The Beja branch of the Left Bloc (BE) announced in a statement that the selection of Madalena Figueira as the candidate for the Alentejo municipality was approved on Monday.
The party also named psychologist Ana Serrano, 49, as the head of the list for the Beja municipal assembly at the same meeting.
The Left Bloc emphasized in the statement that Beja “requires a new policy based on popular participation and new leaders capable of developing the municipality and transforming the city, the district capital, into an effective district hub.”
The party further noted that it continues its “efforts alongside other political formations to establish a unified leftist list to contest the local government bodies in Beja.”
Holding a degree in Economics and a master’s in Development and International Cooperation from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management (ISEG), Madalena Figueira has worked at the Bank of Portugal in 2019 and the Economic and Social Council in 2020.
From 2021 to 2024, she served as a parliamentary assistant for the Left Bloc at the European Parliament in the Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Tax Matters.
Since January this year until the recent legislative elections, she held the position of advisor for the party in the Assembly of the Republic in the Committees on Budget, Finance and Public Administration, and Economy, Public Works and Housing.
Madalena Figueira is the fourth candidate to be formalized for the presidency of the Beja City Council.
Other candidates include the current mayor, Paulo Arsénio, serving his second term for the PS, and council members Vítor Picado for the CDU and Nuno Palma Ferro for the Beja Consegue coalition, led by the PSD.
The current executive of the Beja City Council comprises three representatives from the PS, three from the CDU, and one from the Beja Consegue coalition.
Local elections are expected to take place between September and October this year.
