Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves (; born 16 February 1973) is a Portuguese politician and lawyer serving as the

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 ...

since April 2024. He is the president of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD) and he leads the 25th Constitutional Government. Montenegro was a member of the Assembly of the Republic from Aveiro from 2002 to 2018, leading his party's parliamentary group between 2011 and 2017. After being defeated by Rui Rio in his party's 2020 leadership election, he won against

Jorge Moreira da Silva Jorge Manuel Lopes Moreira da Silva Order of Prince Henry, GOIH (born 24 April 1971) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese engineer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social Democratic Party serving as the executive director o ...

in 2022 and became President of the PSD. Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD and CDS-PP formed the centre-right Democratic Alliance and won a plurality of seats in the 2024 Portuguese legislative election. He was appointed prime minister by 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 ...

, leading the XXIV Constitutional Government, a

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

. His government fell in March 2025 after losing a vote of confidence amid an alleged

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

affair, but the Democratic Alliance increased its plurality of seats in the subsequent snap election and formed the XXV Constitutional Government.

Biography

Education and local politics

Montenegro was born in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

and raised in Espinho in the

Aveiro District Aveiro District (, ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Porto District to the north, ...

. He graduated from the Porto School of Law at the

Catholic University of Portugal The Catholic University of Portugal ( Portuguese: ''Universidade Católica Portuguesa'', pronounced nivɨɾsiˈðad(ɨ) kɐˈtɔlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ, also referred to as Católica or UCP for short, is a concordat university (non-state-run unive ...

and became a lawyer, the same profession as his father and grandfather. He was president of the Social Democratic Youth in Espinho from 1994 to 1996. He served on the city's council from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, and ran for mayor in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, losing to José Mota of 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) by a 45% to 38% margin.

Assembly of the Republic

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, 29-year-old Montenegro was elected to the Assembly of the Republic for Aveiro. He became the PSD parliamentary group's deputy leader to Miguel Macedo in 2010, and he received 86% of the votes to lead the group in June 2011, after PSD member

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 ...

had been elected

prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The early years of Montenegro's leadership coincided with the

European troika The Troika is a term used to refer to the single decision group created by three entities, the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was formed due to the European debt crisis as ...

intervention to deal with the

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with Bank run#Systemic banki ...

; he was criticised in January 2014 for saying "the life of the people is no better, but the life of the country is a lot better". He defended the implementation of a strict economic austerity programme negotiated by Portugal in exchange for an international financial bailout. He left parliament in February 2018 after Passos Coelho's resignation, warning that the PSD should not turn into new leader " Rui Rio's group of friends". In early January 2019, amid bad polling numbers for the PSD, Montenegro challenged Rio to call a leadership ballot, with Montenegro announcing he would run against him. Rio refused to call a leadership ballot, but instead called for a motion of confidence in his leadership. Rio won the motion by a 75 to 50 vote in favour, and Montenegro conceded defeat.

Leader of the PSD

Following the Social Democrats' defeat in the 2019 legislative election, in January 2020, Montenegro announced his second candidacy for the PSD leadership election, challenging again Rio. During the campaign, Rio attacked Montenegro for being a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. In the run-off, Rio won with 53.2% of the votes, against the 46.8% for Montenegro. Rio resigned following the PSD's poor performance in the 2022 Portuguese legislative election. Montenegro was the first person to put himself forward for the party leadership election, in which he ran against former minister

. Montenegro won with 72.47% of the votes, beating his opponent in every district. Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD reached an agreement in January 2024 with the CDS-PP for a pre-electoral alliance as they sought to bolster their chances of winning the national elections later that year.Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony (5 January 2024)
Portugal's main opposition seals pre-electoral alliance with right-wing party CDS-PP
''

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 ...

''. The Democratic Alliance took the most seats in the election with 80, two more than the PS. One of Montenegro's campaign promises was the full privatisation of

TAP Air Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the flag carrier of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its airline hub, hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and operates on average 2, ...

. On 21 March 2024, President

formally issued Montenegro an invitation to form a government. Montenegro's new government was then presented to, and approved by, the president on 28 March.

Prime Minister of Portugal

Montenegro was sworn-in as

, heading the XXIV Constitutional Government, on 2 April 2024 at a ceremony in the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon. Prior to taking office, Montenegro vowed to govern with a

instead of forming a coalition with the ascendant right-wing populist party Chega, and decried their leader André Ventura as "often xenophobic, racist, populist and excessively demagogic". In May 2024, the Portuguese government under Montenegro announced that a new Lisbon airport would be built in

Alcochete Alcochete () is a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,569, in an area of 128.36 km². The municipality is composed of three parishes and is located in Setúbal District. Alcochete is known for its bullfighting tradition ...

and would be ready by 2034. Days before the

2024 European Parliament election in Portugal An election was held in Portugal on Sunday, 9 June 2024, to elect the Portuguese delegation to the European Parliament from 2024 to 2029. It took place as part of the wider 2024 European Parliament election. This was the ninth European Parliamen ...

, Montenegro announced a toughening of Portugal's immigration laws; the country had previously allowed those with a tourist visa to apply for residency. He said that the existing laws had led to "excessive abuse of our willingness to receive". In July 2024, he announced a reduction in

corporate income tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax or corporate income tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but i ...

from the current 21% to 15%. This measure would cost the public purse around 500 million euros a year. In September 2024, Montenegro ran unopposed in the PSD leadership election. He received 97.45% of the votes, while the majority of party members did not vote.

Tax benefits and ''Spinumviva'' cases

In 2023, an anonymous complaint was sent to the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service alleging that Montenegro received tax benefits granted for the restoration of old buildings when he did a complete demolition of an old building and built a new one in its place, in Espinho. A criminal investigation was later opened. On 2 December 2024, the Public Prosecution Office announced the closure of the criminal investigation due to finding no evidence of crimes or irregularities. On 15 February 2025, ''Correio da Manhã'' newspaper published an investigation in which they found that Montenegro's family has a business with real estate interests, called Spinumviva. Montenegro confirmed the existence of the company, but denied it being only a real estate and that he had sold his shares to his wife after being elected PSD leader in 2022, denying any

. Opposition party Chega criticized the lack of answers from Montenegro and announced a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

, that was rejected by Parliament. However, it was later revealed that Montenegro's sale of his shares to his wife was, in fact, null, as the law does not allow share sales between spouses, making Montenegro still an active shareholder of the company. This raised further questions of possible conflicts of interest and Montenegro was pressed to reveal his full list of clients, something he avoided. On 28 February 2025, ''Expresso'' newspaper reported that Spinumviva has been receiving a monthly payment of 4,500 euros by one of their clients, , a casino company, since 2021 and which continued while Montenegro was Prime Minister. In the aftermath of this report, Spinumviva disclosed the full list of clients and the services provided. On the same day, Montenegro announced he would "analyze his personal and political situation" and announce a decision on 1 March. Montenegro announced that his wife would leave the business and it would for now on be managed by his two sons, plus, he challenged Parliament to confirm its confidence in him, otherwise he would call a

vote of confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

. Two days later, on 3 March, the Public Prosecution office announced that they received an anonymous tip against Montenegro and his company, adding that, for now, they are examining the complaint. The Socialist Party also announced a Parliamentary inquiry committee to investigate the case. Montenegro called a vote of confidence, which he lost on 11 March, leading to the fall of his government. The motion lost 137 to 87 with no abstentions.

2025 election

President

had made clear that he would call

snap elections A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

if the government did not pass the motion of confidence. An election was called for 18 May 2025, in which Montenegro's alliance retained its plurality in parliament, but again fell short of a majority. The Democratic Alliance gained seats, while the PS lost seats and Chega made gains. On 29 May, Montenegro was invited once again to form a new government. The XXV Constitutional Government of Portugal was sworn in on 5 June.

Personal life

Montenegro was nicknamed ''Ervilha'' ("Pea") as a child for being small, round-figured and green-eyed, while his immediate family knew him by his middle name, Filipe. He took part in football and beach volleyball, and worked as a lifeguard as a youth, later taking up golf. In football, he supports

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

and S.C. Espinho, the teams of his birthplace and residence, respectively. As of May 2022, he is married and has two children. A variety of sources dating from 2012, including SAPO's Polígrafo fact-checking website, '' Público'', '' Expresso'', '' Jornal de Negócios'' and ''

Diário de Notícias () is a Portuguese weekly newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal. Established since 1864, the paper is considered a newspaper of record for Portugal. History and profile ''Diário de Notícias'' was first published in Lisbon on 29 December 1 ...

'' maintain that in 2008, Montenegro was admitted into the Mozart Lodge, a

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

comprising politicians, businessmen and spies. In 2019, Montenegro denied being a Freemason.

Electoral history

Espinho City Council election, 2005

, - ! 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 , José Mota , , 9,208 , , 44.9 , , 4 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD/CDS–PP , align=left , Luís Montenegro , , 7,784 , , 38.0 , , 3 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Fausto Neves , , 1,460 , , 7.1 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Carminda Flores , , 590 , , 2.9 , , 0 , , ''new'' , - , style="background:;", , align="left",

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, align=left , Alfredo de Araújo , , 463 , , 2.3 , , 0 , , ''new'' , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 995 , , 4.9 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 20,500 , , 67.70 , , 7 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Autárquicas 2005

PSD leadership election, 2020

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" rowspan=2 colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 50px", 1st round ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 50px", 2nd round , - ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left , Rui Rio , align=right , 15,546 , align=right , 49.0 , align=right , 17,157 , align=right , 53.2 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left , Luís Montenegro , align=right , 13,137 , align=right , 41.4 , align=right , 15,086 , align=right , 46.8 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left , Miguel Pinto Luz , align=right , 3,030 , align=right , 9.6 , colspan="2", , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 369 , align=right , – , align=right , 341 , align=right , – , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 32,082 , align=right , 79.01 , align=right , 32,582 , align=right , 80.20 , - , colspan="6" align=left, Source: Resultados

PSD leadership election, 2022

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left , Luís Montenegro , align=right , 19,241 , align=right , 72.5 , - , bgcolor=orange, , align=left ,

, align=right , 7,306 , align=right , 27.5 , - , colspan=2 align=left , Blank/Invalid ballots , align=right , 437 , align=right , – , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , 26,984 , align=right , 60.46 , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source: Resultados

Legislative election, 2024

, - ! 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", AD , align=left , Luís Montenegro , , 1,867,442 , , 28.8 , , 80 , , style="color:green;", +3 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , Pedro Nuno Santos , , 1,812,443 , , 28.0 , , 78 , , style="color:red;", –42 , - , style="background:#202056;", , align="left", Chega , align=left , André Ventura , , 1,169,781 , , 18.1 , , 50 , , style="color:green;", +38 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", IL , align=left , Rui Rocha , , 319,877 , , 4.9 , , 8 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Mariana Mortágua , , 282,314 , , 4.4 , , 5 , , ±0 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Paulo Raimundo , , 205,551 , , 3.2 , , 4 , , style="color:red;", –2 , - , 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 , , 204,875 , , 3.2 , , 4 , , style="color:green;", +3 , - , style="background:teal;", , align="left", PAN , align=left , Inês Sousa Real , , 126,125 , , 2.0 , , 1 , , ±0 , - , style="background:#1D4E89;", , align="left", ADN , align=left , Bruno Fialho , , 102,134 , , 1.6 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 104,167 , , 1.6 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 282,243 , , 4.4 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 6,476,952 , , 59.90 , , 230 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Legislative election, 2025

, - ! 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", AD , align=left , Luís Montenegro , , 2,008,488 , , 31.8 , , 91 , , style="color:green;", +11 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , Pedro Nuno Santos , , 1,442,546 , , 22.8 , , 58 , , style="color:red;", –20 , - , style="background:#202056;", , align="left", Chega , align=left , André Ventura , , 1,438,554 , , 22.8 , , 60 , , style="color:green;", +10 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", IL , align=left , Rui Rocha , , 338,974 , , 5.4 , , 9 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left",

, align=left , Rui Tavares , , 257,291 , , 4.1 , , 6 , , style="color:green;", +2 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left , Paulo Raimundo , , 183,686 , , 2.9 , , 3 , , style="color:red;", –1 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", BE , align=left , Mariana Mortágua , , 125,808 , , 2.0 , , 1 , , style="color:red;", –4 , - , style="background:teal;", , align="left", PAN , align=left , Inês Sousa Real , , 86,930 , , 1.4 , , 1 , , ±0 , - , style="background:#1D4E89;", , align="left", ADN , align=left , Bruno Fialho , , 81,660 , , 1.3 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 95,384 , , 1.5 , , 1 , , style="color:green;", +1 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 260,648 , , 4.1 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 6,319,969 , , 58.25 , , 230 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montenegro, Luis 1973 births Living people People from Espinho, Portugal Catholic University of Portugal alumni Portuguese Freemasons Politicians from Porto Social Democratic Party (Portugal) politicians Members of the 9th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 10th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 11th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 12th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 13th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 16th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 17th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Prime ministers of Portugal