Former Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure Pedro Nuno Santos will succeed António Costa as general secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) of Portugal after winning the internal elections with 62% of the votes of the militants, according to preliminary results. Santos will be the new socialist leader by defeating his two rivals, the Minister of Internal AdministrationJosé Luís Carneiro (36% of the votes), and Daniel Adrião (1%), announced this Saturday the national organization secretary, Pedro do Carmo, at the party headquarters in Lisbon.

Minutes before the results were announced, Costa He had already sent a text message to the militants in which he congratulated his successor. “At this moment of passing the baton, I congratulate our comrade Pedro Nuno Santos, to whom I wish the greatest personal and political happiness,” wrote the acting prime minister and until now general secretary of the party in a message to the militants whom he had EFE access.

Santos, 46, will be the socialist candidate for prime minister in the legislative elections on March 10, after Costa resigned as head of the Government after being investigated in a case of alleged irregularities in lithium and hydrogen businesses.

The elected general secretary For years he has been the visible face of the leftmost wing of the party and was long considered one of Costa’s ‘possible dolphins’. Under him he was Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Infrastructure, but he resigned from the latter position a year ago due to the payment of irregular compensation by the state airline TAP to an administrator.

In addition, he led the negotiations with the left-wing parties that in 2015 culminated in a parliamentary agreement called ‘geringonça’, which allowed Costa to reach the Government. During his campaign for the socialist primaries, he has defended a proposal based on promises such as strengthen the social state, recover the frozen seniority of civil servants, improve salaries and offer more affordable housing. Santos will be received this Sunday by Costa at the match headquarters.

Nearly 60,000 socialist militants were called to vote in the internal elections that the PS carried out this Friday and Saturday. Looking ahead to the March elections, the new leader will officially start his campaign in Congress, which the political party will hold between January 5 and 7. António Costa has been leader of the PS since 2014, and a year later he became prime minister, a position he has held continuously since then for three terms. The PS currently governs with an absolute majority in Portugal.