Portugal's main opposition center-right party holds leadership election

LISBON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main opposition center-right party in Portugal, began voting for a new leader on Saturday.

Supporters had two names to chose from: Rui Rio, a former mayor of Porto, and Pedro Santana Lopes, a former prime minister and former mayor of Lisbon.

In campaigning, the principal difference between the two candidates was their attitude towards the governing Socialist Party (PS). Rio said a collaborative approach was necessary to ensure reform in Portugal. Santana Lopes claimed pacting with rivals was political suicide.

The PSD suffered heavy losses to the PS in last October's local elections. Pedro Passos Coelho, the former prime minister, resigned as party leader as a consequence.

The PSD thus finds itself at a crossroads. It was the party of government from 2011 to 2015 and even won the 2015 general election, on a coalition ticket with the Central Social Democratic-Popular Party (CDS-PP ).

But its margin of victory proved too small to govern. The Socialist Party formed a minority government backed by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Left Bloc. The arrangement was dismissed as a flimsy "contraption" at the time, but it has proved effective.

Indeed many observers expect the PS and its contraption to triumph at the 2019 general election. Such an outlook has prompted some commentators, including Miguel Relvas, a former secretary general of the PSD, to view Saturday's contest as a stop-gap election. If the PSD loses in 2019, another new leader may be required.

Rio and Santana Lopes hotly dispute this and see themselves as long-term solutions to the party's ills. The PSD's 70,385 members have until 8 p.m. local time to decide which man's vision inspires them the most. Enditem