Presidential soap opera is set to last behind the scenes of the PS

José Luís Carneiro has repeated that he does not want to hear about presidential elections until the local elections, but the topic is heating up within the Socialist Party.

With the confirmation of António José Seguro's candidacy last weekend and in the absence of another known candidacy on the left, many socialists, especially those linked to António Costa's leadership, fear that the new leader will be tempted to support Seguro.

To avoid this, two names repeatedly emerge as hypothetical candidates: Augusto Santos Silva and Sampaio da Nóvoa. António Vitorino, as Nascer do SOL has already reported, will not advance.

While the candidate for the leadership of the socialists avoids revealing what may be on his mind, there are many voices from leaders guaranteeing that Carneiro's decision will be favorable to Santos Silva or Sampaio da Nóvoa, to the detriment of Seguro.

Sources close to the future secretary-general are more reluctant. “Santos Silva was the first to support José Luís Carneiro’s candidacy when he first ran for office,” they recall, explaining that if the former President of the Assembly of the Republic were to run, it would be difficult for José Luís Carneiro not to support him. As for a possible candidacy by Sampaio da Nóvoa, our sources are unanimous: “he is very much to the left.”

In this case, those closest to Carneiro admit that support may be given to Seguro, especially since it was the former secretary-general who first invited Carneiro to the party's governing bodies. "These are things that are not forgotten," Nascer do SOL heard.