The president of the Santa Maria Maior Parish Council, Miguel Coelho, recently suggested in an interview that Pedro Nuno Santos should be the PS candidate for the Lisbon City Council. However, his appeal has been met with silence from the secretary-general. A source close to the socialist leader said that:
There is no interest and the idea doesn’t even make much sense
Miguel Coelho believes that Pedro Nuno Santos is the most valid candidate to compete against Carlos Moedas for the Lisbon City Council in 2025. He said that defeating Carlos Moedas is difficult but not unattainable. The socialist further said that.
Without any kind of irony or hidden game, I think that the PS secretary-general, if he runs, will probably win these elections.
He quoted Jorge Sampaio as an example, saying that Sampaio was in the third most important position in the country. He was only second to the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister. Miguel believes that if Sampaio did it back then while being the leader of the opposition, so can Pedro Nuno Santos.
However, representatives of the Socialist Party in the capital believe that the situations are not comparable. They are of the view that it was a different time, in a different context.
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The choice of the person responsible for recovering the presidency of the main Portuguese local authority will be made after the elections for the PS Federation of the Lisbon Urban Area. These elections are scheduled for the end of September.
Potential Candidates for Lisbon City Council
So far, the candidacy of Ricardo Leão, mayor of Loures since 2021, has been announced. There is a widespread conviction that he will be the only one to contest the succession of Pedro Pinto de Jesus. Currently, Pedro Pinto de Jesus is finishing the term that Duarte Cordeiro was supposed to serve.
Cordeiro has stepped back from political and party roles while the investigation into his involvement in the Tutti Frutti operation is ongoing. Fernando Medina has been named as a defendant in this case.
Among the socialists who were considered strong candidates for the Lisbon City Council was Duarte Cordeiro. He served as vice-president of the municipality during one of António Costa’s terms. Another notable name was Marta Temido, the former Minister of Health.
He surprised many by accepting Pedro Nuno Santos’ invitation to lead the party’s list in the European Parliament elections last year. Therefore, other potential candidates are now being considered, including former minister Mariana Vieira da Silva.
