Liberal Initiative

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Liberal Initiative
Iniciativa Liberal
AbbreviationIL
PresidentJoão Cotrim de Figueiredo
Secretary-GeneralMiguel Rangel
Founded13 December 2017
HeadquartersAvenida do Bessa, 158 E 4100-012 Porto
Membership (November 2021)4,000[1]
IdeologyLiberalism
Classical liberalism
Economic liberalism
Political positionCentre-right to right-wing
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe[2][3]
Colours  Sky blue
Assembly of the Republic
8 / 230
European Parliament
0 / 21
Regional
Parliaments
1 / 104
Local government
(Mayors)
0 / 308
Local government
(Parishes)
0 / 3,091
Election symbol
Website
iniciativaliberal.pt

The Liberal Initiative (Portuguese: Iniciativa Liberal, pronounced [inisjɐˈtivɐ liβɨˈɾaɫ], IL) is a right-leaning liberal political party in Portugal currently led by João Cotrim de Figueiredo.[4] In 2019, its debut year at the Portuguese legislative elections, the party won one seat in the Portuguese Parliament.[5] The party ran in its first elections in 2019, for the European Parliament, supporting its first government coalition, at regional level, after the 2020 Azorean regional election.[6] It currently has 8 elected members of the parliament out of a total of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament.

It defends opposition to statism through liberalism, calling for a low tax burden and laissez-faire, defending respect for individual freedom, opposing socialism.

Founders

Name Role Start Candidate
Alexandre Krauss Founding-Member 13 December 2017
Bruno Horta Soares Founding-Member 13 December 2017 2021 Candidate for Mayor of Lisbon
Rodrigo Dias Saraiva Founding-Member 13 December 2017

History

See also: Liberalism in Portugal

Iniciativa Liberal is a socially, economically, and politically liberal party whose core tenents include support for an open society based on liberal democratic principles of the rule of law, property rights, individual liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of association, market freedom, democracy and a welfare state.[7] It was created as an association in 2016, and was approved as a party by the Constitutional Court in 2017.[8] It was admitted to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, a European political party, in November 2017,[9] having run for election for the first time in the 2019 European Parliament election in Portugal, garnering 0.9% of the votes, and failing to win any seats in the European Parliament.[10] In the 2019 legislative election, the party won a single seat in the Portuguese Parliament through the electoral district of Lisbon, earning 67,681 votes in total, equivalent to 1.3% of the votes cast.[5] At regional level, IL supported its first government coalition after the 2020 Azorean regional election.[6] In the 2021 Portuguese local elections, it won 26 seats in municipal assemblies, and none in municipal councils.[11] In the 2022 legislative election, the Liberal Initiative party increased the number of its deputies from one to eight with 5.0% of the vote.[12] Besides João Cotrim Figueiredo (already a deputy at the Portuguese Parliament and incumbent party leader), IL elected seven new deputies for the party, including Carlos Guimarães Pinto (a former party leader), as MPs.

Ideology and platform

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The party has been described as adherent to the principles of liberalism,[13][14] economic liberalism,[15] and libertarianism (though it rejects this).[16][17][18] It has been also described as centre-right[19][20] and right-wing,[21][22][23] with its policy base described as combining economic liberalism with more progressive stances on cultural issues.[21]

According to its own official statements about this topic, the Liberal Initiative was founded with the Oxford Manifesto in mind and believes in individual freedom, by which all individuals have fundamental rights, including the possibility of having a life of their own, owning property or choosing how they want to live in their community, closely following the principles of classical liberalism.[24] The party's conception of freedom encompasses both the economic and social spheres as well as the political sphere and believes that if any of them are restricted, freedom ceases to exist. The party's political ideas are based on the idea of freedom as the greatest engine of human development, social harmony and economic prosperity.[25][26][27] The party's leaders and founders have ascertained that they envisage Portugal as a country that will model itself on Germany's multi-payer health care system – which is paid for by a combination of public health insurance and private health insurance –, on Ireland's corporate tax policy and on Estonia's fiscal, educational, and public administration systems,[28][29] following classical liberal economic policies.

On 5 May 2018, the Liberal Initiative approved its political programme under the slogan "Less State, More Freedom" (Menos Estado, Mais Liberdade).[30] The party proposes the reduction of the number of civil servants and the extension of their health system to all Portuguese citizens, as well as extending the freedom for parents to choose their children's school without it necessarily being linked to their address.[31]

The party rejects the political philosophy of libertarianism, arguing that while it defends a small government, it also defends an effective government which guarantees the rule of law, universal healthcare, universal education, social security and a welfare state.[32]

Platform for the 2019 legislative election

Among the measures announced for the 2019 parliamentary elections were:

  • Introducing a flat income tax rate of 15%.
  • Extending coverage by the ADSE [pt] ("Instituto de Proteção e Assistência na Doença") to all Portuguese citizens. This body is in charge of health care, and works like a health insurance, for the Portuguese civil servants only.
  • Providing freedom of choice of school in both the state-owned and privately-owned systems, through a school-voucher system.
  • Granting more freedom for universities to define admission criteria, and following the American and British models for universities by adopting a student loan funding system.

Organisation, communication and style

The party is organised and managed in a decentralised, digitised way. It has no physical headquarters in most municipalities of the country and makes heavy use of information and communication technologies.[33] Since its foundation, the party made an impact through the acclaimed originality of its communication and marketing campaigns, in particular its eye-catching billboards.[34]

Electoral results

Assembly of the Republic

Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/- Government
2019 Carlos Guimarães Pinto 67,681 1.3 (#8)
1 / 230
 New Opposition
2022 João Cotrim de Figueiredo 273,687 4.9 (#4)
8 / 230
 Increase 7 Opposition

European Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/-
2019 Ricardo Arroja 29,120 0.9 (#11)
0 / 21
 New

Regional Assemblies

Region Election Leader Votes % Seats +/- Government
Azores 2020 Nuno Barata
José Luís Parreira 		2,012 1.9 (#7)
1 / 57
 New Confidence and supply
Madeira 2019 Nuno Morna 762 0.5 (#12)
0 / 47
 New No seats

Local elections

Election Leader Votes % Councillors +/- Mayors +/- Assemblies +/- Parishes +/-
2021 João Cotrim Figueiredo 64,849 1.3 (#8)
0 / 2,064
 New
0 / 308
 New
26 / 6,448
 New
45 / 26,797
 New

Presidential elections

Election Candidate Votes %
2021 Tiago Mayan Gonçalves 134,991 3.2 (#6)

Assembly of the Republic

João Cotrim de Figueiredo, the party's first ever elected Member of the Portuguese Parliament and incumbent party leader.

XV Legislature

2022-

List of leaders

Name Start End
1st Miguel Ferreira da Silva 13 December 2017 13 October 2018
2nd Carlos Guimarães Pinto 13 October 2018 8 December 2019
3rd João Cotrim de Figueiredo 8 December 2019 January 2023 (ongoing term)
4th TBE January 2023 Onwards

References

  1. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal marca Convenção Eletiva para 11 e 12 de dezembro". www.jn.pt.
  2. ^ "ALDE Member Parties". ALDE Party.
  3. ^ "Meet our leaders: João Cotrim Figueiredo (Iniciativa Liberal, Portugal)". ALDE Party.
  4. ^ "A Iniciativa | Iniciativa Liberal" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Legislativas 2019 – Resultados Globais". www.legislativas2019.mai.gov.pt. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Iniciativa Liberal anuncia acordo com PSD para viabilização de governo nos Açores". TSF Rádio Notícias. 7 November 2020.
  7. ^ https://iniciativaliberal.pt/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Declaracao_Principios_Iniciativa_Liberal.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  8. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal já é um partido". ECO. 16 December 2017.
  9. ^ "ALDE welcomes new member parties | ALDE Party". www.aldeparty.eu. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Europeias 2019 – Resultados Globais". www.eleicoes.mai.gov.pt. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Resultados Autárquicas 2021. Veja quem ganhou no seu município e na sua freguesia". Observador. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  12. ^ Portugal election: Key takeaways as Socialists cement power, Euronews (31 January 2022) https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/31/portugal-election-three-takeaways-as-socialists-cement-power
  13. ^ Elisabetta De Giorgi, José Santana-Pereira, ed. (2021). The Exceptional Case of Post-Bailout Portugal. Routledge. ISBN 978-1000462623. The 2019 figure is higher than the previous ones due to both the rie of two new right-wing parties, the liberal IL (Iniciativa Liberal – Liberal Initiative) and the radical right Chega (Enough), and the growth of left-wing LIVRE (Free).
  14. ^ "Portugal". www.parties-and-elections.eu. 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  15. ^ Jalali, Carlos; Bruneau, Thomas; Colino, Cesar (2020). Portugal Report. Sustainable Governance Indicators. p. 7.
  16. ^ Jorge M. Fernandes; Miguel Won (2021). "Portugal: debating in a party-centred legislature". In Hanna Back; Marc Debus; Jorge M. Fernandes (eds.). The Politics of Legislative Debates. Oxford University Press. p. 677. ISBN 978-0198849063.
  17. ^ "Portugal votes in close-fought election". France 24. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  18. ^ Jones, Sam (30 January 2022). "Portugal's ruling Socialist party on course to win snap general election". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  19. ^ "PS mais absoluto, PSD em queda livre. Aliança e Iniciativa Liberal podem eleger". TSF. 31 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Voltou a guerra dos cartazes. PS diz "cumprimos", Iniciativa Liberal satiriza "com primos"". Renascença. 7 August 2019.
  21. ^ a b Enrico Borghetto; Marco Lisi (2020). "Legislative activities before and after the Great Recession". In Marco Lisi; André Freire; Emmanouil Tsatsanis (eds.). Political Representation and Citizenship in Portugal: From Crisis to Renewal. Lexington. p. 197. ISBN 978-1793601162.
  22. ^ "Portugal – The 2019 I·CONnect-Clough Center Global Review of Constitutional Law" (Document). 7 February 2021. {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |editor1= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor2= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |ssrn= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  23. ^ Elisabetta De Giorgi, ed. (3 February 2021). "The Exceptional Case of Post-Bailout Portugal: A Comparative Outlook". South European Society and Politics. 25 (2): 127–150. doi:10.1080/13608746.2021.1872152. S2CID 231955442.
  24. ^ Jorge Martins Rosa; Daniel Cardoso, eds. (2019). "A Construção da Identidade dos Novos Partidos em Páginas Oficiais do Facebook".
  25. ^ Convicções, Iniciativa Liberal https://iniciativaliberal.pt/conviccoes/
  26. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal, Livre e Chega. O que defendem os novos partidos?". Dinheiro Vivo. 7 October 2019.
  27. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal. Eles querem ser os "rebeldes responsáveis" do Parlamento". Jornal Expresso.
  28. ^ "Tiago Mayan debate com André Ventura". Mayan 2021.
  29. ^ Dias, Miguel Viterbo. "Iniciativa Liberal quer ex-Primeiro-Ministro da Estónia a pensar a reforma do estado português". Observador.
  30. ^ ""Parece que não sabem que o muro de Berlim caiu e o sistema falhou"". ionline.
  31. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal aprova programa político que defende redução de funcionários públicos". www.dn.pt.
  32. ^ "João Cotrim Figueiredo. 'Ninguém da Iniciativa Liberal está à procura de um tacho'".
  33. ^ Iniciativa Liberal, a "startup política". Não têm sedes, são dissidentes de partidos tradicionais e querem ser como Mayan, Observador https://observador.pt/especiais/iniciativa-liberal-a-startup-politica-nao-tem-sedes-sao-dissidentes-de-partidos-tradicionais-e-querem-ser-como-mayan/
  34. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal. Uma dúzia de outdoors mudaram a vida do 'partido do Twitter' O partido começou por ser conhecido como do "Twitter", mas domingo chegou ao parlamento. Sem rostos conhecidos ou grandes recursos como conseguiu isto? Muita criatividade e uma...", Diário de Notícias https://www.dn.pt/poder/iniciativa-liberal-uma-duzia-de-outdoors-mudaram-a-vida-do-partido-do-twitter-11387496.html

External links

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