Eduardo Jorge Costa Pinto (born 20 April 1987) is a Portuguese environmental engineer, politician and member of the Assembly of the Republic, the national legislature of Portugal. A member of the LIVRE party, he has represented Porto since March 2024.

Early life

Pinto was born on 20 April 1987 in Amarante. He received a master's degree in environmental engineering the University of Porto in 2010 after producing a thesis titled Rainwater Harvesting Systems Implementation Inside Karunya University Campus for the Karunya University. He received a doctorate in social and political philosophy from the University of Minho in 2020 after producing a thesis titled Green republicanism: non-domination for an ecologically sustainable planet.

Career

Pinto is an environmental engineer by profession. He has worked abroad since 2008, in Lithuania, India, France, Italy and most recently in Brussels since 2012. He was a research associate at the University of Minho's Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society.

Pinto has written a number of books and comic books. The comic book Amadeo, a vida e obra entre Amarante e Paris (2018), about the life of painter Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, was written by Pinto and illustrated by Eduardo Viana. Rendimento Básico Incondicional - Uma defesa da liberdade (2019), which he co-authored, won the 2019 Philosophy Essay Prize from the Portuguese Philosophy Society. Tamem digo - uma história de migrações (2022), written by Pinto and illustrated by Julia da Costa, tells the story of Pinto's grandmother Maria do Carmo and other women who stayed behind during the wave migration to France under fascist rule in Portugal. He also wrote the plays Uma História Trágico-Marítima, which received an honourable mention in the 2017 INATEL/Teatro da Trindade awards, and Seis meses.

Between the ages of 18 and 25, Pinto was a member of the Socialist Party but became disillusioned with the party's lack of commitment to progressivism, environmentalism and the European left ideals. He was one of the founders of the LIVRE party and was part of the Contact Group, the party's executive body, from 2014 to 2020. At the 2015 legislative election Pinto was placed first on LIVRE's list of candidates in Europe but the party failed to win any seats in the constituency. He was a candidate for LIVRE at the 2019 and 2022 legislative elections in Porto but on each occasion the party failed to win any seats in the constituency. He was elected to the Assembly of the Republic at the 2024 legislative election. He was re-elected at the 2025 legislative election.

On 1 November 2025, Pinto announced in hometown Amarante that he would contest the 2026 Portuguese presidential election. At the election on 18 January 2026 Pinto came ninth after receiving 0.68% of the votes. He subsequently endorsed socialist candidate António José Seguro for the run-off election to be held on 8 February 2026.

Electoral history

Legislative elections

YearPartyConstituencyPositionNo.Votes%+/-StatusNotes
2015L/TDAEurope1 (out of 2)5th2491.82 / 100.00Not elected
2019LIVREPorto1 (out of 40)9th8,9520.96 / 100.000.44Not elected
20221 (out of 40)9th11,4331.16 / 100.000.20Not elected
20241 (out of 40)6th37,3193.35 / 100.002.19Elected
20251 (out of 40)5th47,1564.30 / 100.000.95Elected

Presidential election, 2026

Ballot: 18 January and 8 February 2026
CandidateFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
António José Seguro1,755,56331.13,502,61366.8
André Ventura1,327,02123.51,737,95033.2
João Cotrim de Figueiredo903,05716.0
Henrique Gouveia e Melo695,37712.3
Luís Marques Mendes637,44211.3
Catarina Martins116,4072.1
António Filipe92,6441.6
Manuel João Vieira60,9271.1
Jorge Pinto38,5880.7
André Pestana10,8970.2
Humberto Correia4,7730.1
Blank/Invalid ballots125,840275,414
Turnout5,768,53652.395,515,97750.03
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Works

  • —— & Viana, Eduardo (2018). [Amadeo, life and work between Amarante and Paris] (in Portuguese). Porto Salvo, Portugal: Desassossego. ISBN 978-989-8892-15-7.
  • —— & Viana, Eduardo (2019). [Unconditional Freedom 2049] (in Portuguese). Brussels, Belgium: Green European Journal.
  • ——; Merrill, Roberto; Bizarro, Sara & Marcelo, Gonçalo (2019). [Unconditional Basic Income - A defense of freedom] (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Edições 70. ISBN 978-972-44-2257-2.
  • [The freedom of futures - eco-publicanism for the 21st century] (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Tinta da China. 2021. ISBN 978-989-671-663-9.
  • [I also say - a story of migrations] (in Portuguese). Amarante, Portugal: Officina Noctua. 2022. ISBN 978-989-33-3602-1.
  • ——; Renan, Evandro & Nozomi, Talita (2024). [Time - in search of lost happiness] (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Iguana. ISBN 978-989-787-171-9.