It is young university students who most recognize Rui Rocha on the street

The day was not easy, with a break of only 12 hours, Rui Rocha had to face his opponents twice: first on RTP and a few hours later on the radio. These were the last of a long marathon of debates that has already lasted more than a month. Result: on the first day of the official campaign, the leader of the Liberal Initiative, as well as his opponents, arrived on the streets already looking tired, as if they had been on the road for many days.

The refuge that political leaders take as their home during campaign days is their car, or in Rui Rocha's case, a black Mercedes van with tinted windows that don't allow them to see what's inside. Away from the prying eyes of the media, the liberal politician found the strength to face one of the busiest neighborhoods in Lisbon. At lunchtime, at the entrance to the Campo Pequeno bullring, Rui Rocha, accompanied by a group of the party's best-known faces (the vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic, Rodrigo Saraiva, and the parliamentary leader of the IL, Mariana Leitão), a group of young people to create the image and, at the end of the parade, a drum group that livened up the 'arruada', the new name for street actions in election campaigns. At lunchtime, Avenidas Novas, in Lisbon, becomes a place for quick lunches at the various terraces that line the sidewalks. Professionals who occupy many of the offices in the area take advantage of the occasion for business lunches and prefer a discreet approach to the excitement of meeting a political caravan. Especially because, in recent times, there has been no shortage of parades of politicians crossing Avenida da República. These are some of the reasons why, upon hearing the background noise, many passers-by have chosen to take a different path to avoid crossing paths with Rui Rocha. Despite the detours, the distant comments were, in some cases, encouraging for the leader of the liberals. “He hasn’t done a bad job”, commented a bank manager who was observing the caravan from a distance, “I hope they have a good result”.

Aware that the place was not suitable for major interruptions to daily life, Rui Rocha passed by and waved from a distance, avoiding unwanted invasions at lunchtime.

Priority for young people Eager for a 'good puppet', news reporters and photographers descended on the leader whenever there was a stop for a chat, and this almost always happened with groups of young people. The street is a good place to confirm or deny perceptions, and in this 'street rally' it was quite clear that the idea that the Liberal Initiative is a party that particularly excites young university students has a good deal of support for reality. The caravan ended at the Arco do Cego garden, very close to Técnico and a popular place for students to socialize and relax. It was there that Rui Rocha found more enthusiastic voters who were more willing to chat. The conversations did not vary much and almost always ended on the same topic: emigration.

“You’re going to Germany, I hope you’re lucky and everything goes well. We’re going to stay here and work so that one day you can come back and have good job opportunities.” The good luck wishes from the liberal caravan to young voters who have already decided that their future does not involve staying in the country give the leader arguments to defend the party’s proposals. “We really need to change our lives and speed up Portugal,” Rui Rocha argued later at dinner at Casa do Alentejo in front of dozens of activists and guests who gathered to hear the day’s speech, which focused on reducing taxes for individuals and companies, creating more housing, economic growth and the urgency of a reformist government. The room was discussing the real possibility that the Liberal Initiative could enter government after the elections on May 18th. On stage, Rui Rocha assured those present that “our proposals have already been tested in other countries and they worked, contrary to what the left-wing bogeymen are saying.”

Rui Rocha: 'Looking at AD, we are more ambitious'

At the end of a long first day of campaigning, Rui Rocha still found the energy to give a short interview to Nascer do SOL, where he told us the most important thing: what he is noticing on the street about the will of the Portuguese.

You have been saying that these are the elections that no one wants, have you felt that on the streets? I think that is a true feeling. In fact, after the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, opinion polls showed that. But as time goes by, it is being replaced by the desire to make decisions. We have to make the best decisions and I also feel that in the Portuguese people, this desire for change.

But did I see him making a fuss about bothering people at lunchtime? Yes, I think we have to respect people's space. I understand that there will be some fatigue from this political battle, which has been practically constant since the elections. In fact, I would say that, since 2022, we have been experiencing very short, very intense political cycles and I believe that we have to respect people's rest and not overwhelm them with political issues.

Those who approached him were mainly young people and I understood that he spoke to them about their intentions for the future. What was the main theme in these conversations? There were concerns about housing and low wages and I heard some decisions already made, some with conviction, others with regret, about leaving the country when they finish their university education. This is indeed a very worrying sign, because we are not managing to reverse this trend of systematically losing our young people. Much more needs to be done to ensure that young people have the conditions to remain in Portugal. We continue to have youth unemployment of around 20%. Wages continue to be low, access to housing continues to be very difficult and transport is also a problem that has not been resolved.

I realized that one of the young people you crossed paths with is your daughter... It was by chance, she was walking with her boyfriend and it just so happened to coincide.

Is she part of this group of young people who are thinking about planning a life abroad? She will now complete her studies and will have a solution in Portugal from October onwards and I think that, for now, she will be focusing on staying. But she does not completely rule out the possibility of leaving at some point.

I know you don't want to talk about post-election scenarios, but if they could be part of a government solution, what are the Liberal Initiative's terms of reference? I think it's easy to see that we want to reduce taxes for individuals, families and companies. Looking at the AD's electoral programme, there are two areas where we are most ambitious in relation to companies. We want the surcharges, which introduce a new progressiveness in the IRC, to be abolished and gradually disappear. We also want the autonomous taxes that mainly affect micro and small companies.

But don't the international situation and the risks that exist at the moment call for some caution? Yes, but also because the measures that have been taken have fallen far short of what the country should have been aiming for. This is the vicious cycle we have, because there is never any ambition to change things. That is why we are always in this cycle of stagnation. I would say that the national circumstances require us to monitor very closely what is happening, but they also require us to be quicker and more determined to change the basic conditions of the Portuguese economy.

And do you feel this dynamic on the streets? Yes, hence the statement that this time it is liberal. It corresponds to a conviction that we have, in fact, many people, beyond our consolidated electoral base, who really believe that only the Liberal Initiative has the reformist capacity, the ambition and the sense of change and the urgency.