The secretary-general of the PS conceded defeat to AD in Sunday’s legislative elections, saying that he will not stand in the way of the formation of an executive, but warned that he will lead the opposition and renew his party.
On national territory, without the emigrant constituencies, the PS won 1.759 million votes, almost 542,000 less than in the 2022 legislative elections, which it won with an absolute majority. So far it has only 77 seats out of a total of 230 deputies, compared to 120 two years ago.
Unlike what happened in the 2022 legislative elections, in which António Costa’s absolute majority was won in every constituency except Madeira, this time Pedro Nuno Santos’ PS was once again defeated in terms of seats in Funchal, but also in Braga, Bragança, Porto, Aveiro and Leiria.
In Sunday’s legislative elections, the PS tied with the AD (Democratic Alliance) for seats in Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, the Azores and Viseu. In Portalegre, it tied with Chega. And it tied with Chega and AD in Guarda, Santarém, Faro, Beja and Évora.
The Socialists only won in Lisbon, Coimbra, Castelo Branco and Setúbal.
Despite these results, the PS secretary-general said that his party is “strong, united and cohesive”, promised to renew it and expressed his certainty that the strategic line of opposition will not be challenged internally.
In his final statement, Pedro Nuno Santos assumed that he would not stand in the way of the formation of an AD minority government, since he does not have an alternative majority to present in parliament and will therefore not vote in favor of any motion to reject such an executive.
However, immediately afterwards, he separated the plan to form a government from the issue of making fundamental policy instruments viable, such as the State Budget. Asked if he would make budgets viable for AD, he warned that he would resist all pressure, which “has already begun”.
“The PS will lead the opposition. It won’t leave the opposition to Chega and André Ventura. The right or the AD can’t count on the PS to govern, because we won’t support them. And there will be no division in the PS,” he declared. But Pedro Nuno Santos went even further:
“The time for tactics in politics is over with us and it’s over with me” – a response that appeared to be an indirect criticism of the outgoing prime minister, António Costa.
During Sunday’s election night, several socialist figures, such as Ana Catarina Mendes, Fernando Medina or Manuel Alegre, refused to blame the PS secretary-general for the defeat. José Luís Carneiro, who faced him in the PS leadership race, refused to comment on the results of the legislative elections.
The outgoing prime minister, António Costa, who stood next to Pedro Nuno Santos on election night, expressed his willingness to be held responsible for his party’s electoral failure.
“We are all aware that these elections took place after two years of an inflationary crisis such as the country had not seen for 30 years, which was hard on families and accompanied by a brutal rise in interest rates – and our ability to respond was clearly not enough. It created a general malaise,” he said.
He then referred to the probable causes of the “protest” vote for Chega.
“These elections took place in a climate of upheaval, of unresolved judicial doubts, which creates a culture ripe for populism. The next few months, with serenity and time, will allow us to determine what the rise of Chega has to do with a structural vote – and represents a fundamental change in Portuguese society – and what it has to do with a protest vote in the face of a situation that we hope will be clarified quickly,” he said.
Regarding the electoral rise of Chega, Pedro Nuno Santos considered that the extreme right had seen a “very expressive growth that cannot be ignored”.
However, in his opinion, “18.1% of Portuguese voters are not racists or xenophobes”.
“There are many angry Portuguese who feel that they have not been represented and that their concrete problems have not been addressed,” he pointed out, before outlining the path he proposes for his political force.
“We will work over the next few months, in the future, to convince and bring back with us all those who are unhappy with the political system and with the PS. Our path begins now, today,” he stressed.
