The direct vote to choose the general secretary of the PS ends this Saturday, March 14, and, as the only candidate, José Luís Carneiro has his re-election guaranteed, and the consecration congress is scheduled for the end of the month.
After assuming the leadership of the PS on an interim basis to complete the term of former PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos, José Luís Carneiro went to the vote again alone and without opposition in the elections for general secretary of the PS.
After the majority of federations went to vote on Friday, this Saturday only six structures remain to vote, with the results expected to be announced after the polls close.
The PS/Porto federation is one of which the activists are voting this Saturday, one of them being the general secretary of the PS, who will go to the polls in Baião, at 3:30 pm, then heading to Lisbon, to the PS headquarters, for a declaration after the final results were known.
In 2025, when around 18 thousand socialists voted, Carneiro, also the only candidate, was elected with 95.4% (17,434), with 701 whites and 128 invalids, in an election with a participation rate of 48.9%.
In the elections on these two days, according to an official party source, there are 39,487 members who make up the electoral universe and who can vote, an increase of around five thousand compared to the last direct elections in June 2025.
In addition to voting for the leadership, PT members are electing delegates for the XXV National Congress scheduled for the 27th, 28th and 29th of March, in Viseu.
The new national president of Socialist Women will also be chosen, a position that will no longer be occupied by Elza Pais after a decade and for which PS leader La Sallette Marques and former deputy Carla Eliana Tavares are running.
Despite being presented alone for votes, Carneiro made a tour across the country to listen to active forces and PS activists, in a total of 37 sessions which, according to accounts provided to Lusa by an official PS source, meant that the socialist leader traveled around 7,500 kilometers and had almost 80 hours of “active listening”.
According to the same accounts, there were around three thousand participants in these sessions.
At the end of February, when he presented his candidacy, José Luís Carneiro, defended that he “zealously” fulfilled the mission of leading the PS when the “decline seemed irreversible” and that united the party, considering positions of “pitting one against the other” unacceptable.
In the global strategy motion it presents, entitled “We count everyone”, Carneiro assures that socialists do not seek “early legislative elections”, but have “to be prepared to live up to all responsibilities”.
With the aim of “affirming and modernizing” the PS, the re-candidate for PS leadership proposes the creation of a Code of Ethics for socialist activists and elected officials, an Ethics Commission and an internal reporting channel.
The sole candidate has refused to consider this condition to be a weakness and the president of the PT, Carlos César, even considered that the fact of not having an opponent in this dispute is a sign of recognition of the quality of Carneiro’s leadership.
Carneiro said the priorities of his strategic motion are very clear.
“Housing, health, wages, an economy that incorporates a technology shock and is based on a new fiscal policy to guarantee better remunerationwith the ambition that by 2035 we will be able to have average salaries in Portugal comparable to average European salaries”, he summarized.
Leave a Reply