2020 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election

2020 Social Democratic Party leadership election
Turnout	79.0% 18.7 pp First round; 80.2% 1.2 pp Second round
Leader before election; Rui Rio ;	Elected Leader; Rui Rio ;

Last updated November 16, 2024

The 2020 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election was held on 11 and 18 January 2020. As no candidate received a majority of all valid votes on the first round, held on 11 January 2020, a second round took place one week later, 18 January, between the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the first round. This was the first time that a Social Democratic Party leadership election was contested on a second ballot. For both ballots, more than 40,000 party members, just 36 percent out of almost 110,000 active members, were registered to vote.^[1]

In the first round of the election, incumbent party leader Rui Rio finished in first place with a relative majority of 49.0% of all valid votes cast, followed by contesters Luís Montenegro, who received 41.4% of the vote, and Miguel Pinto Luz, who won 9.6% of the vote.^[2] As no candidate managed to reach the required percentage of the vote to win outright in the first round, a run-off election took place between the two candidates with the most votes in the first round: Rio and Montenegro. Rui Rio won the second round with 53.2% of the vote and was thus re-elected President of the party and stayed on as Leader of the Opposition.^[3]

Candidates

Name	Born	Experience	Announcement date	Ref.
Luís Montenegro	16 February 1973 (age 46) Porto	Leader of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Caucus (2011–2017) Member of Parliament for Aveiro (2002–2017)	9 October 2019	^[4]
Miguel Pinto Luz	8 February 1977 (age 42) Lisbon	Deputy Mayor of Cascais (2017–2024) Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transportation, and Communications, XX Constitutional Government (2015)	18 October 2019	^[5]^[6]
Rui Rio	6 August 1957 (age 62) Porto	President of the Social Democratic Party (2018–2022) Leader of the Opposition (2018–2022) Member of Parliament for Porto (2019–2022) Mayor of Porto (2001–2013) Member of Parliament for Porto (1991–2002)	21 October 2019	^[7]

Withdrawn candidates

Miguel Morgado, Member of Parliament for Porto (2015–2019)
Jorge Moreira da Silva, Minister of the Environment, Territorial Planning and Energy (2013–2015)

Opinion polls

All voters

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other /None	Lead

			Rui Rio	Luís Montenegro	Miguel Pinto Luz
Intercampus	20–26 Nov 2019	604	40.6	14.2	3.3	41.9	26.4

Results

Summary of the January 2020 PSD leadership election results
Candidate		1st Round 11 January 2020		2nd Round 18 January 2020
Candidate		Votes	%	Votes	%
	Rui Rio	15,546	49.02	17,157	53.21
	Luís Montenegro	13,136	41.42	15,086	46.79
	Miguel Pinto Luz	3,030	9.55	Eliminated

Total		31,712		32,243

Valid votes		31,712	98.85	32,243	98.96
Invalid and blank ballots		369	1.15	339	1.04
Votes cast / turnout		32,081	79.01	32,582	80.20
Registered voters		40,604		40,628

Sources: 1st Round results, 2nd Round results ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

Vote share 1st Round

Rui Rio			49.02%
Luís Montenegro			41.42%
Miguel Pinto Luz			9.55%

Vote share 2nd Round

Rui Rio			53.21%
Luís Montenegro			46.79%

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References

↑ "Pelo menos 40 mil militantes podem votar nas próximas diretas do PSD", Correio da Manhã , 23 December 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
↑ "Eleições PSD: Rio obteve 49,02% dos votos na 1.ª volta e Montenegro 41,42%", TVI24 , 15 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
↑ "Rio é reeleito e mostra-se disposto a gerar unidade no PSD ", Público , 19 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
↑ Público (9 October 2019). "Luís Montenegro anuncia candidatura à liderança do PSD" . Retrieved 13 December 2019.
↑ "Curriculum Vitae de Miguel Pinto Luz" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2019.
↑ Expresso (18 October 2019). "Pinto Luz anuncia candidatura e promete lutar para fazer "renascer o PSD"". Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
↑ RTP Notícias (21 October 2019). "Rui Rio anuncia recandidatura à liderança do PSD" . Retrieved 13 December 2019.

External links

Election Results
Eleições Diretas 2020 Official website Archived 13 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
PSD Official Website

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[1] "Pelo menos 40 mil militantes podem votar nas próximas diretas do PSD", Correio da Manhã , 23 December 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.

[2] "Eleições PSD: Rio obteve 49,02% dos votos na 1.ª volta e Montenegro 41,42%", TVI24 , 15 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.

[3] "Rio é reeleito e mostra-se disposto a gerar unidade no PSD ", Público , 19 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.

[4] Público (9 October 2019). "Luís Montenegro anuncia candidatura à liderança do PSD" . Retrieved 13 December 2019.

[5] "Curriculum Vitae de Miguel Pinto Luz" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2019.

[6] Expresso (18 October 2019). "Pinto Luz anuncia candidatura e promete lutar para fazer "renascer o PSD"". Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.

[7] RTP Notícias (21 October 2019). "Rui Rio anuncia recandidatura à liderança do PSD" . Retrieved 13 December 2019.

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