Thematic days, visits to companies and municipal markets in Setúbal, Faro, and Guimarães on Friday, along with meetings with entrepreneurs, local leaders, artists, and associations characterized Iniciativa Liberal’s (IL) campaign across the country. Starting in Gondomar and concluding in Matosinhos, Mariana Leitão aims to bring a more liberal direction to the north.
The modest 2021 municipal starting point—less than 100 elected to municipal and parish assemblies—prompts Mariana Leitão’s ambition to triple the results. The primary focus for electing councilors lies in counties aligned with the PSD, including Lisbon, Porto, Faro, and Gondomar.
“We want to grow, elect councilors with executive portfolios that make a difference in people’s lives,” and “we want to at least triple that result in terms of elected officials,” said Mariana Leitão during a visit to Viseu’s aerodrome on Tuesday.
While opponents maintained busy schedules around the country, IL limited its activities to three events per day, conducting only two direct solo interactions with the populace to date, concluding with a popular gathering in Matosinhos.
Throughout the days, alongside commentary on current affairs, Mariana Leitão emphasized IL’s core principles, advocating for less state intervention in education, health, mobility, and housing, promoting service liberalization and competition enhancement.
Whether crossing the Tagus, visiting a school in Benedita (Alcobaça), or traveling along Aveiro’s Vouga railway line, the liberal agenda offers private options, believed by IL to foster competition and solve issues.
Avoiding direct criticism of PSD-backed candidates—except for a mention of Isaltino Morais in Oeiras, where Mariana Leitão served as a municipal deputy—the IL leader occasionally targeted the PS, with a public exchange of accusations with Livre’s Rui Tavares also taking place.
In Lisbon, supporting Carlos Moedas, IL’s objective is clear: prevent governance by a “radical left front” known from past issues both in Lisbon and nationwide, accused of having “an ideological obsession against private entities,” preferring to stigmatize rather than collaborate, stated Mariana Leitão, with strong criticism aimed at socialist Alexandra Leitão.
Regarding Livre’s spokesperson, Mariana Leitão accused him of having a “deceptive discourse”: Rui Tavares “originates from the radical left, forms alliances with the radical left, supports radical left proposals, yet expects the Portuguese to believe he isn’t part of the radical left.”
The cost of living was a key concern throughout the campaign days. Many voters were unfamiliar with her or the Liberal Initiative, but Mariana Leitão, in her inaugural campaign as leader, engaged the public in deeper conversations to understand their issues.
“I enjoy understanding what people think and how they perceive problems,” she stated in Seixal, criticizing politicians for neglecting to listen to the populace, thereby fueling populism.
“Portugal used to be a poor country with a low cost of living, now it’s a poor country with a high cost of living,” she reiterated at several events.
Standing alongside Pedro Duarte in Porto, and before a rally in Braga with her predecessor Rui Rocha, Mariana Leitão experienced one of her largest gatherings in one of the country’s most contested electoral races, where the liberal vote could be decisive.
The IL leader expressed confidence in defeating socialists in the country’s two main municipalities, comparing Porto’s Manuel Pizarro and Alexandra Leitão, despite their different support platforms.
“They are both socialists, and the Portuguese remember the times when they were governed by socialists,” she declared.
