorific order. It is the former order of Knights Templar as it was reconstituted in Portugal. Before 1910, it was known as the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Chr ...
(25 November 2024) * Grand Cross of the
Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...
(1 March 2006)


Foreign honours

* : ** Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco (29 May 2023) ** Commander of the Order of Rio Branco (19 May 2014) * : Grand Cross of the
Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...
(31 August 2010) * : Third Class of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (16 July 2010) * : Grand Cross of the Order of Honour (21 April 2017) * : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (3 September 2010) * : Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (16 February 2015) * : Grand Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania (16 July 2010) * : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (28 June 2019) * : Grand Cross of the
Royal Norwegian Order of Merit The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Norwegian: ''Den Kongelige Norske Fortjenstorden'' (Bokmål) or ''Den Kongelege Norske Fortenesteordenen'' (Nynorsk)) was instituted by King Olav V in 1985. It is awarded to foreigners, Norwegian citizens livin ...
(25 September 2009) * : ** Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (16 February 2015) ** Commander's Cross with Star of the
Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...
(18 July 2012) * : Grand Cross of the Order pro merito Melitensi (23 November 2010) * : Grand Cross of the
Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (, originally ; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OC3) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bes ...
(25 November 2016) * : Pravasi Bharatiya Samman ''for Public Services'' (2017)


See also

* List of heads of state and government of Indian origin


Notes


References


External links


Biography in the Portuguese Government site

Biography in the Council of Europe website
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Antonio 1961 births Government ministers of Portugal Living people Mayors of Lisbon Members of the 6th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 7th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 9th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 13th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) MEPs for Portugal 2004–2009 People with Overseas Citizenship of India Portuguese people of Goan descent Portuguese agnostics Portuguese politicians of Indian descent Prime ministers of Portugal Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class Socialist Party (Portugal) MEPs Socialist Party (Portugal) politicians