Luís Marques Mendes

Luís Manuel Gonçalves Marques Mendes GCIH (born 5 September 1957 in Azurém, Guimarães) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician. He was the President of the Social Democratic Party from 2005 until 2007. On 6 February 2025, he announced his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election.

Luís Marques Mendes is the son of António Marques Mendes and wife Maria Isabel Gonçalves.^[1] He studied Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra.

A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) since it's founding, when he was 16, Marques Mendes first began his political career in 1976, after being elected as Deputy Mayor of Fafe.^[2]

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^[3] 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.^[2]

He became a member of the Assembly of the Republic in 1995, during Fernando Nogueira's leadership^[4] and, after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was elected as the leader of the PSD, Marques Mendes became the party's parliamentary leader.^[5]

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.^[5]

In 2002, he was invited by Durão Barroso to be the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from 2002 until 2004.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[8] After the 2007 Lisbon local by-election, when PSD finished in third place with 15.8%, Marques Mendes called for a snap leadership election,^[9] being defeated by Luís Filipe Menezes.^[10]

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,^[11] later replacing Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as the main commentator in the TV station.^[12]

On 6 February 2025, he announced his candidacy in the 2026 presidential election in Fafe.^[13]

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 (English and German), daughter of António Martins Fernandes Salazar (b. Guimarães, Vermil, Calçada, 19 May 1931), an Industrialist, one of the pioneers of the Ave, Subregion industrialization, and wife (m. Vila do Conde, São Miguel de Arcos, 21 April 1955) Berta da Silva Pinto (Penafiel, Penafiel, 23 May 1934 – Guimarães, Creixomil, 13 February 1995), and paternal granddaughter of José Fernandes Salazar (Guimarães, Vermil, 3 March 1890 – Porto, Miragaia, 1 December 1975), an Industrialist, one of the pioneers of the Ave, Subregion industrialization, and wife (m. Guimarães, Ronfe, 19 February 1925) Rosa Correia da Silva Martins (Guimarães, Ronfe, 2 January 1897 – Porto, Cedofeita, 31 August 1972). The couple has three children:^[14]

• João Pedro Pinto Salazar Marques Mendes
• Ana Sofia Pinto Salazar Marques Mendes
• João Miguel Pinto Salazar Marques Mendes

• Grand-Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (6 June 2008)^[15]