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

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."Eleições PSD: Rio obteve 49,02% dos votos na 1.ª volta e Montenegro 41,42%", TVI24, 15 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020. 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."Rio é reeleito e mostra-se disposto a gerar unidade no PSD ", Público, 19 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.

Background

A year earlier, in January 2019, and confronted with bad poll numbers,"Opositores a Rio querem alternativa e não afastam congresso extraordinário", Público, 15 September 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2026. Rui Rio faced a leadership challenge from Luís Montenegro, pressing Rio to call a leadership election. However, Rio rejected this demand from Montenegro and instead called a motion of confidence on his leadership, which he won by a 75 to 50 vote. After the motion of confidence was approved, Montenegro withdrew his candidacy to the leadership.

Rio would lead his party into the 2019 Portuguese legislative election, where the PSD polled second with nearly 28% of the votes.

Candidates

NameBornExperienceAnnouncement dateRef. Luís Montenegro (age 46)Porto Leader of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Caucus (2011–2017)Member of Parliament for Aveiro (2002–2017)9 October 2019 Miguel Pinto Luz (age 42)Lisbon Deputy Mayor of Cascais (2017–2024)Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transportation, and Communications (2015)18 October 2019 Rui Rio (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

Declined Miguel Morgado – former Member of Parliament for Porto (2015–2019) (endorsed Luís Montenegro) Jorge Moreira da Silva – former Minister of the Environment, Territorial Planning and Energy (2013–2015) Pedro Duarte – former President of the Social Democratic Youth (1998–2002) (endorsed Luís Montenegro)

Opinion polls All voters Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead Eurosondagem8–12 Dec 20191,01924.125.013.837.10.9 Intercampus 20–26 Nov 2019 60440.6 14.2 3.3 41.9 26.4

PSD voters Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead Eurosondagem8–12 Dec 20191,01924.227.415.433.03.2

Results + Summary of the January 2020 PSD leadership election results Candidate 1st Round11 January 2020 2nd Round18 January 2020 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 colspan="2" 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

See also Social Democratic Party (Portugal) List of political parties in Portugal Elections in Portugal

References

External links Election Results Eleições Diretas 2020 Official website PSD Official Website