António José Seguro facts for kids

Quick facts for kids António José Seguro
Seguro in 2025
President-elect of Portugal
Assuming office 9 March 2026
Prime Minister	Luís Montenegro
Succeeding	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Secretary-General of the Socialist Party
In office 23 July 2011 – 28 September 2014
President	António de Almeida Santos Maria de Belém Roseira
Preceded by	José Sócrates
Succeeded by	António Costa
Leader of the Opposition
In office 23 July 2011 – 28 September 2014
Prime Minister	Pedro Passos Coelho
Preceded by	José Sócrates
Succeeded by	Maria de Belém Roseira (acting)
Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister
In office 3 July 2001 – 8 April 2002
Prime Minister	António Guterres
Preceded by	Armando Vara
Succeeded by	José Luís Arnaut
Secretary-General of the Socialist Youth
In office 29 April 1990 – 6 March 1994
Preceded by	José Apolinário
Succeeded by	Sérgio Sousa Pinto
Junior cabinet offices Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister In office 25 November 1997 – 20 July 1999 Prime Minister António Guterres Preceded by Luís Marques Guedes Succeeded by Vitalino Canas Secretary of State for Youth Affairs In office 28 October 1995 – 25 November 1997 Prime Minister António Guterres Preceded by Maria do Céu Ramos Succeeded by Miguel Fontes
Parliamentary offices President of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party In office 31 March 2004 – 9 March 2005 Preceded by António Costa Succeeded by Alberto Martins Member of the Assembly of the Republic In office 10 March 2005 – 8 October 2014 Constituency Braga In office 5 April 2002 – 9 March 2005 Constituency Lisbon In office 4 November 1991 – 26 October 1995 Constituency Porto Member of the European Parliament In office 20 July 1999 – 2 July 2001 Constituency Portugal
Personal details
Born	António José Martins Seguro (1962-03-11) 11 March 1962 (age 63) Penamacor, Castelo Branco, Portugal
Political party	Socialist Party (since 1980)
Spouse	Margarida Freitas ​ (m. 2001)​
Children	2
Alma mater	ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute Autonomous University of Lisbon

António José Martins Seguro (born 11 March 1962) is a Portuguese politician. He is the president-elect of Portugal. He won the 2026 Portuguese presidential election. Seguro is a member of the Socialist Party (PS). He was the secretary-general of the PS from 2011 to September 2014. During that time, he was also the leader of the opposition in the Portuguese parliament.

António José Seguro: Portugal's President-Elect

Early Life and Learning

António José Seguro was born on March 11, 1962. He was the youngest of three sons. His family came from the Beira Baixa region. Most of his family worked in farming. Seguro's father ran a newsagent's shop.

Seguro became interested in politics when he was very young. He joined the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) as a youth. He studied business organization and management. Later, he earned a degree in international relations from the Autonomous University of Lisbon.

A Career in Public Service

Starting in Youth Politics

Seguro was active in politics from a young age. He was the secretary-general of Socialist Youth. He also led the National Youth Council. He was chairman of the Youth Forum of the European Communities.

In 1991, he was first elected to the Portuguese Parliament. The Socialist Party won the elections in 1995. António Guterres became the leader and formed a government. Seguro served as Secretary of State for Youth Affairs. Later, he became Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister. He also led the Municipal Assembly of Penamacor.

Serving in the European Parliament

In 1999, Seguro was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). An MEP represents their country in the European Parliament. He worked on important reports about the future of the European Union. He also led the delegation for relations with Central America and Mexico. He was vice president of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.

Seguro left his MEP role in 2001. He became a Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. This was again under António Guterres. In 2002, he returned to the Assembly of the Republic. He served as the Socialist Parliamentary leader from 2004 to 2005.

Leading the Socialist Party

In 2011, Prime Minister José Sócrates resigned as PS General Secretary. This happened after the general election. Seguro was then elected leader of the Socialist Party. He won with 68% of the votes.

As the party leader, Seguro made important decisions. He led the Socialist Party to good results in local elections in 2013. The party also won the 2014 European Parliament election. However, the victory was by a small margin. This led to António Costa challenging Seguro for party leadership.

In the 2014 party primaries, Costa defeated Seguro. Seguro then resigned from his leadership role. He stepped away from politics for a while. He began teaching International Relations at the Autonomous University of Lisbon.

The Road to Presidency

Announcing His Candidacy

In October 2024, the PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos mentioned Seguro as a possible presidential candidate. In November 2024, Seguro gave an interview to CNN Portugal. He expressed interest in running for President. He then became a main candidate from his party.

Seguro also started a movement called UPortugal. This movement aimed to encourage more citizen participation. It also worked to fight against misinformation. In June 2025, he officially announced his presidential campaign. He stated that Portugal needed change and hope. He presented his candidacy as a progressive choice.

Seguro delivering his victory speech after the first round of the 2026 election

Seguro launched his campaign on June 15, 2025. Many important Socialist Party figures attended. He said he was returning to unite the country. He had left politics before to avoid dividing the party. In the following weeks, he gained wide support. He received endorsements from many party leaders and mayors. The Socialist Party officially backed him on October 19, 2025.

Winning the Election

Seguro formalized his candidacy on December 15, 2025. He delivered 10,000 signatures to the Constitutional Court.

The first round of the 2026 presidential election was on January 18. No candidate won a majority of votes. Seguro won the most votes, with 31%. André Ventura came in second with 23.5%. These two candidates then faced each other in a second round. This second round took place on February 8. This was only the second time a Portuguese presidential election needed a second round.

After the first round, Seguro gave a victory speech. He emphasized that his campaign was for everyone. He asked all "democrats, progressives, and humanists" to support him. He wanted to defeat extremism and division. He received support from other political parties. These included the PSD, IL, and CDS–PP.

Seguro won the second round by a large margin. He beat André Ventura with 66.8% of the votes. He was elected President. He received over 3.48 million votes. This was a record for a presidential election. In his victory speech, he promised to be the President for "all, all, all of the Portuguese." He also promised that things would not stay the same.

Images for kids

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  Seguro on the election night of the 2014 European Parliament election in Portugal

See also

In Spanish: António José Seguro para niños