Em a press conference at the party’s national headquarters in Lisbon, Mariana Mortágua announced that on the first day of the new legislature, she plans to present, as the sole representative, three legislative projects deemed as “priorities” for the Bloco de Esquerda.
As previously stated during the legislative election campaign, Mortágua affirmed that the BE aims to classify rape as a public crime in the country, similar to domestic violence, a proposal introduced by the party when they debuted in parliament in 1999.
“We know, at a time when violence against women and sexual violence are on the rise, how important it is to respond to the outcry and the petition that gathered over 100,000 signatures, which calls for rape to be classified as a public crime in Portugal,” Mortágua emphasized.
The BE will also push for one of the key pledges of their electoral campaign, reducing working hours by proposing a four-day work week.
“Portugal is one of the countries where people work more for less pay. There have been some successful trials with the four-day work week, a pilot project that has shown good results in terms of productivity and was appreciated by both participating companies and workers; therefore, this experiment should continue,” she explained.
On the international front, the Bloquistas will advocate for the Portuguese state’s recognition of the State of Palestine, highlighting that “the genocide in Gaza continues and it is evident to everyone who wants to see it.”
“We even have acknowledgment of a humanitarian crisis due to Israel’s attacks on civilians, and there is no reason why the Portuguese government and the Portuguese state should not recognize the State of Palestine. This, above all, is an act of compliance with international law, but also a symbolic act declaring Portuguese support and solidarity with the Palestinian people,” she remarked.
In this month’s early legislative elections, the Bloquistas recorded their worst performance ever in legislative elections, with 154,818 fewer votes compared to 2024, reducing their parliamentary representation from five seats to a single representative: the leader, Mariana Mortágua, who headed the list for Lisbon.
