Saúde Maria died on 25 October 1999, and a subsequent leadership crisis prevented it from contesting the 1999 general elections.
[1] Former prime minister Francisco Fadul was elected as the president of the PUSD on 18 December 2002 at a party convention in Bissau.
However, Dias and Prime Minister Aristides Gomes rejected the request, resulting in Fadul resigning from the PUSD leadership and leaving politics.
[7] Fadul challenged the leadership of the PUSD in court and maintained that he was the party's legitimate president.
In October 2013 Carmelita Pires was elected leader of the United Social Democratic Party (PUSD) by 264 votes out of the 274.