Candidate of Aguiar-Branco for the post of President of the Assembly of the Republic and Hugo Soares for the post of parliamentary leader of the PSD.

Former minister José Pedro Aguiar-Branco will be the PSD candidate for the presidency of the Assembly of the Republic in the 16th legislature, and Hugo Soares for the post of leader of the Social Democratic bench, an official party source told Lusa.

According to the Rules of the Assembly of the Republic, the election of the President of Parliament takes place at the first plenary session of the legislature, scheduled for Tuesday, and “the candidate who receives an absolute majority of the votes of the deputies in office” is elected. .

If elected, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, the former defense minister, will replace the socialist Augusto Santos Silva (who failed the elections with the Fora da Europa circle) as the second figure of the state.

Hugo Soares is expected to lead the PSD, whose elections have not yet been officially scheduled, replacing Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, who has held this position since July 2023.

The Democratic Alliance (AD) won the elections on March 10, and the leader of the SDP was appointed prime minister by the president of the republic. Luis Montenegro will present his government on Thursday, with the inauguration scheduled for April 2.

In the new parliament, the SDP will have 78 deputies (one more than in the previous legislative body), the PS will also have 78 (42 fewer), Chega increases the number of parliamentarians from 12 to 50, IL retains eight deputies and BU – five that already were , while PCP falls from six to four. Livre grows from one to four, and PAN retains its only deputy.

The SDS-NP returns to parliament with two deputies obtained from the pre-election coalition of the AD (with the SDP and the PPM), which will make a total of 80 deputies in the Assembly of the Republic.