Luís Marques Mendes


Luís Manuel Gonçalves Marques Mendes is a Portuguese lawyer and politician. He was the President of the Social Democratic Party from 2005 until 2007. He ran and lost the 2026 presidential election, being defeated after obtaining just 11.3% of the votes.

Biography

Luís Marques Mendes is the son of António Marques Mendes and wife Maria Isabel Gonçalves. He studied Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra.
A member of the Social Democratic Party since its founding, when he was 16, Marques Mendes first began his political career in 1976, after being elected as Deputy Mayor of Fafe.
In 1985, he was invited by Aníbal Cavaco Silva to become the Secretary of State to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, being responsible with Mass Communication, being responsible for the creation of the Lusa News Agency In 1987, he became the Secretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and, in 1992, he became Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister.
He became a member of the Assembly of the Republic in 1995, during Fernando Nogueira's leadership and, after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was elected as the leader of the PSD, Marques Mendes became the party's parliamentary leader.
He ran for the party's leadership for the first time in 2000, coming third place with 16% behind Pedro Santana Lopes and the incumbent leader José Manuel Durão Barroso.
In 2002, he was invited by Durão Barroso to be the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from 2002 until 2004.
Following the PSD's defeat in the 2005 legislative election, Marques Mendes succeeded Santana Lopes as the President of the PSD, after defeating Vila Nova de Gaia Mayor Luís Filipe Menezes.
During his time in the leadership, he chose not to appoint any candidate in the 2005 local elections who was under investigation, among which were Isaltino Morais, who ran as an independent and won in Oeiras. After the 2007 Lisbon local by-election, when PSD finished in third place with 15.8%, Marques Mendes called for a snap leadership election, being defeated by Luís Filipe Menezes.
In 2011, he was elected by the Assembly of the Republic as a member of the Council of State, being later nominated by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to the same council.
In 2013, he became a political commentator in SIC, later replacing Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as the main commentator in the TV station.

2026 presidential election

Marques Mendes was speculated as a potential presidential candidate since Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won the 2016 election. On 6 February 2025, he announced his candidacy in the 2026 presidential election in Fafe.
He lost the 2026 election, coming in fifth place after winning just 11.3% of the votes, the worst result ever for a PSD backed candidate in history. He supported António José Seguro in the second round of the election.

Family

He married in Guimarães, Vermil, on 24 April 1982, to Rosa Sofia Pinto Martins Salazar, born in Guimarães, Vermil, on 8 May 1957, a Licentiate in Modern Literatures and Languages, daughter of António Martins Fernandes Salazar, an Industrialist, one of the pioneers of the Ave, Subregion industrialization, and wife Berta da Silva Pinto, and paternal granddaughter of José Fernandes Salazar, an Industrialist, one of the pioneers of the Ave, Subregion industrialization, and wife Rosa Correia da Silva Martins. The couple has three children:

PSD leadership election, 2000

! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%

PSD leadership election, 2005

! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%

PSD leadership election, 2006

! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%

PSD leadership election, 2007

! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes
! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%

Presidential election, 2026