Mariana Leitão elected president of IL with 73% of the votes

Mariana Leitão was elected today as the new leader of the Liberal Initiative, with 73% of the votes and 27% abstention, becoming the fifth president of the party and the first woman to hold the position.

According to the party, there were 672 valid votes, with 493 members voting in favor of Mariana Leitão and 179 abstaining.

Mariana Leitão thus succeeds Rui Rocha, who held the position between 2023 and 2025 and who had announced his resignation from the leadership on May 31, considering that the result obtained by IL in the legislative elections had been insufficient.

When Mariana Leitão's victory was announced at the Alcobaça pavilion where the IL's 10th National Convention is taking place, some party members clapped and waved flags, but remained seated.

Before announcing the election results, the president of the National Convention, Pedro Ferreira, wanted to send a message of thanks to the outgoing board, chaired by Rui Rocha.

"To all those who are now leaving office, on behalf of the convention and all IL members, a big thank you for your commitment, dedication and work," he said, with members giving the previous leadership a standing ovation.

On the party's leadership list with which she ran, Mariana Leitão maintains 60% of the members of Rui Rocha's previous Executive Committee, with 15 leaders remaining on the executive body and 10 making their debut. The number of members remains exactly the same (25), as does the proportion of women (24%).

Among the newcomers are two former supporters of Carla Castro, who contested the IL leadership with Rui Rocha at the February 2023 convention: João Cascão, whom the former deputy had proposed as secretary-general, and Eunice Baeta.

Mariana Leitão also proposes that deputy Mário Amorim Lopes be promoted to vice-president — he was until now a member — and that Rui Ribeiro, vice-president under Rui Rocha, be the party's next secretary-general.

The new leadership will also include IL deputies in the regional parliaments of Madeira, Gonçalo Maia Camelo, and the Azores, Nuno Barata, as well as the deputy to the Assembly of the Republic Jorge Miguel Teixeira.

Among the members who will leave the party leadership, Miguel Rangel, who held the position of general secretary since 2018, Angélique da Teresa, who was vice-president, and deputy Joana Cordeiro stand out.

Aged 42 and with a degree in International Relations, Mariana Leitão joined the IL in June 2019, having been, between 2020 and 2022, president of the party's National Council and, between 2022 and 2024, chief of staff of the IL Parliamentary Group.

In the 2024 legislative elections, she was elected a member of parliament and assumed the position of parliamentary leader of the IL in the Assembly of the Republic, a position she holds to this day. She had also announced a presidential candidacy, which she withdrew when she announced her candidacy for party leadership.