Left Bloc

The Left Bloc (Portuguese:Bloco de Esquerda [ˈblɔkuðɨɨʃˈkeɾðɐ], BE), colloquially shortened as O Bloco, is a political party in Portugal. A left-wing populist and democratic socialist party, it has been described as left-wing to far-left. It is currently led by José Manuel Pureza.

History

Formation and early history

The Left Bloc was formed in 1999 by the merger of the Marxist People's Democratic Union, Trotskyist Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the democratic socialist Politics XXI. It has had full party status since its founding, yet the constituent groups have maintained their existence as individual political associations, retaining some levels of autonomy in a loose structure. In the 1999 legislative election the BE polled at 2%. In 2002 this rose to 3%.[citation needed]

Louçã's leadership (1999–2012)

In the 1999 election BE received 2.4% of the votes leading them to enter the Assembly of the Republic for the first time with 2 MPs for the Lisbon constituency. These representatives were Francisco Louçã and Fernando Rosas. In the 2005 election BE received 6.5% of the votes winning them 8 MPs. In the 2006 presidential elections, the Left Bloc's candidate, Francisco Louçã, received 288,224 votes (5.31%).[citation needed]

In the 2009 European Parliament election they received 10.73% winning them 3 MEPs. They also surpassed the CDU for the first time in an election. At the subsequent 2009 national election, the party obtained 9.81% of votes and 16 members of parliament in the 230-seat Assembly of the Republic.

The financial crisis led socialist prime minister Sócrates to agree to a bailout memorandum with the Eurogroup. In the subsequent 2011 snap election, the country saw a massive shift to the right, with the Left Bloc losing nearly half of its previous popular support, obtaining only 5.17% of the vote and 8 members of parliament. This defeat is generally attributed to the partial support certain sections of the party appeared to offer the unpopular Socialist government while the latter pursued an austerity program in response to the financial crisis.[citation needed]

Martins' leadership (2012–2023)

The historical merger of ideologies that gave rise to the Portuguese Left Bloc was a process that lasted sixteen years. Its main actors aged and times changed, which led to an awareness of the need for modernization and realism. Francisco Louçã is one of the founders who most insisted on restricting theory to the basic humanistic and ethical principles common to partisans and supporters in order to conquer a wider range of constituencies. The game would necessarily be played in the framework of democracy, active participation and defence of human rights. After thirteen years of intensive labor as a leader, Louçã quit the position of party chairman in 2012 arguing that "it is time for renewal" and delegating his functions to a man and a woman. Catarina Martins, 39 years old, and João Semedo, a veteran, would be elected co-coordinators of the party on 11 November 2012. However, the renewal process would last for over one year.

In early 2014, the Left Bloc suffered a split, when elected Left Bloc MEP Rui Tavares, who already in 2011 had become an independent, founded left-ecologist LIVRE party. Left-wing intellectuals who had come together to the Manifesto 3D collective challenged the Left Bloc to converge with LIVRE towards a joined list in the upcoming 2014 European election. Two official meetings in late 2014 and early 2015 however failed with the Left Bloc referring to programmatic differences with Tavares. So while the severe austerity programs under prime minister Passos Coelho did backdrop on the Portuguese political right, the European election in May saw the Socialists and liberal Earth Party as relative winners, whereas the Left Bloc lost more than half of 2009's votes and two of its three mandates. LIVRE received 2.2% but failed to win any mandate.

In the 2015 legislative election, the Left Bloc achieved 10.2% of the votes and elected 19 deputies, their best result in legislative elections ever, in what was considered a major upset. On 10 November 2015, Catarina Martins signed an agreement with the Socialist Party that is aimed at identifying convergence issues, while also recognizing their differences. The Bloc supported the minority Socialist Costa Government (2015–2019) with a confidence and supply agreement. The Socialist Party government would be re-elected in 2019, with the Left Bloc returning to opposition. The party voted against the 2022 budget, triggering an election in January of that year. The Left Bloc would lose 14 seats, reducing them to five, and over half of their popular vote from 2019 — tactical voting for the Socialist Party and the Left Bloc's opposition to the budget were blamed. The Socialist Party would be re-elected with a majority government.

Mortágua's leadership (2023–2025)

On 14 February 2023, Catarina Martins announced she would leave the Left Bloc's leadership. In the 13th Convention of the Left Bloc, on 27 and 28 May 2023, Mariana Mortágua, one of the party's most well known deputies, was elected as the party coordinator with 83% of the votes.

After the resignation of António Costa, the Left Bloc expected to gain seats and increase their voting share. Despite that, in the 2024 legislative election, the Left Bloc achieved a very similar result, keeping their five seats. Following that poor result, and in light of Luís Montenegro's victory, Mariana Mortágua led negotiations with the remaining parties on the left (PS, PCP, LIVRE and PAN) in order to build an alternative to the incoming right-wing government.

In January 2025, a scandal broke out when it was revealed that, among other party workers laid off after the poor results of the 2022 election, were two breastfeeding mothers, with Mariana Mortágua apologizing for the mistake of the previous leadership. This sparked outrage, with the members of internal opposition, led by Pedro Soares, resigning from the political commission.

In the 2025 legislative election, the Left Bloc took inspiration from the results of Die Linke in that year's German election, nominating the party's founders as heads of lists in strategic constituencies (Francisco Louçã in Braga, Luís Fazenda in Aveiro and Fernando Rosas in Leiria), using canvassing in campaigning for the first time in Portugal and investing in social media during the campaign. Despite that, the party suffered its worst result ever, winning 2% of the popular vote, its lowest ever, and electing only one member to the Assembly. The party lost more than half of its 2024 voters, falling to 125,808 total votes.

Following the election, Mortágua became the single deputy from the party. In September 2025, in the run up to that year's local elections, she took part in the Global Sumud Flotilla, intending to distribute aid to the Gaza Strip, where she was detained by the Israeli government. During this time, she was replaced in parliament by Andreia Galvão. In the 2025 local elections the Left Bloc lost three of its four city councillors, electing a single one in Lisbon under the PS/L/BE/PAN coalition and lost almost all of its local representation, despite the many coalitions made between BE, LIVRE and PAN all across the country.

Pureza's leadership (2025–present)

On 25 October 2025, following the poor results of the 2025 local elections, Mariana Mortágua announced her intention not to seek reelection as party coordinator. Former Vice President of Parliament José Manuel Pureza announced his candidacy for the party's leadership on 2 November 2025, being elected on 30 November 2025 during the 14th party convention, with more than 81% of the votes. Mortágua was replaced in Parliament by former parliamentary leader Fabian Figueiredo, starting in January 2026.

In the 2026 presidential election, the party presented Catarina Martins as their candidate. Catarina Martins got just 2.1% of the votes, the worst result from any BE presidential candidate, which she attributed to strategic vote on the left for António José Seguro. The party supported Seguro in the second round against far right leader André Ventura.

On 14 July 2026, a group of 60 members, including party founder Mário Tomé, former deputies and autarchs, and past members of the Political Commission, announced their departure from the Left Bloc, declaring in a joint letter that "our Bloco is over". Tomé, a military veteran of the 25 April revolution, had led the People's Democratic Union (UDP), one of the three parties that founded the Left Bloc in 1999. Also among the signatories was former deputy Pedro Soares. Many of those leaving were associated with the Convergência (Convergence) current, formed at the end of 2019 in opposition to the leadership then held by Catarina Martins. In their letter, they accused the party of centralising decision-making within an over-powerful Secretariat and of fostering an anti-democratic internal culture that had sidelined critical or alternative voices. They were particularly critical of the party's role in the Geringonça, the period in which the Left Bloc gave parliamentary support to the Socialist government of António Costa, arguing that the Bloc had come to be seen as "an appendix of the PS" and had suffered a continual loss of elected representatives as a result.

The Left Bloc's Secretariat responded that it regretted the departure but was not surprised, noting that members of the Convergência group had been leaving the party gradually in a process repeatedly announced in the media. The party also pointed to longstanding disagreements with the group, in particular its opposition to the Bloc's stance of solidarity with Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion, which the Political Commission had condemned at the time as an imperialist aggression while also criticising the expansion of NATO.

Ideology

The Left Bloc rose to prominence "following a successful anti-austerity campaign and its backing by a growing popular social movement." It has been described as "Portugal's biggest supporter of feminist, gay rights and anti-racist legislation" and been associated with the New Left. It occupies a flexible and moderate position to the left of the Socialist Party (PS). In comparison to the Portuguese Communist Party, the Left Bloc has been described as "more socially libertarian". The Left Bloc is regarded as a left-libertarian party.

Together with the PS, Left Bloc aims at "building a stable, long-lasting and reliable majority at the Parliament, in order to support the formation and subsequent action of a government committed to the change demanded through the ballot box". This purpose foreshadows changes taking place not only in the Iberian Peninsula but as in all European territory. The party wants a stronger welfare state, rent controls, and to tax the wealthy and big companies. It also wants to use Portugal's budget surplus to increase investment in healthcare and education, lower tax on salaries and energy, and restrict the number of Airbnb's in overburdened areas.

Society

The Bloc has proposed a number of important laws on civil rights and guarantees, including the protection of citizens from racist, xenophobic, and homophobic discrimination, support for same-sex marriage, laws for the protection of workers and anti-bullfighting legislation. These included Portugal's first law on domestic violence, which was then passed in parliament with the support of the Portuguese Communist Party and the Socialist Party.

The Left Bloc has called for the legalisation of cannabis in Portugal. The party attempted to pass legislation in Parliament regarding cannabis law reform in Portugal in 2013 and 2015, both of which were rejected by the then ruling centre-right coalition government.

All of the Left Bloc's MPs have voted in favour of the legalisation of euthanasia in Portugal.

Economy

In terms of economics the party advocates "greater state intervention in the economy in order to reduce inequalities", such as rises to the minimum wage. It has also put forward "many legislative proposals defending salaries, pensions and the welfare state". The party has been described as anti-capitalist. In September 2019, the party called for the minimum monthly wage to be raised to €650 for both the public and private sectors in January 2020.

International relations and foreign policy

It is part of the European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet, a European political party that supports an alternative to capitalism.

The party has close relations with other European left-wing parties, such as Spanish Podemos, French La France Insoumise, Swedish Left Party and German Die Linke.

Left Bloc is regarded as a soft Eurosceptic party. In 2019, the Journal of European Integration scored political parties "from 1 to 7 with 1 being strongly opposed and 7 being strongly in favour" of European Union integration, with Left Bloc scoring 3.8.

Election results

Assembly of the Republic

Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections

Presidential elections

European Parliament

Local elections

Regional Assemblies

Organization

Leadership

Party Coordinators

Parliamentary leaders

• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon): 1999 – 2009
• José Manuel Pureza (Coimbra): 2009 – 2011
• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon): 2011 – 2012
• Pedro Filipe Soares (Aveiro; Lisbon): 2012 – 2024
• Fabian Figueiredo (Lisbon): 2024 – 2025

Elected politicians

Members of the Assembly of the Republic

• Mariana Mortágua (Lisbon) – until January 2026 Andreia Galvão – from September 2025 to October 2025 Fabian Figueiredo – from January 2026

• Mariana Mortágua (Lisbon)
• Fabian Figueiredo (Lisbon)
• Marisa Matias (Porto) Isabel Pires – from April 2024 to May 2024
• José Soeiro (Porto) – until February 2025 Isabel Pires – from February 2025
• Joana Mortágua (Setúbal)

• Mariana Mortágua (Lisbon)
• Pedro Filipe Soares (Lisbon)
• Catarina Martins (Porto) – until September 2023 Isabel Pires – from September 2023
• José Soeiro (Porto) Isabel Pires – from February 2023 to August 2023
• Joana Mortágua (Setúbal)

• Mariana Mortágua (Lisbon)
• Pedro Filipe Soares (Lisbon) Fabian Figueiredo – from April 2021 to June 2021
• Beatriz Gomes Dias (Lisbon)
• Jorge Costa (Lisbon)
• Isabel Pires (Lisbon)
• Catarina Martins (Porto)
• José Soeiro (Porto)
• Luís Monteiro (Porto)
• Maria Manuel Rola (Porto)
• José Maria Cardoso (Braga)
• Alexandra Vieira (Braga)
• Joana Mortágua (Setúbal)
• Sandra Cunha (Setúbal) – until April 2021 Diana Santos – from April 2021
• Moisés Ferreira (Aveiro)
• Nelson Peralta (Aveiro)
• Ricardo Vicente (Leiria) Manuel Azenha – from June 2020 to January 2021
• José Manuel Pureza (Coimbra)
• João Vasconcelos (Faro)
• Fabíola Cardoso (Santarém)

• Mariana Mortágua (Lisbon)
• Pedro Filipe Soares (Lisbon)
• Jorge Costa (Lisbon)
• Isabel Pires (Lisbon)
• Jorge Falcato Simões (Lisbon) Maria Luísa Cabral – from June 2016 to January 2018
• Catarina Martins (Porto)
• José Soeiro (Porto)
• Luís Monteiro (Porto)
• Domicília Costa (Porto) – until July 2017 Maria Manuel Rola – from July 2017
• Jorge Campos (Porto) – until December 2018 Fernando Manuel Barbosa – from December 2018
• Pedro Soares (Braga)
• Joana Mortágua (Setúbal)
• Sandra Cunha (Setúbal)
• Moisés Ferreira (Aveiro)
• Heitor de Sousa (Leiria)
• José Manuel Pureza (Coimbra)
• João Vasconcelos (Faro)
• Carlos Matias (Santarém)
• Paulino Ascensão (Madeira) – until May 2018 Ernesto Ferraz – from May 2018

• Francisco Louçã (Lisbon) – until October 2012 Helena Pinto – from October 2012
• Ana Drago (Lisbon) – until August 2013 Rita Calvário– from June 2011 to September 2011 Mariana Mortágua – from August 2013
• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon)
• João Semedo (Porto) – until March 2015 José Soeiro – from March 2015
• Catarina Martins (Porto)
• Mariana Aiveca (Setúbal)
• Pedro Filipe Soares (Aveiro)
• Cecília Honório (Faro) – until June 2015 Eugénia Taveira – from June 2015

• Francisco Louçã (Lisbon)
• Ana Drago (Lisbon)
• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon)
• Helena Pinto (Lisbon)
• Rita Calvário (Lisbon)
• João Semedo (Porto)
• Catarina Martins (Porto)
• José Soeiro (Porto)
• Pedro Soares (Braga)
• Fernando Rosas (Setúbal) – until October 2010 Jorge Costa – from October 2010
• Mariana Aiveca (Setúbal)
• Pedro Filipe Soares (Aveiro)
• José Manuel Pureza (Coimbra)
• Heitor de Sousa (Leiria)
• José Gusmão (Santarém)
• Cecília Honório (Faro)

• Francisco Louçã (Lisbon)
• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon)
• Ana Drago (Lisbon) Cecília Honório – from September 2006 to January 2009
• Helena Pinto (Lisbon)
• João Teixeira Lopes (Porto) – until March 2006 João Semedo – from March 2006
• Alda Macedo (Porto) José Soeiro – from December 2007 to June 2008
• Fernando Rosas (Setúbal) António Chora – from April 2006 to December 2007
• Mariana Aiveca (Setúbal)

• Francisco Louçã (Lisbon) Joana Amaral Dias – from January 2003 to August 2003
• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon) Ana Drago – from September 2002 to January 2003
• João Teixeira Lopes (Porto) Alda Sousa – from February 2004 to June 2004

• Francisco Louçã (Lisbon) Helena Neves – from October 2000 to December 2000 Fernando Rosas – from February 2001 to March 2001
• Luís Fazenda (Lisbon) Helena Neves – from December 2000 to February 2001 Fernando Rosas – from September 2001 to February 2002

Members of the European Parliament

• Catarina Martins

• Marisa Matias – until March 2024 Anabela Rodrigues – from March 2024
• José Gusmão

• Marisa Matias

• Miguel Portas – until April 2012 Alda Sousa – from April 2012
• Marisa Matias
• Rui Tavares – became independent in June 2011

• Miguel Portas

See also

• List of political parties in Portugal

External links

• (in Portuguese)
• (in Portuguese)
• - Article