This footage was filmed and produced 24 February 2024.

[Note: speech in Portuguese]

Just over four months ago, Luis Montenegro (Porto, 51) was seen as the interim leader of a Social Democratic Party (PSD), unable to set the media agenda and struggling to oppose Antonio Costa's absolute majority government. Polls repeatedly showed the PSD failing to convince voters, although the litmus test was set to be the European elections on 9 June. If the PSD were to lose the European elections, the internal contestation, which had already been evident for several months, would make a forced departure and a change to a new leader inevitable.

But on 7 November, Operation Influencer brought down Antonio Costa's government and changed the Portuguese political landscape. 
The Socialist Party changed its leader and the far right gained support. These early elections became Montenegro's golden opportunity. Four months later, the conservative leader passed the litmus test, but the looming scenario of instability leaves the PSD leader in a complex situation that could lead to new elections at the slightest slip-up.

A law graduate and lawyer, MP since 2002, president of the PSD parliamentary bench between 2011 and 2017, Luis Montenegro was one of the main faces of Parliament during the period of international financial aid, under the government of Pedro Passos Coelho. He has never held a government position. In 2020, he tried to take the party leadership, challenging Rui Rio's mandate, but lost by 2,000 votes.

In 2022, with Antonio Costa's absolute majority confirmed, Rui Rio resigned and Luis Montenegro managed to take over the leadership of the PSD with the support of 75% of the party's militants. Considered more right-wing than his predecessor, Luis Montenegro took charge of a party that was preparing for another four years out of power and in which there was no particular enthusiasm for the leadership candidacy, given the long horizon until the next elections.

Montenegro is not particularly charismatic, but polls in recent months show that the Portuguese regard him as more "serious" and "credible" than his Socialist Party rival, Pedro Nuno Santos. He relied on this position to try to break with the image of a party leader who cut pensions for the elderly and implemented a series of cuts during the international aid period. "I promise not to cut a single cent from the pensions of the elderly," he said repeatedly during the election campaign.

SHOTLIST:
1. Various statements to the press in Lisbon on 6 March 2024;
2. Various statements to the press in Lisbon on 4 March 2024;
3. Various statements to the press in Lisbon on 28 February 2024 after an opposition activist threw paint on his head;
4. Various statements to the press in Lisbon 24 February 2024;
5. Various of Montenegro at the Campaign Closing Ceremony on 8 March 2024.