President of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal)

The president of the Social Democratic Party is highest position within the Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD). The current holder is Luís Montenegro, who was elected to the position on 1 July 2022 after his victory in the 28 May 2022 leadership election, being also the current prime minister.

From the party's foundation to the 3rd Congress in October 1976, the most important position in the party was that of secretary-general, but after the 3rd Congress the post of president was created and the secretary-general became the second most important position within the party.

Between 1976 and 2005, party presidents were elected by delegate votes in a party congress, but in 2006, party rules were changed and registered party members, with membership fees updated, gained the right to elect the president instead of delegates in a congress. In 2012, another change to the rules introduced the possibility of a second round if no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes in the first round of voting.

To this day, seven presidents of the Social Democratic Party have become prime ministers while being the leader of the PSD: Francisco Sá Carneiro in 1979, Francisco Pinto Balsemão in 1981, Aníbal Cavaco Silva in 1985, Durão Barroso in 2002, Pedro Santana Lopes in 2004, Pedro Passos Coelho in 2011 and Luís Montenegro in 2024. In addition, Aníbal Cavaco Silva held the presidency of the Republic from 2006 to 2016, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, also former party president, is the current president of the Republic since 2016.