The coordinator of the Left Bloc (BE) announced on Saturday that she will not seek re-election as the party leader. This information was shared in a message sent to party members.
“I inform you that I have decided not to run for a new term as coordinator of the Left Bloc,” reads the message, as cited by Observador newspaper.
According to the same note, Mortágua states that the decision was made calmly, especially with the support that she consistently received from all her comrades during this period.
“I do this because I believe the Bloc will benefit from having, in coordination and in Parliament, people better equipped than I am currently to give voice to the party,” she wrote.
Mariana Mortágua explained that the goal she set when assuming the post has not been achieved: finding “new paths” after the “collapse of the absolute majority of PS and with the strengthening of the right and far-right.”
The bloquista mentioned that it was not only the reduction of the Bloc’s electoral space that had an impact, but also the changes made were not effective: “The renewal we undertook did not prove sufficient to relaunch our social intervention.”
“Politics, like life, is about us and our circumstances. In these two and a half years, successive election campaigns left little room and time for our internal reflection and hindered an effective transformation of the Bloc’s operations. The leadership under my guidance was unable to reverse the excessive centralization of the Bloc’s structure and generate a new political and electoral momentum. We are well aware of the dedicated hate campaigns from our adversaries, but the truth is we were unable to neutralize them,” the letter states.
The XIV Convention of the party is scheduled for November 29 and 30.
It should be noted that following the local elections, Mariana Mortágua acknowledged that, although results are yet to be finalized, the outcome for the Bloc in these elections was “modest,” but she provides a “positive assessment” of the integration in left-wing coalitions.
The Bloc’s leader was questioned on election night, October 12, about whether the results indicated that the followed strategy had not been successful, to which she replied that “the Bloc’s strategy is correct and sets a direction for the future” in a context of “shift to the right” where dialogue with the Left is required.
The coordinator of the BE, Mariana Mortágua, recognized today that, although results still need to be finalized, the outcome for the Bloc in these local elections was “modest,” but she provides a “positive assessment” of the integration into left-wing coalitions.
Lusa | 00:02 – 13/10/2025
