Portuguese Socialist Action (1964–1973) The Portuguese Socialist Action (ASP) was founded in November 1964, in
Geneva, Switzerland, by
Mário Soares,
Manuel Tito de Morais and
Francisco Ramos da Costa. The ASP was founded in exile by several Socialist members as political organizations during
Salazar's Estado Novo regime were forbidden. In 1964, Mário Soares was elected leader of the ASP and the core principles and values of the ASP were approved. Inspired by
May 68 events, the Socialist Party (PS) was created at a conference of the Portuguese Socialist Action (ASP) on 19 April 1973, in
Bad Münstereifel in
West Germany: The twenty-seven delegates decided to found a party of
socialism and
political freedom, making an explicit reference to a
classless society and with
Marxism as a source of principal inspiration. However, seven delegates voted against the idea of creating a party, including Mário Soares' wife
Maria Barroso.
Mário Soares' leadership (1973–1985) and
Maria Barroso in 1974. On 25 April 1974, the
Carnation Revolution brought down the authoritarian regime of the
Estado Novo, established in 1933, and democracy was restored. The new Socialist Party was involved in the Provisional governments, with several party figures being a part of the cabinets such as
Mário Soares,
Francisco Salgado Zenha, Raul Rêgo,
António de Almeida Santos,
António Lopes Cardoso, Eduardo Pereira,
Jorge Campinos and
Walter Rosa. During this time, the PS suffered
trotskyist entryism, with Soares facing serious leadership challenges from this wing of the party, winning the December 1974 election for party leader against Manuel Serra by a 56–44 margin. . Soares remained in the party's leadership and won the
1983 legislative election but without an
absolute majority, which led to the formation of a
grand coalition with the centre-right
Social Democratic Party (PSD), creating the
Central Bloc. The new government began negotiations for Portugal to enter the
European Economic Community (EEC). In 1985, following the death of PSD leader
Carlos Mota Pinto and the election of
Aníbal Cavaco Silva as the new leader, the Central Bloc broke down and the PS, who nominated
António de Almeida Santos as the party's candidate for Prime Minister, lost the
1985 legislative election in a crushing defeat, after several party members defected to Eanes'
Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), winning just 20.8% of the votes and 57 seats.
Opposition to Cavaco Silva (1985–1992) As the PS was removed from the government by Cavaco Silva, Mário Soares left the leadership of the party in order to run for the
1986 presidential election. After beginning with about 8% of voting intentions, Soares ended up surpassing former Prime Minister
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo and his former allied and friend Salgado Zenha (who had the backing of the PRD and the
Communist Party), going into the second round with former CDS leader
Diogo Freitas do Amaral, after winning 25.4% of the votes. He ended up winning the full support of the left (notably an endorsement from PCP secretary-general
Álvaro Cunhal) and defeated Freitas do Amaral with 51.2% of the votes, winning the presidency. After a long period without any clear leader,
Vítor Constâncio, won the party leadership. In April 1987, PS supported a motion of no confidence from the PRD against the PSD minority government, which led to the fall of the government. Constâncio proposed a coalition government with the PRD and with the support of the PCP, but that possibility was rejected by President Mário Soares, who dissolved parliament. In the
July 1987 legislative election, despite a slight increase of the PS to the 22.2% of the votes, Cavaco Silva's PSD won its first absolute majority, achieving 50.2% of the votes. Constâncio ended up leaving the leadership of the party in January 1989, citing the interference from Mário Soares as a reason, being succeeded by
Jorge Sampaio as party leader. Sampaio himself was the party's candidate for
that years' local elections in Lisbon, forming a coalition with the PCP. Sampaio won the mayorship with 49% of the votes, defeating the PSD/CDS/PPM candidate
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. After being elected as Mayor, Sampaio ended up spliting his time between the Mayorship and the
leadership of the opposition, which ended up being criticized by his internal opponents. This led to another defeat, with PSD winning 50.6% of the votes, while the PS increased it's vote share to 29.1%. After this defeat,
António Guterres declared his candidacy for the party leadership against Sampaio. Sampaio ended up withrawing his candidacy before the vote and Guterres won the leadership.
PS under António Guterres (1992–2002) , who led the Socialist Party from 1992 until 2002. He was Prime Minister from 1995 to 2002 and
Secretary-general of the United Nations from 2016 until the present day. After ten years in the opposition, the PS won the
1995 legislative election, with 43.8% of the votes and 112 seats, slightly short of a majority. António Guterres became the new Prime Minister, as Jorge Sampaio defeated Cavaco Silva in the
1996 presidential election with 53.9% of the votes. This marked the first time since 1974 that a party held both the Presidency and the government. In 1996, the PS won its
first regional election ever, with
Carlos César winning the Azorean election with 45.8% of the votes, forming a minority government with the support of the CDS. As the country
headed into the polls again in 1999, Portugal was enjoying a period of growing economic stability and prestige. Despite that, the PS failed to obtain what would have been a historic
absolute majority for the party by only one seat. This led to the party having to negotiate odd coalitions with unlikely partners to approve legislation, with the party relying on a single CDS–PP deputy in order to pass the 2001 and 2002 budgets. After a massive defeat in the
2001 local elections, with the party losing several important municipalities such as
Lisbon,
Porto,
Sintra and
Cascais, Guterres resigned as prime minister. The new Socialist leader,
Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, ended up losing the
2002 legislative election by a small margin to the PSD, who formed a coalition government with the
People's Party (CDS–PP). During this time, it has been argued that the Socialist Party moved towards the
centre and adopted the
Third Way. In the early 2000s, the party cleaned up its membership database, resulting in a reduction of registered members from 120,000 in 2001 to 77,000 in 2002.
Rise and fall of José Sócrates (2002–2011) As the PS returned to the opposition, a
child abuse scandal broke, which ended up involving high figures from the party, including the then party leader Ferro Rodrigues. during the campaign for the
2009 European Parliament elections.|230x230px In June 2004, the PS won the
2004 European elections by a landslide, and a few weeks later,
José Manuel Durão Barroso, leader of the PSD and prime minister, resigned to become
President of the European Commission. President Jorge Sampaio decided not to call elections and replaced Durão Barroso with
Pedro Santana Lopes, which led to Ferro Rodrigues' resignation as leader of the party. He
was replaced in the leadership by former Environment minister
José Sócrates. In December 2004,
Jorge Sampaio dissolved Parliament and called fresh
elections for February 2005. These elections resulted in a landslide victory for the PS with 45.0% of the votes and 121 seats, winning for the first time since its foundation an absolute majority, with José Sócrates becoming
Prime Minister of Portugal. In 2009, after years in power, the PS lost the
2009 European Parliament elections to the PSD. However, they won the
legislative election held on 27 September 2009, failing to renew the absolute majority they won in the previous general election. During this time, PS introduced and legislated
same-sex marriage. The
Eurozone crisis and financial crisis of 2011 hit Portugal very hard, prompting Sócrates' government to impose harsh
austerity measures. On 23 March 2011, the entire opposition in Parliament said no to new measures proposed by the government. As a result of this, Sócrates resigned as prime minister and a
snap election took place on 5 June 2011. In the elections, the PS suffered a huge setback, with 28.1 percent of the vote, ten points behind the PSD, who formed another coalition government with the CDS–PP. Sócrates resigned as Secretary-general on election night after the PS's worst result since 1987.
António José Seguro's leadership (2011–2014) On
23 July 2011,
António José Seguro was elected as Sócrates' successor. During his leadership, the PS abstained in the 2012 State Budget, attracting criticism from within the party. Under the leadership of Seguro, the PS won one of its best results ever in the
2013 local elections, making significant gains over the PSD, and in May 2014 won again the
European Parliament elections, winning 31.5% of the votes against almost 28% of the
PSD/CDS coalition. However, this latest result was considered quite a disappointment to many PS members and supporters and on 27 May 2014,
António Costa, the then-mayor of Lisbon, announced that he would stand for the leadership of the PS. Seguro refused to call a new congress and leadership election and instead called for a
primary election, to be held on 28 September, to elect the party's candidate for prime minister in the
2015 legislative election. Costa, being endorsed by people like
Mário Soares,
Ana Catarina Mendes and
Pedro Nuno Santos, easily defeated Seguro by a 67% to 31% margin, with Seguro stepping out of politics afterwards.
António Costa's leadership (2014–2024) In the
2015 legislative elections, the PS polled a disappointing second place, capturing just 32 percent of the votes against the 38.6 percent of the PSD/CDS–PP electoral alliance
Portugal Ahead. Despite the victory of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, the centre-left and left-wing parties achieved a clear majority in the
Portuguese parliament. After the second Passos Coelho cabinet fell in parliament, with the approval of a no-confidence motion, the PS forged a
confidence and supply agreement with
Left Bloc and
Unitary Democratic Coalition to support a
PS minority government. For the first time in Portuguese democracy, the leader of the second most voted political force became prime minister. In order to avoid bankruptcy due to mounting debt, in 2017, the party, alongside the
PSD, the
Portuguese Communist Party,
BE and the ecologist party
PEV, voted in favour of abolishing party fundraising limits, thereby opening all Portuguese parties to
private political donorship, that they are not obligated to disclose. The new proposal was reluctantly approved by the Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. , Secretary-general of the party from 2014 until 2024 and who is currently the
President of the European Council Costa led a very successful first term as prime minister with a growing economy, low unemployment, and deficit cuts. Although he led a more left-leaning PS, Costa started to shift the party back to the centre in 2018, something that a younger and more left-wing faction, led by minister
Pedro Nuno Santos, contested. In the
2019 European elections, the PS won a significant victory by achieving 33.4 percent, against the 22 percent of the PSD. The PS also won the
October 2019 general election with 36 percent of the votes, against the 28 percent of the PSD, but by a closer margin than expected. The Second Costa cabinet was sworn in on 26 October 2019. In October 2020, the PS lost power in the
Azores region after the Socialists lost their majority in the
region's 2020 October elections. The PS only got 39 percent of the votes, a drop of 7
pp, and 25 seats. The right-wing parties PSD, CDS, PPM, CHEGA, and IL won a majority of one seat over the whole left wing, and a few weeks after the election, they forged a deal that led the PSD to government. , the PS is now in opposition in both autonomous regions of the country. For the
2021 Portuguese presidential election, Costa endorsed the incumbent
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, something that made some party members unsatisfied. Former PS
MEP Ana Gomes, a critic of Costa and a member of the left faction of the party, ran for the presidency, declaring herself the candidate of
democratic socialism and
progressivism, stating that she has been disappointed with the leadership of the party for not having an official candidate. With the support of the left faction of the party and some more moderate members worried about corruption, Gomes finished in a disappointing second place behind de Sousa, who had many endorsements of party leaders like Lisbon's Mayor
Fernando Medina,
Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, and
Carlos César. The party suffered a setback in the
2021 local elections by losing several cities to the PSD. However, the main defeat was the loss of Lisbon to the PSD candidate,
Carlos Moedas, who defeated
Fernando Medina by a narrow 34 to 33 percent margin. After the local elections, tensions between the PS and its left-wing allies, BE and CDU, led to the rejection of the 2022 budget which forced the calling of a snap election for
January 2022. Despite polls predicting a close race between the PS and PSD, the Socialists won a surprise absolute majority, only the second in their history, with 41 percent of the votes against the 29 percent of the PSD, and winning 120 (52%) of the 230 seats in the
Portuguese parliament. In November 2023, António Costa resigned as prime minister and party leader following the
Operation Influencer investigation, which investigates suspected corruption activities in the awarding of contracts for the lithium and hydrogen businesses. Following Costa's decision, an
early election was called for 10 March 2024. A
leadership election was called for 15 and 16 December 2023, which was won by
Pedro Nuno Santos with almost 61 percent of the votes.
Return to the opposition (2024–present) On the 10 March 2024 election, the Socialist Party was narrowly defeated by the
Democratic Alliance (AD), headed by the Social Democratic Party, losing 42 seats and gathering 28 percent of the votes. Three months later, in the
2024 European Parliament elections, the Socialist Party narrowly defeated the AD coalition, by a 32 to 31 percent margin. A new election was called for
May 2025, after a vote of confidence in the AD minority government was rejected, following the revelations of the
Spinumviva case. The party suffered one of its worst results ever in the election, gathering just less than 23 percent of the votes and 58 seats, falling to third place in terms of seats by being surpassed by the
far-right Chega party and losing the status of
leader of the opposition. Pedro Nuno Santos resigned and a
leadership election was opened. After being the only candidate to submit a candidacy,
José Luís Carneiro became party leader in late June 2025. , Secretary-General since 2025. The party entered the
2025 local elections, with the ambition to retain the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) and secure the highest number of district capitals, and major cities: specifically
Lisbon,
Porto,
Braga,
Sintra,
Vila Nova de Gaia,
Setúbal and
Coimbra. High-profile party figures, such as the former ministers
Alexandra Leitão (Lisbon),
Manuel Pizarro (Porto),
Ana Mendes Godinho (Sintra) and
Ana Abrunhosa (Coimbra) were chosen as candidates to spearhead this effort. Following the results of the previous legislative elections, many anticipated severe losses and an unprecedent electoral erosion, exacerbated by the term-limit rule that forced 54 out of the 148 sitting Socialist mayors elected in 2021 to step down, creating openings in several municipalities. Despite this pessimistic outlook, the Socialists won 127 municipalities, but were still surpassed by the PSD, being 5 short of the minimum needed to retain the presidency of ANMP. The results were mixed for the party, in one hand
Alexandra Leitão lost Lisbon by almost 8%, the candidates in the biggest cities were also defeated and the party lost strongholds like
Aljezur,
Baião,
Cabeceiras de Basto,
Condeixa-a-Nova,
Guimarães,
Lourinhã,
Melgaço,
Soure and
Torres Vedras; on the other hand the PS made significant gains in the interior of the country, notably flipping
Viseu for the first time ever. In response to the results, José Luís Carneiro declared that “the Socialists are back,” signaling party optimism despite not winning the major urban centers. In the
2026 presidential election, the party's supported candidate, former secretary-general
António José Seguro (2011–2014), polled first in the first round with 31% of the votes and faced far-right candidate
André Ventura in a runoff. Seguro was easily elected
President with 67% of the votes, against the 33% of Ventura. == Ideology and factions ==