Socialist Party (Portugal)

Socialist Party
Partido Socialista
AbbreviationPS
PresidentCarlos César
Secretary-GeneralPedro Nuno Santos
FounderMário Soares
Founded19 April 1973; 51 years ago (1973-04-19)
Legalised1 February 1975; 49 years ago (1975-02-01)[1]
Preceded byAcção Socialista Portuguesa
HeadquartersLargo do Rato 2, 1269–143 Lisbon
NewspaperAcção Socialista
Student wingEstudantes Socialistas
Youth wingSocialist Youth
Women's wingNational Department of the Socialist Women
Membership (2022)Increase 81,171[2]
IdeologySocial democracy
Political positionCentre-left
National affiliationFRS (1980–1982)
European affiliationParty of European Socialists
European Parliament groupProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
International affiliation
Trade union affiliationGeneral Union of Workers
Colours
  •   Red (official)
  •   Pink (customary)
AnthemA Internacional[3]
(The Internationale)
Assembly of the Republic
78 / 230
European Parliament
8 / 21
Regional Parliaments
34 / 104
Local government
(Mayors)
148 / 308
Local government
(Parishes)
1,264 / 3,066
Election symbol
Boletins de voto das eleições autárquicas de 2017 (Castro Verde e Casével, Castro Verde).jpg
Party flag
Flag of the Socialist Party
Website
www.ps.pt Edit this at Wikidata

The Socialist Party (Portuguese: Partido Socialista, pronounced [pɐɾˈtiðu susiɐˈliʃtɐ], PS) is a social-democratic[4][5] 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 (Portuguese: Acção Socialista Portuguesa). 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.

The party won the 1976 general election and formed the first constitutional government after the 1974 revolution, with Mário Soares as prime minister. However, the government was unstable and fell in 1978. The PS lost the 1979 election, but returned to power in 1983, forming, with the Social Democratic Party, a Central Bloc coalition. It lasted two years and in 1985, the party was defeated and went back to opposition, remaining there for 10 years and losing the two following general elections. Under António Guterres, the party won the 1995 general election and returned to power, lasting until 2002, upon the resignation of Guterres. The party made a comeback and won a historic absolute majority in the 2005 general election under the leadership of José Sócrates. By 2011, the economic crisis led the party to lose the 2011 snap election and the party returned to the opposition. Despite losing the 2015 election, the party formed an agreement with the Left Bloc and the Unitary Democratic Coalition and managed to appoint António Costa as Prime Minister. Costa remained in office for 9 years, until 2024, and won the two following elections, the last one, in 2022, with an absolute majority. After Costa's resignation, the party narrowly lost the 2024 election, thus, returning to opposition.

A party of the centre-left,[6][7] the PS is one of the two major parties in Portuguese politics, its rival being the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a centre-right, conservative party. The current leader, Pedro Nuno Santos, was elected in December 2023.

  1. ^ "Partidos registados e suas denominações, siglas e símbolos". Constitutional Court of Portugal (in Portuguese). Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  2. ^ Figueiredo, Inês (16 July 2022). "PSD é o maior partido, mas PS no poder consegue encurtar distâncias. Chega e PAN ocultam número de militantes". Observador.
  3. ^ Tavares, Tiago. "Os hinos que se cantavam nas primeiras eleições". Observador.
  4. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Portugal". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  5. ^ Dimitri Almeida (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. CRC Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-136-34039-0. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  6. ^ Lisi, Marco; Freire, André (2014). "The selection of political party leaders in Portugal". In Jean-Benoit Pilet; William Cross (eds.). The Selection of Political Party Leaders in Contemporary Parliamentary Democracies: A Comparative Study. Routledge. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-317-92945-1.
  7. ^ Guedes, Nuno (2016). "Esquerda-direita: análise das posições ideológicas do PS e do PSD (1990-2010)". Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas (80): 95–116.