António Costa's resignation opens the battle for leadership in Portugal's socialism

The Socialist Party (PS) failed to convince Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of the benefits of continuing with the legislature and appointing an alternative prime minister to resolve the institutional crisis created after the resignation of António Costa. The head of state believes that only new elections, to be held on 10 March, will provide clarification and close the political wound opened after the arrest of several people in Costa's inner circle, who will be investigated by the Supreme Court to determine their role in a case where corruption crimes have been found. influence peddling and prevarication in several energy projects.

Rebelo de Sousa ruled out the appointment of Mário Centeno, current governor of the Bank of Portugal and former finance minister, suggested by Costa as his replacement, and other proposals from the Socialists. Its Council of State was split in half during deliberation; One side was in favour of continuing the legislature with a new prime minister, and the other advocated early elections. The head of state aligned himself with this solution because he considered that an alternative socialist government, without going through the ballot box, would be weakened. To give the Assembly time to approve the 2024 General State Budget and the Socialist Party to put together a candidacy to replace Costa, Rebelo de Sousa has called the elections within four months and not immediately.

The electoral machinery of the Socialists was set in motion as soon as the decision of the President of the Republic was known. The political commission of the PS met at the headquarters of Largo do Rato until one o'clock in the morning. At that meeting, the Minister of the Interior, José Luis Carneiro, announced that he was running for the general secretary of the organization and shortly afterwards informed the journalists waiting in the street. "I have conveyed my availability, with the same values as always, of freedom, equality and social justice, to put my life experience at the service of these values and put these values at the service of the country," he said. Carneiro will make a public statement to explain his passage on Saturday.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday at the Belém Palace, during the address to the nation to announce the call for early elections. CARLOS M. ALMEIDA (EFE)

Carneiro (Baião, 52 years old) is one of Costa's best-rated ministers in the polls and had not entered the succession pools until a few months ago. His work at the head of the Ministry of the Interior, which had been surrounded by controversy in the past with his predecessors, has strengthened his image as a discreet and efficient manager. He also has weight within the party due to his time as deputy general secretary of the PS as António Costa's right-hand man and is considered to represent the most moderate and centrist wing.

In the next few hours, former minister Pedro Nuno Santos (São João da Madeira, 46 years old), who has never hidden his willingness to aspire to the leadership of the party after Costa's stage, is also expected to announce his candidacy. The leftism of Nuno Santos, who has always claimed the geringonça [alliance of left-wing parties that gave the government to the PS in 2015] that he helped to grease, arouses certain misgivings in a part of the apparatus. "The PS cannot embark on frontist adventures," a former minister was quoted as saying by Expresso at the evening meeting of the political commission.

The election of the new leader will take place in a primary among the militants, scheduled for December 15 and 16. The new leadership will emerge from a congress scheduled for January 6 and 7, two months before the election. The internal cohesion that the party has experienced since 2014 under Costa's leadership is now at risk of breaking down if a bitter battle for succession opens up and would contribute to further weakening the image of the Socialists, after the hard blow of Operation Influencer, in which five people are arrested and arguidas (official suspects) three others. among them the still Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, who on Friday indicated that he did not intend to resign.

In his first statements to the press after announcing his resignation, Costa left Galamba's immediate future up in the air by explaining that he would discuss him with President Rebelo de Sousa. The acting prime minister reiterated that he had a clear conscience and explained that he had dismissed his chief of staff, Vítor Escária, one of those arrested on Tuesday, on Thursday when he learned that he had 78,000 euros hidden in books in his office.

Costa, who walked on Thursday night from his official residence to the headquarters of the PS hand in hand with his wife, Fernanda Tadeu, to participate in the political commission, told the press that he still did not know the reasons for the opening of a judicial investigation into him. "What I know is what I read in the press. I'm grateful that they are giving me news," he said ironically at the door of the socialist headquarters.

In addition to showing his disagreement with the early elections ("the country did not deserve to be called to new elections"), he regretted that Rebelo de Sousa had not opted for the "stable solution" of a government led by Mário Centeno, whom he praised as "a personality of great governmental experience, respected and admired by the Portuguese, with strong international prestige". The possibility of Centeno, who is independent, embarking on the race to replace Costa seems remote. In an interview with EL PAÍS in September, he responded to the question of whether he would be available if the Socialist Party encouraged him to run to succeed Costa: "It's not a question that's in my head."

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