IL was Portugal’s fourth most voted party in last month’s legislative elections
Rui Rocha has stepped down as the leader of Portugal‘s Iniciativa Liberal (IL) party following a disappointing showing in the latest legislative elections.
Despite actually increasing its tally of MPs and votes, the liberal party’s growth did not meet its expectations, Rocha told journalists over the weekend.
“We didn’t achieve the weight we needed to definitively influence the country’s policies,” he said at the party’s headquarters at the end of an executive commission meeting.
Rocha had already made up his mind “over a week ago,” he added, insisting that he was not pressured to step down: “The decision was mine and only mine.”
IL will now have to find a new leader, with three names are already emerging as likely contenders, according to press reports.
Mariana Leitão, current parliamentary leader and a close ally of Rocha, is seen as the frontrunner. Already selected as the IL-backed candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, Leitão is considered the face of continuity – popular, media-savvy, and trusted by the outgoing leadership.
Mário Amorim Lopes, another sitting MP with close ties to the party’s leadership, is also seen as a possible candidate.
Lastly, Rui Malheiro is seen as a potential candidate from the opposition within the party.
As IL prepares for its next national convention – where it will elect its fifth leader in just eight years – familiar names from the party’s past, including João Cotrim Figueiredo and Carlos Guimarães Pinto, are once again in the spotlight. Yet neither appears eager to return. Cotrim Figueiredo, now serving in the European Parliament, has made it clear he doesn’t see himself as the popular figurehead the party needs. Guimarães Pinto, who once passed the leadership torch to Cotrim, has kept his distance from the party’s internal affairs since.
The latest reports in the press are suggesting a new leader could be elected by the end of this summer, although no concrete date has been announced by the party so far.
