# Luís Filipe Menezes

Luís Filipe de Menezes Lopes (born 2 November 1953) is a Portuguese politician.

## Background

He is a son of José António Lopes (Porto, Alvar, 10 September 1925 –), an Industrialist (son and paternal grandson of cattle dealers and maternal grandson and great-grandson of farmers and maternal grandson of an exposed daughter of unknown parents), and wife (m. Coimbra, Sé Nova, 11 December 1949) Maria Helena de Menezes Borges (Viseu, Abraveses, Aguieira, 15 April 1928 – 10 March 2015), a Licentiate in Philosophy from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto and a High School Teacher, whose paternal grandfather was Spanish and whose mother was from the local Nobility.

## Career

He is a Licentiate in Medicine specialized in pediatrics from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto.
He started his career as a medical doctor.
Affiliated with the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he was a Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs and from 1997 to 2013 he was Mayor of the Municipal Chamber of Vila Nova de Gaia (in Greater Porto subregion), one of the most populated Portuguese municipalities.
He was leader of the Social Democratic Party between 12 October 2007 and 20 June 2008. He was elected after Luís Marques Mendes and was succeeded by Manuela Ferreira Leite.
Meneses is considered a populist, his policies as mayor were equally populist and his victory over Marques Mendes is considered a victory of populism in the SDP, as there was a clear difference between the positions of both, having Meneses a more politically correct and pro-people position in most matters, although with a sightly neoliberal stance on the health care system, and a liberal conservative position towards gay rights.
Luis Filipe Menezes is considered as a modern politician. He had the best score in the Municipality elections of October 2009.

## Family

He married Civilly at the 2nd Conservatory of the Civil Register of Porto on 20 March 1980 and Religiously in Porto, Bonfim, on 7 May 1980 to Maria Cândida Valanzuela de Sampayo Tavares (Porto, Ramalde, 7 November 1956), daughter of Amândio Gómez de Sampayo Tavares (Porto, Cedofeita, 26 December 1928 –), a Cathedratic Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, etc., and the Proprietor of the House of O Carballal in San Cristovo de Mourentán, Arbo, Pontevedra, Galicia, son of a Galician mother, and wife (m. 11 September 1952) María del Carmen Valanzuela y Simón (30 July 1923 –), a Galician paternal granddaughter of an unknown paternal grandfather, and had issue, three sons:
* Luís Filipe Valanzuela Tavares de Menezes Lopes (born 20 December 1980)
* Pedro Miguel Valanzuela Tavares de Menezes Lopes (born 16 June 1982)
* João Francisco Valanzuela Tavares de Menezes Lopes (born 22 September 1993)
He married on 10 March 2015 lawyer Ana Luísa Caetano. They have one son:
* Afonso (born 8 March 2017)

## Electoral history
### Vila Nova de Gaia City Council election, 1997

Ballot: 14 December 1997 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
| | PSD | Luís Filipe Menezes | 64,044 | 46.7 | 6 | +2 |
| | PS | José Carvalheiras | 56,757 | 41.4 | 5 | –1 |
| | CDU | – | 10,151 | 7.4 | 0 | –1 |
| | Other parties | Other parties | 1,878 | 1.4 | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 4,245 | 3.1 | – | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 137,075 | 61.78 | 11 | ±0 |
| Source: Autárquicas 1997 |||||||

### Vila Nova de Gaia City Council election, 2001

Ballot: 16 December 2001 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
| | PSD/CDS–PP | Luís Filipe Menezes | 78,549 | 59.9 | 8 | +2 |
| | PS | Jorge Strecht Ribeiro | 37,078 | 28.3 | 3 | –2 |
| | CDU | – | 8,192 | 6.3 | 0 | ±0 |
| | BE | – | 1,570 | 4.9 | 0 | new |
| | PH | – | 601 | 4.9 | 0 | new |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 4,460 | 3.4 | – | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 131,109 | 57.69 | 11 | ±0 |
| Source: Autárquicas 2001 |||||||

### PSD leadership election, 2005

Ballot: 9 April 2005 :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Luís Marques Mendes | 497 | 56.6 |
| | Luís Filipe Menezes | 381 | 43.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 878 | |
| Source: PSD Congress ||||

### Vila Nova de Gaia City Council election, 2005

Ballot: 9 October 2005 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
| | PSD/CDS–PP | Luís Filipe Menezes | 77,971 | 55.0 | 7 | –1 |
| | PS | Manuel Barbosa Ribeiro | 39,657 | 28.0 | 3 | ±0 |
| | CDU | Ilda Figueiredo | 11,781 | 8.3 | 1 | +1 |
| | BE | Alda Sousa | 5,327 | 3.8 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Other parties | Other parties | 1,486 | 1.1 | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 5,616 | 4.0 | – | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 141,838 | 60.73 | 11 | ±0 |
| Source: Autárquicas 2005Autárquicas 2005 |||||||

### PSD leadership election, 2007

Ballot: 28 September 2007 :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Luís Filipe Menezes | 21,101 | 53.6 |
| | Luís Marques Mendes | 16,973 | 43.1 |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 1,279 | 3.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 39,353 | 62.42 |
| Source: Diretas 2007 ||||

### Vila Nova de Gaia City Council election, 2009

Ballot: 11 October 2009 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
| | PSD/CDS–PP | Luís Filipe Menezes | 92,486 | 62.0 | 8 | +1 |
| | PS | Joaquim Couto | 37,790 | 25.3 | 3 | ±0 |
| | CDU | Ilda Figueiredo | 9,398 | 6.3 | 0 | –1 |
| | BE | João Semedo | 4,828 | 3.2 | 0 | ±0 |
| | MPT | Nuno Aldeia | 993 | 0.7 | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 3,733 | 2.5 | – | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 149,228 | 59.71 | 11 | ±0 |
| Source: Autárquicas 2009 |||||||

### Porto City Council election, 2013

Ballot: 29 September 2013 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
| | Ind. | Rui Moreira | 45,411 | 39.3 | 6 | +6 |
| | PS | Manuel Pizarro | 26,237 | 22.7 | 3 | –2 |
| | PSD/PPM/MPT | Luís Filipe Menezes | 24,366 | 21.1 | 3 | –2 |
| | CDU | Pedro Carvalho | 8,539 | 7.4 | 1 | ±0 |
| | BE | José Soeiro | 4,166 | 3.6 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Other parties | Other parties | 1,877 | 1.6 | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | Blank/Invalid ballots | 5,102 | 4.4 | – | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 115,698 | 52.60 | 13 | ±0 |
| Source: Autárquicas 2013 |||||||