Liberal Initiative

Liberal Initiative
Iniciativa Liberal
AbbreviationIL
PresidentRui Rocha
Secretary-GeneralMiguel Rangel
Vice presidentsBernardo Blanco
Angélique da Teresa
Ricardo Pais Oliveira
Ana Martins
Founded13 December 2017
HeadquartersAvenida do Bessa, 158 E 4100-012 Porto
Membership (2023)Increase 6,300[1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right[5]
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
Colours  Sky Blue
Assembly of the Republic
8 / 230
European Parliament
2 / 21
Regional
Parliaments
2 / 104
Local government
(Mayors)
0 / 308
Local government
(Parishes)
0 / 3,091
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
iniciativaliberal.pt

The Liberal Initiative (Portuguese: Iniciativa Liberal, pronounced [inisjɐˈtivɐ liβɨˈɾal], IL) is a liberal political party in Portugal. Founded in 2017, it is currently led by Rui Rocha. The party has been described as being on the political right by academics and journalists.[6][7][8]

It has 8 elected members of the parliament out of a total of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament.[9]

The party was founded in December 2017, and in October 2019, its debut year at the Portuguese legislative elections, it won one seat in the Portuguese Parliament.[10] It had run in its first elections in May 2019 for the European Parliament and in 2020 supported its first government coalition, at regional level, after the 2020 Azorean regional election.[11]

The party espouses a libertarian-influenced economic platform, including support for a flat income tax, privatisations and liberalisation of the labour market.[12] However, it intends to preserve an equitable and universal welfare state to a certain extent.[13][14] In other dimensions of life, the party favours views aligned with cultural and secular liberalism.[15][16]

  1. ^ "PSD está sem "visão reformista" e sem "urgência de transformar o país"". www.dn.pt.
  2. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal é um partido de esquerda ou direita? O que respondem os membros da IL". Observador (in Portuguese). 12 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Portugal terá Parlamento mais plural e com estreia da extrema direita". O Globo (in Portuguese). 7 October 2019.
  4. ^ "O debate em que a Iniciativa Liberal pisca à esquerda e à direita como Ruth Marlene e o CDS "cancela um grupo parlamentar inteiro"". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). 5 January 2022.
  5. ^ [2][3][4]
  6. ^ Giorgi, Elisabetta De; Santana-Pereira, José (2021). The Exceptional Case of Post-Bailout Portugal. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-46262-3. (...) due to both the rise of two new right-wing parties, the liberal IL (Iniciativa Liberal – Liberal Initiative) (...)
  7. ^ Botelho, Catarina Santos; Ribeiro, Ana Teresa (2020). "Portugal". In Albert, Richard; Landau, David E.; Faraguna, Pietro; Drugda, Simon (eds.). I-CONnect-Clough Center 2019 Global Review of Constitutional Law: Country Reports. Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy. ISBN 978-1-7343197-1-2. SSRN 3742104. (...) two new right-wing parties (the radical right 'CHEGA' and the liberals 'Iniciativa Liberal') entered the Portuguese parliament (...)
  8. ^ Jalali, Carlos; Moniz, Joāo; Silva, Patrícia. "In the Shadow of the 'Government of the Left': The 2019 Legislative Elections in Portugal". In Giorgi & Santana-Pereira (2021), pp. 229-255. "The third noteworthy party on the right was IL (Iniciativa Liberal – Liberal Initiative) (...)"
  9. ^ "Sobre os grupos parlamentares". www.parlamento.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Iniciativa Liberal anuncia acordo com PSD para viabilização de governo nos Açores". TSF Rádio Notícias. 7 November 2020.
  12. ^ Riccardo Marchi; Andre Azevedo Alves (2022). "The Right and the Far Right in the Portuguese Democracy (1974-2022)". In António Costa Pinto; Jorge M. Fernandes; Pedro C. Magalhães (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics. OUP Oxford. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-266773-1.
  13. ^ "O Estado social da Iniciativa Liberal". Jornal Expresso (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  14. ^ Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de (13 January 2022). "Iniciativa Liberal quer menos intervenção do Estado e quintuplicar representação no Parlamento". Iniciativa Liberal quer menos intervenção do Estado e quintuplicar representação no Parlamento (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  15. ^ Sampaio, Gustavo (22 July 2017). "Há algum partido verdadeiramente liberal em Portugal?". O Jornal Económico - Notícias, Economia, Política, Empresas, Mercados e Opinião (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  16. ^ "Portugal com rumo liberal". Expresso (in Portuguese). 21 February 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.