Mariana Leitão is the only candidate to succeed Rui Rocha

IL parliamentary leader Mariana Leitão will be the only candidate in the internal elections for the party presidency, scheduled for July 19, and proposes a leadership that includes former supporters of former deputy Carla Castro.

The deadline for submitting applications to the IL Executive Committee, the party's leadership, ended at midnight on Friday. However, the party's press office only released the number of applications on Sunday evening, arguing that it wanted to inform members before the media.

According to the party, Mariana Leitão was the only one who decided to put forward a candidacy for the leadership of the IL in the internal elections that will take place at the party's 10th National Convention, on July 19th in Alcobaça.

In the list that Mariana Leitão proposes to the party leadership, and which was also released on Sunday, Rui Rocha — who submitted his resignation as leader on May 31 — leaves the Executive Committee and deputy Mário Amorim Lopes, who was until now a member, rises to vice-president.

André Abrantes Amaral, who was the head of the IL list in Leiria in the last legislative elections and was until now a member, is also proposed for vice-president, as is Paulo Trezentos, who was a member of the party's Supervisory Board.

Of the current vice-presidents, Ricardo Pais Oliveira is the only one who remains, with deputy Angélique da Teresa leaving the Executive Committee and Rui Ribeiro replacing deputy Miguel Rangel in the position of secretary-general.

In the list for the Executive Committee with which she stands for election, Mariana Leitão also includes former supporters of former deputy Carla Castro, who contested the leadership of the IL with Rui Rocha at the February 2023 convention, having lost with 44% and subsequently left the party.

Mariana Leitão now proposes that João Cascão, who Carla Castro proposed as secretary-general on the list with which she stood for election, be a member of the Executive Committee, as well as Eunice Baeta who, according to IL, “was with Carla Castro and then always with the Unidos pelo Liberalismo movement”, of Tiago Mayan Gonçalves and Rui Malheiro.

In a brief note released with the list she proposes for the IL Executive Committee, Mariana Leitão says she has built “a renewed and very competent team, with people who represent various tendencies and sensibilities of the party , at a geographical, ideological and political level”.

“Not everyone was on the same side in past political battles in the IL, but today they are united to build the Liberal Initiative that Portugal so badly needs”, it reads.

The IL will choose its new leader and leadership at the 10th National Convention, on July 19th in Alcobaça, after Rui Rocha, president of the party between 2023 and 2025, presented his resignation on May 31st, considering that the result obtained in the legislative elections had been insufficient.

In these legislative elections, IL obtained 5.36% and nine deputies, one more than in the 2024 elections.

Less than a week after Rui Rocha's resignation, Mariana Leitão announced that she would run for party leadership, in a post shared on social media in which she stated that she had the “desire to join a movement that inspires change in the country”.

I am a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Initiative.

We have built a lot in recent years and have been relevant in the affirmation of liberal ideas in the country, but now that the country is starting a new political cycle, the Liberal Initiative also needs to start a new cycle of energy and… pic.twitter.com/N6rjzetkGt

— Mariana Leitao (@marianalqcl) June 4, 2025

“Without fear of being liberal, with the courage to raise our liberal flags without any hesitation, without moderating the affirmation of liberal values ​​in all their fullness”, read Mariana Leitão’s message.

Following this announcement, names that had been mentioned as potential candidates for leader, such as Mário Amorim Lopes and Bernardo Blanco, announced that they did not intend to enter the race, with Amorim Lopes declaring support for Mariana Leitão. The internal opposition to Rui Rocha also ended up not presenting an alternative candidate.