Former Minister of Infrastructure Pedro Nuno Santos presented his candidacy for Secretary General of the PS at the Socialist headquarters in Largo do Rato on a night of flooding, almost completely forgetting the internal elections in which he defeated the Minister of the Interior, José Luís , will have to beat. Carneiro, whose candidacy ‘enriches the debate and gives strength to the party’, and immediately takes up the challenge of leading the party to victory in the parliamentary elections. An objective that led him to profile himself as a man of dialogue, negotiation and consultation, distancing himself from the image of a left-wing radical.
Without ignoring his role in the experience that allowed him in 2015 to “break down the wall between the PS and the parliamentary left”, Pedro Nuno Santos focused several times on the need for workers and business people to contribute to development of the economy. To do this, he used the example of his native municipality, São João da Madeira, ‘land of workers and entrepreneurs’ who ‘did not lower their heads’ when the hat industry fell into decline, transforming it into a hub for the shoe industry. But also about what he saw as the need for a dialogue between tenants, landlords and banks in order to respond to housing problems.
In a climate that could be confused with that of an electoral victory in the next parliamentary elections, such was the enthusiasm of the hundreds of activists who defeated the candidate for minutes, Pedro Nuno Santos presented himself as someone who “knows my qualities and my flaws”, as well as “my mistakes and my scars”, emphasizing the desire to “make it happen”.
Something that, in the case of housing, an area he oversaw as minister, translated into 2,500 homes delivered, with another 26 thousand planned in 2026. But the rental support for 185 thousand families was also not forgotten, after this in the Government by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Marina Gonçalves. Still, he emphasized that “anyone who says they have a unique, fast and effective solution is lying to the Portuguese.”
In addition to housing, Pedro Nuno Santos presented as priorities for future administration the salary increase, necessary to “stop the emigration of young people”, and the appreciation of the area. According to the socialist leadership candidate, “we have the luxury of not using more than 70% of our territory”, and there are reasons why citizens feel abandoned “beyond the narrow coastline”.
In the speech of the “grandson of a shoemaker and son of a businessman”, the Prime Minister was not forgotten, arguing that “it would be wrong and unfair to forget the legacy of the governments led by António Costa”. Presenting himself as the first district leader to support his candidacy for party leadership against António José Seguro, he highlighted the more than 600,000 jobs created since the PS came to power in 2015, as well as the reduction of the national debt.
Pedro Nuno Santos highlighted the “difficult moment for the country and the party” resulting from the judicial investigation that led to the resignation of António Costa, saying that he sees the fight against corruption as a priority and defended the independence of the Justice Department. “But the PS will not be discussing a legal process in the coming months,” he emphasized.
For those he plans to meet at the elections on March 10, 2024, at the next parliamentary elections, Pedro Nuno Santos reserved the end of the speech, focusing on the message that “the right does not keep its promises”. Something that translates into “reforms that the country wants to impose and that are always aimed at the same goal: the reduction of rights.” And also about the possibility that the never-named PSD of Luís Montenegro will take André Ventura’s Chega into the sphere of power, after guaranteeing that he “will not make any agreements with the populist, racist and xenophobic right”.
There were also references to the need to “defend a legacy that took great effort to build” regarding public schools and the National Health Service, whose current problems were not mentioned by the candidate, leaving those who listened to him several times as “comrades” and who recalled that this was “the first time we can elect a leader who was born free.” Something that the man born on April 13, 1977 emphasized when he called for the “renewal of April hope” on the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution.
Assis was the star among the supporters
The President of the Economic and Social Council, Francisco Assis, arrived with Pedro Nuno Santos and was the first to be mentioned in the acceptance speech as the PS leadership candidate began his speech.
Despite arguing that there was no dispute between ‘moderates’ and ‘radicals’, the former Infrastructure Minister received the best support he could wish for in Assis following rival José Luís Carneiro’s latest statements on the risks of a candidacy. “with the assumption of an alliance on the left”, taking into account the positions of Bloco de Esquerda and PCP “in relation to our duties” towards NATO and the European Union.
Also in the room, full of socialist activists, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, president of the Chamber of Vila Nova de Gaia (and chief mayor of the PS, taking into account the independent status of Basílio Horta, mayor of Sintra), also stood out for the PS Porto Federation, to which José Luís Carneiro belongs and of which he was once president. Rodrigues was just one of many district leaders who went to Largo do Rato on Monday to lend support. The candidacy claims the support of no fewer than sixteen people, including Duarte Cordeiro (Lisbon), Frederico Castro (Braga), Jorge Sequeira (Aveiro), João Portugal (Coimbra) and Hugo Costa (Santarém). This list included António Mendonça Mendes, president of the Setúbal Federation and deputy secretary of state to the prime minister.
Among the supporters were also the general secretary of the Socialist Youth, Miguel Costa Matos, as mentioned in the speech of Pedro Nuno Santos, the deputy and leader of the municipality of Porto Tiago Barbosa Ribeiro and André Pinotes Baptista, the trade unionist José Abraão, and the Minister of Education, João Costa, as well as the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo Santos Mendes.
Source: DN
