António José Martins Seguro (born 11 March 1962) is a Portuguese politician for the Socialist Party (PS). Seguro was Secretary General of the PS from 2011 until September 2014, and he was the leader of the largest opposition party in the Portuguese Parliament.

António José Seguro
Seguro in 2020
Secretary-General of the Socialist Party
In office
23 July 2011 – 28 September 2014
PresidentAntónio de Almeida Santos
Maria de Belém Roseira
Preceded byJosé Sócrates
Succeeded byAntónio Costa
President of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party
In office
31 March 2004 – 9 March 2005
Preceded byAntónio Costa
Succeeded byAlberto Martins
Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister
In office
3 July 2001 – 8 April 2002
Prime MinisterAntónio Guterres
Preceded byArmando Vara
Succeeded byJosé Luís Arnaut
Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister
In office
25 November 1997 – 20 July 1999
Prime MinisterAntónio Guterres
Preceded byLuís Marques Guedes
Succeeded byVitalino Canas
Secretary of State for Youth Affairs
In office
28 October 1995 – 25 November 1997
Prime MinisterAntónio Guterres
Preceded byMaria do Céu Ramos
Succeeded byMiguel Fontes
Secretary-General of the Socialist Youth
In office
29 April 1990 – 6 March 1994
Preceded byJosé Apolinário
Succeeded bySérgio Sousa Pinto
Member of the Assembly of the Republic[1][2]
In office
10 March 2005 – 8 October 2014
ConstituencyBraga
In office
5 April 2002 – 9 March 2005
ConstituencyLisbon
In office
4 November 1991 – 26 October 1995
ConstituencyPorto
Member of the European Parliament
In office
20 July 1999 – 2 July 2001
ConstituencyPortugal
Personal details
Born (1962-03-11) 11 March 1962 (age 62)
Penamacor, Portugal
Political partySocialist Party
Spouse
Margarida Maldonado Freitas
(m. 2001)
Children2
Alma materLisbon University Institute
Autonomous University of Lisbon

Early life and education

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Seguro was born on 11 March 1962 in Penamacor. He entered politics at a very young age and became a member of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) as a youth. He attended the 1st cycle program in business organization and management at the ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute, but he did not graduate. Seguro has a degree in international relations awarded later by the Autonomous University of Lisbon.

Career

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Seguro became involved in political activities from a very young age, always linked to the Socialist Party (PS). He was successively secretary general of Socialist Youth, president of the National Youth Council and chairman of the Youth Forum of the European Communities. He was first elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1991, and again eight years later. In 1995, the Socialist Party won the parliamentary elections, leaving the leader António Guterres to form a government. Seguro initially was Secretary of State for Youth and later assistant secretary of State's prime minister. After a cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister. He also played the role of coordinator of the Standing Committee of the Portuguese Socialist Party and president of the Municipal Assembly of Penamacor. In 1999, António Guterres's PS again won the legislative elections and formed the XIV Constitutional Government, but Seguro moved to other functions. The former cabinet member was elected deputy to the European Parliament, between July 1999 and July 2001. In these two years, serving in the parliament, he was an effective member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (in these functions he was co-author of the Report on the Treaty of Nice and the Future of the European Union) and a substitute for the Commission for Employment and Social Affairs. He was also president of the Delegation for Relations with Central America and Mexico, vice president of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament and president of the Portuguese Socialist delegation. After leaving Parliament, he returned to the parliament, being reelected in the elections of 2002. He was also appointed member of the National Secretariat of the Socialist Party. After the municipal elections of December 2002, he accumulated these positions with membership in the Municipal Assembly of Gouveia.[3]

After Prime Minister José Sócrates resigned as PS General Secretary on the election night of 5 June 2011, having lost the general election by a margin higher than expected, Seguro was elected leader of the party on 23 July 2011, winning 68% of the vote; his challenger, Francisco Assis, got 32%.[4]

Electoral history

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PS leadership election, 2011

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Ballot: 22 and 23 July 2011
Candidate Votes %
António José Seguro 23,903 68.0
Francisco Assis 11,257 32.0
Blank/Invalid ballots 367
Turnout 35,527
Source: Diretas 2011[4]

PS leadership election, 2013

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Ballot: 13 April 2013
Candidate Votes %
António José Seguro 24,843 96.5
Aires Pedro 892 3.5
Blank/Invalid ballots 990
Turnout 26,725 62.10
Source: Diretas 2013[5]

PS Primary election, 2014

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Ballot: 28 September 2014
Candidate Votes %
António Costa 120,188 67.8
António José Seguro 55,928 31.5
Blank/Invalid ballots 1,234 0.7
Turnout 177,350 70.71
Source: Resultados[6]

References

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  1. ^ "António José Seguro, Assembleia da República".
  2. ^ "As legislaturas da Assembleia da República".
  3. ^ António José Seguro, In Infopédia [Em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2012. [date retrieved: 23 April 2012].
  4. ^ a b "António José Seguro eleito líder do PS". Económico (in Portuguese). July 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Secretário-Geral reeleito com 96% dos votos". Socialist Party. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "Resultados PS Primárias 2014". PS. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)