Union structural funds for development. Under his leadership, the PSD also backed the Socialists in areas such as labor law reform and defense. Amid criticism at his leadership, Rio won a confidence motion by 75 to 50 votes in the party's National Council in early 2019, only after a 10-hour debate. In January 2020, Rio fended off another leadership challenge on a promise to keep the leading opposition force on a centrist course. In the party's 2020 leadership election, he scored 53 percent in a runoff vote against the party's former parliamentary spokesman Luís Montenegro, who demanded a more aggressive opposition to António Costa's Socialist Party following the Social Democrats' worst result in over 30 years in the parliamentary elections the previous October. On 27 November, 2021, he was re-elected President of the PSD for the third time, winning 18,852 votes, against Paulo Rangel, who collected 17,106 votes. He took office on 17 December, 2021, at the 39th National Congress of the Party, which took place in Santa Maria da Feira, under the motto "New Horizons for Portugal". In the 2022 Portuguese legislative election, the Social Democrats lost 2 seats, taking them to 77 seats in the Assembly. In the aftermath of the election, Rio announced he would call early internal elections on which he would not run again for party leader. On 28 May 2022, the day Luís Montenegro was elected leader of the Social Democratic Party, Rui Rio announced his departure from active politics. On 12 September 2022, Rui Rio resigned his Assembly of the Republic seat, which became effective two days later. Political positions Rio was a critic of austerity and has sought to distance himself from the remedies adopted by Pedro Passos Coelho and the European troika in response to the eurozone economic crisis and the Economic Adjustment Programme for Portugal. On social issues, as a centrist, he is to the left of his party as a supporter of abortion rights, euthanasia and legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes. Criticism of Freemasonry Following his party's internal elections, which he disputed against Luís Montenegro and Miguel Pinto Luz, Rio stated that Freemasonry "is everywhere" and trying to "condition Portuguese society" by giving this organization obscure and untransparent motivations. Rio's statements were a response to Paulo Mota Pinto, who referred to Rio for further clarification on the alleged "dark interests" who want to dominate the party. Rio made statements