Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Socialist Party is a social democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action. The PS is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists, and has eight members in the European Parliament within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group during the 10th European Parliament.
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.
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)
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. This would lead to some splits, such as the FSP and POUS, which never succeeded.
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.
PS under António Guterres (1992–2002)
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.
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. 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.
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.
The PS is a mainstream centre-left social democratic party that supports Keynesianism, a mixed economy, Europeanism, and progressivism. Like many mainstream social democratic parties, it has previously adopted a Third Way outlook. According to the party statutes, no autonomous organization of tendencies or adoption of political denominations by any internal group is allowed. Existing informal internal factions range from democratic socialism to social liberalism and centrism. Party members like former leader Pedro Nuno Santos, MP Pedro Delgado Alves, former ministers Duarte Cordeiro and João Galamba were connoted with the party's left faction, being referred to as the Young Turks of the Socialist Party for their opposition to the leadership of António José Seguro, on the other hand figures like Francisco Assis, Sérgio Sousa Pinto and Álvaro Beleza are connoted with the party's right-wing.
Assembly of the Republic
Seat share in the Portuguese legislative elections
