The Socialists are attentive to the latest statements by their leader about what it will do it beyond 2026, year of the end of the current mandate of the Government. António Costa does not close any doors, he says that he will decide in 2025 if he remains in the lead or not. Socialists heard by the Observer fear that talking about this now will help launch the succession race. In any case, at that moment, if Costa continues to lead, he does not have to be the candidate for Prime Minister in the next legislative elections, the PS has already tried and succeeded.
The solution is contemplated in the party’s statutes and is seen, from that distance, as a “mere possibility”, according to the Observer. The candidate for prime minister does not have to be the leader of the party, they can be nominated by the National Commission or go to the primaries (see below). That is, if Costa decides to run again for the leadership in 2025, this may not mean that he wants to be the party’s candidate again in the legislative elections that follow.
In an interview with Expresso, António Costa does not rule out being able to remain in the leadership of the party in 2025. He says that there is “a long time ahead” until these decisions, which he is pushing precisely for that year. When asked about the future, he replies: “In October 2026 I will see what I am going to do next. Or before that, before 2026 I have to decide if I stay in the direction of the PS or if I don’t stay in the direction of the PS ”.
“It’s not a matter of consider now“, says a senior leader of the PS when confronted with what Costa says in the interview. “we are too far of 2026…”, shoots another socialist reinforcing the idea of the extemporaneity of this matter. The PS still has an ordinary congress in 2023 and only later, in 2025, should the question of succession be raised, judging by these statements by the socialist.
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Source: Observadora
