Duarte Cordeiro is not a candidate for PS leader

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Former minister Duarte Cordeiro told Lusa on Monday that he will not be a candidate for the socialist leadership, but wants to contribute “to a solution of unity and not faction”, asking for time to choose the best and not the fastest.

“I will not be a candidate but I want to contribute to a solution of unity and not faction ”, said Duarte Cordeiro in a statement to Lusa.

In the opinion of the former minister in António Costa's government, it is necessary to “give time” so that we can “choose between the best and not elect the fastest”.

“Whoever applies must work with everyone, the best, respect the past and have a constructive attitude,” he argued, without yet naming names.

Duarte Cordeiro also considered that “consensus should be sought among potential candidates for internal electoral calendars” .

Pedro Nuno Santos will cease to be the PS's secretary-general on Saturday , after the National Commission, and it will be the party's president, Carlos César, who will temporarily assume the socialist leadership, an official party source confirmed to Lusa.

The PS National Commission to approve the internal electoral calendar, following the announcement of Pedro Nuno Santos' resignation from the leadership, was called for Saturday, in Lisbon, also to analyze the results of the legislative elections.

The agenda includes the “analysis of the political situation in light of Sunday’s election results” and the “approval of electoral calendars and regulations”.

The PS achieved the third worst result in its history in legislative elections , almost tied with Chega, which led its leader, Pedro Nuno Santos, to resign a year and a half after his election.

The early legislative elections on Sunday, won by the AD, had a profound impact on the PS and, in the speech in which he admitted defeat, Pedro Nuno Santos announced that he had asked the party president to call the National Commission for Saturday so that internal elections could be held, in which he will not run again.

According to the provisional results, and without the votes from emigration being counted, the PS lost 20 deputies and currently has 58 seats in parliament , with a result of 23.38%, that is, 1,394,491 votes.

With this result, the PS appears almost tied with Chega and, compared to the same results last year, also without emigration, it lost around 365 thousand votes in one year.

This is the third worst result in the history of the PS in terms of percentage, with the result only being worse in 1985, with Almeida Santos, and in 1987, with Vítor Constâncio.

In the speech in which he admitted defeat, the PS leader took responsibility for the result, said that he would stop being secretary general if “he could do it now” and that he did not want to “be a hindrance in the decisions” that the PS has to make.

“But as Mário Soares said, only those who give up fighting are defeated, and I will not give up fighting. See you soon. Thank you all,” he emphasized.