“The Left Bloc (BE) is in the worst moment of its history. We are on the brink of political irrelevance. This did not happen overnight nor by chance,” warned João Teixeira Lopes at the 14th National Convention of BE, held at the Casal Vistoso municipal pavilion in Lisbon.
According to the party member, this situation arose because the party broke “a bond of trust and affection with the left-wing people.”
“In a few words: those people no longer feel represented by us,” he cautioned.
The former deputy in the Assembly of the Republic stated that the BE is “necessary” but needs renewal and changes in practices and leadership, emphasizing that “a convention is only meaningful if it is not an empty ritual.”
“There is no closing of ranks without facing the truth honestly. It’s not enough to merely press the automatic button of class struggle and head mechanically to the next battle. This moment calls for candid debate of ideas and projects. Not as sterile penance, fetish, or self-flagellation ritual, but as a condition to rediscover the energy for transformation,” he urged.
João Teixeira Lopes expressed confidence in José Manuel Pureza—slated to be installed as BE’s coordinator on Sunday—and his ability to “rekindle the bond of affection with the left-wing people,” “truly listen,” and “rekindle hope.”
Leonor Rosas, part of the outgoing leadership team exiting at this convention, lamented the party’s “most serious existential crisis,” stating that “the time is for radical change.”
“Restoring internal trust requires a painstaking and honest process of internal democratization, rejecting meetings decided in advance and the echo chambers that many leadership bodies have become, ending the centralization of power in so few and in meetings with no presence or awareness,” she criticized.
“We need to map the embedding of our militancy and prioritize the organization in all aspects of life for those who militate in our space—in schools, colleges, workplaces, associations—truly infiltrate the structures of everyday life and not shy away from doing so,” she added.
Other delegates critical of the leadership also pointed out the party’s missteps, from lack of internal organization to “zigzagging policy,” demanding more openness and participation in workers’ struggles.
Maria Jorgete Teixeira, from position B, regretted that various warnings about BE’s “internal health” were ignored over the years and only started to be heard following the “spectacular fall” in the legislative elections. Only then, she said, were some faults admitted, but “it lasted little.”
The moment, she warned, “required a different convention,” but that “did not happen,” and BE finds itself in “the usual convention rally where everything is already decided.”
Maria Jorgete Teixeira lamented seeing “an emotionally wounded bloc,” where only 10.7% of members participated in the election of delegates, and where “two votes” elected delegates to the Convention.
Regarding BE’s social erosion, Luís Sottomaior, signatory of the S motion, mentioned he was elected delegate with seven votes, ironically noting it was “an excellent average because many were elected with one or two.”
The party member stated that BE’s electoral registers “are not well,” with people not voting, some not paying fees, and others who “don’t even want to say they no longer want to be part.”
Luís Sottomaior expressed hope that the words “renew, change, correct, increase participation, restart, refound,” heard at the Convention, will not be “empty words” in BE’s future work.
