Socialist lawmaker Isabel Moreira announced on Tuesday her support for Catarina Martins, the candidate backed by the Left Bloc (BE), in the presidential elections set for January 18, 2026. Moreira emphasized the importance of voting for “a woman of the Left, a feminist” in an “era” where “men are making macho violence the new cool.”
“Taking a stand, said Catarina Martins – I take a stand for a woman of the Left. ‘I know these elections are not legislative, but it’s necessary to take a stand, to know which side you’re on.’ This is what Catarina Martins stated more than once since declaring her candidacy for the Presidency. She firmly situates herself on the Left, unapologetic about her party background, rejecting competitions of ‘independence,’ and takes a stand,” Moreira wrote on Instagram.
Isabel Moreira argued that Catarina Martins “takes a stand regarding the National Health Service (SNS), housing, the labor world, the advocacy of equality for all and the denunciation of the normalization of hatred, the lure of a new world ignoring past lessons, directing many people’s frustrations towards certain categories of people.”
“Catarina Martins rejects this new world where one assesses the cost of raising one’s voice in defense of those ‘expelled’ from the community deemed suddenly smaller, continually shrinking. First, Roma people, then women, certain women, followed by immigrants, especially certain immigrants, and then who knows. Catarina Martins does not exclude any of these violences from her struggle, even if love and uprightness are not today’s popular movements,” she stated.
For the socialist, “taking a stand is the new radical.” “Here we are on a track set by whoever gets more audience. Taking a stand,” she said.
“I am a woman of the Left, affiliated with the Socialist Party for a long time; I am, therefore, a social democrat. This is simple. Or should be. Much separates me from the BE. And it is public,” she emphasized.
However, she stressed that there is also “much” that aligns with her “in the urgency of affirming the elementary values of the Left.”
“It is particularly important for me to vote for a woman of the Left, a feminist, in an era of horrifying triumph of men who make macho violence the new ‘cool.’ Taking a stand. Catarina Martins takes a stand. So do I,” she highlighted.
And she concluded, “For Catarina. For the only candidate of the Left. For the Left. I vote Catarina Martins.”
In the race for Belém Palace, candidates include Luís Marques Mendes, André Ventura, António Filipe, António José Seguro, Catarina Martins, Henrique Gouveia e Melo, João Cotrim Figueiredo, and Jorge Pinto. There are also candidates André Pestana, Tim Vieira, Joana Amaral Dias, Tino de Rans, and Manuela Magno.
The presidential elections on January 18 feature over a dozen candidates, eight of whom will debate. Notícias ao Minuto now recalls who they are and what they have said in the race to Belém.
Natacha Nunes Costa | 09:09 – 03/11/2025
The presidential elections are scheduled for January 18, 2026. This marks the 12th time (including the two rounds of the 1986 elections) that Portuguese voters will choose the President of the Republic in a democracy since 1976.
