IL selects former leader Joao Cotrim Figueiredo to head European list

Former IL leader João Cotrim Figueiredo was elected this Sunday to head the party list for next year’s European elections, a party source told Lusa.

The decision was made by the National Council of the Liberal Initiative, which meets in Lisbon this Sunday, and the name was approved with 58 votes in favor, three abstentions and one vote against.

“João Cotrim Figueiredo was the first deputy of the Liberal Initiative, he played a defining and decisive role in the development of the party, in establishing its identity and culture in the country. The Liberal Initiative is honored to be able to continue to contribute and help strengthen liberal ideas in future electoral battles, both in Portugal and in Europe,” can be read in a statement sent in the meantime.

According to the party, the European elections for this National Council were planned before the political situation changed as a result of the political crisis, “but this remains given the strategic importance of the European elections for the Liberal Initiative.”

“It is necessary to take this place in the political panorama and start preparing for these elections in order to elect a liberal voice also to the European Parliament, thus electing all parliaments within five years,” he adds.

On October 23, 2022, João Cotrim Figueiredo decided to leave the leadership of IL, a surprise that triggered early internal elections held earlier this year and brought Rui Rocha to the leadership of the party after a very divided and tense convention.

In a conversation with the Lusa agency, Cotrim Figueiredo, who supported Rui Rocha in this dispute against Carla Castro and José Cardoso, explained that the decision not to run again was personal and “made on the basis of political interpretation and without any connection with internal events within the country” . party”.

“I thought that this was the time, in fact the only time, when I could solve both problems, because by reducing the mandate of the executive committee, I would solve the problem of synchronizing the mandates of the internal organs and anticipating the non-renomination. Ultimately, I would give new leadership that will come after these elections, more time to prepare, to become visible, to become known and therefore to be able to push liberal ideas as far as possible,” he explained then.

Cotrim Figueiredo was the first person elected from IL to the Assembly of the Republic in 2019, then as a sole deputy elected by Lisbon and still as an independent candidate.

In the early legislative elections of 2022, the party managed to win between one and eight deputies, becoming the fourth political force.

Cotrim Figueiredo succeeded Carlos Guimarães Pinto as IL leader in December 2019. He held this position until January this year, remaining as deputy after leaving the post of Liberal president.