2008 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election
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The 2008 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election was held on 31 May 2008. This was a snap leadership election following the surprise resignation of then party leader Luís Filipe Menezes, elected just seven months before in September 2007, from the party's leadership.[1]
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Turnout | 59.1% 3.3 pp | ||||||||||||||||
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Menezes was facing heavy internal criticism for his leadership and opposition strategy but, nonetheless, his resignation surprised party members and structures.[2] Four candidates entered in this snap race: Manuela Ferreira Leite, Pedro Passos Coelho, Pedro Santana Lopes and Mário Patinha Antão.
On election day, Ferreira Leite won the leadership by capturing almost 38% of the votes, while Passos Coelho got 31% of the votes and Santana Lopes polled just below 30%.[3] Patinha Antão polled well below 1%, just 0.7% of the party members votes.
Manuela Ferreira Leite became the first woman to lead a major political party in Portuguese history.[4]
Ferreira Leite would lead the PSD to victory in the 2009 European Parliament election in Portugal,[5] but was defeated in the 2009 general elections held in the fall of the same year.[6]