43-819: Left Bloc may refer to: Left Bloc (Portugal) , a political party in Portugal Left Bloc (Croatia) , a political alliance in Croatia Left Bloc (Hungary) , a political alliance in the Second Hungarian Republic Left Bloc (Luxembourg) , a former political alliance in Luxembourg (1908–1912) Left Bloc (Palestine) , a political organisation in Mandatory Palestine Left Bloc (Russia) ,
86-702: A joined list in the upcoming 2014 European election . Two official meetings in late 2014 and early 2015 however failed with the Left Bloc referring to programmatic differences with Tavares. So while the severe austerity programs under prime minister Passos Coelho did backdrop on the Portuguese political right, the European election in May saw the Socialists and liberal Earth Party as relative winners, whereas
129-486: A number of important laws on civil rights and guarantees, including the protection of citizens from racist, xenophobic, and homophobic discrimination, support for same-sex marriage , laws for the protection of workers and anti-bullfighting legislation. These included Portugal's first law on domestic violence , which was then passed in parliament with the support of the Portuguese Communist Party and
172-533: A political alliance in Russia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Left Bloc . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Left_Bloc&oldid=1044030252 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
215-586: A too close to call race between the Socialists and the conservative Social Democrats, but just days before the election the Socialists increased their lead over the Social Democrats. A total of 13 parties and two coalitions competed in this election. Focus of the campaign was the impact of global economic, the financial crisis and the construction of new infrastructure projects, including the high-speed rail link Lisbon-Madrid and Lisbon-Porto-Vigo, and
258-500: A veteran, would be elected co-chairmen of the party on 11 November 2012. However, the renewal process would last for over one year. In early 2014, the Left Bloc suffered a split, when elected Left Bloc MEP Rui Tavares , who already in 2011 had become an independent , founded left-ecologist LIVRE party. Left-wing intellectuals who had come together to the Manifesto 3D collective challenged the Left Bloc to converge with LIVRE towards
301-401: A wider range of constituencies. The game would necessarily be played in the framework of democracy , active participation and defence of human rights . After thirteen years of intensive labor as a leader, Louçã quit the position of party chairman in 2012 arguing that "it is time for renewal" and delegating his functions to a man and a woman. Catarina Martins , 39 years old, and João Semedo,
344-579: Is aimed at identifying convergence issues, while also recognizing their differences. The Bloc supported the minority Socialist Costa Government (2015–2019) with a confidence and supply agreement. The Socialist Party government would be re-elected in 2019 , with the Left Bloc returning to opposition. The party voted against the 2022 budget, triggering an election in January of that year. The Left Bloc would lose 14 seats, reducing them to five, and over half of their popular vote from 2019 — tactical voting for
387-495: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Left Bloc (Portugal) The Left Bloc ( Portuguese : Bloco de Esquerda , pronounced [ˈblɔku ðɨ ɨʃˈkeɾðɐ] , BE ), colloquially shortened as O Bloco , is a left-wing populist and democratic socialist political party in Portugal founded in 1999. It is currently led by Mariana Mortágua . The Left Bloc
430-508: The 2009 European Parliament election they received 10.73% winning them 3 MEPs . They also surpassed the CDU for the first time in an election. At the subsequent 2009 national election , the party obtained 9.81% of votes and 16 members of parliament in the 230-seat Assembly of the Republic . The financial crisis led socialist prime minister Sócrates to agree to a bailout memorandum with
473-496: The Eurogroup . In the subsequent 2011 snap election , the country saw a massive shift to the right, with the Left Bloc losing nearly half of its previous popular support, obtaining only 5.17% of the vote and 8 members of parliament. This defeat is generally attributed to the partial support certain sections of the party appeared to offer the unpopular Socialist government while the latter pursued an austerity program in response to
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#1732771909279516-749: The European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet ; a pan-European party that supports an alternative to capitalism. Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections 2009 Portuguese legislative election José Sócrates PS José Sócrates PS The 2009 Portuguese legislative election was held on 27 September, to renew all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic . In these elections there were approximately 9.5 million Portuguese at home and abroad called to determine
559-653: The Public Prosecution office ruled that Sócrates indeed obtained his degree illegally. In the second case, the Freeport affair , Sócrates was accused, as environment minister (1999–2002), of allegedly ignoring environmental restrictions, due to interventions from members of his own family, in order to allow the construction of a shopping mall in Alcochete by the British company Freeport. Regarding this case,
602-552: The d'Hondt method makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the Hare quota or Sainte-Laguë method , which are more generous to small parties. For these elections, and compared with the 2005 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following: The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 10th legislature (2005–2009) and that also partook in
645-515: The financial crisis . The historical merger of ideologies that gave rise to the Portuguese Left Bloc was a process that lasted sixteen years. Its main actors aged and times changed, which led to an awareness of the need for modernization and realism. Francisco Louçã is one of the founders who most insisted on restricting theory to the basic humanistic and ethical principles common to partisans and supporters in order to conquer
688-559: The incoming right-wing government . The Left Bloc rose to prominence "following a successful anti-austerity campaign and its backing by a growing popular social movement." It has been described as "Portugal’s biggest supporter of feminist, gay rights and anti-racist legislation" and been associated with the New Left . It occupies a flexible and moderate position to the left of the Socialist Party (PS). The Bloc has proposed
731-579: The 230 seats in the Assembleia da República and 18th constitutional government in Portugal after 1976. The election took place during the regular end of the previous four-year legislative period. From 2005 to 2009, the Socialist Party (PS), led by José Sócrates, governed with an absolute majority. The opinion polls at the beginning of the official election campaign on 12 September 2009, showed
774-517: The Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 116 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved. The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude . The use of
817-578: The BE polled at 2%. In 2002 this rose to 3%. In the 1999 election BE received 2.4% of the votes leading them to enter the Assembly of the Republic for the first time with 2 MPs for the Lisbon constituency. These representatives were Francisco Louçã and Fernando Rosas. In the 2005 election BE received 6.5% of the votes winning them 8 MPs . In the 2006 presidential elections , the Left Bloc's candidate, Francisco Louçã , received 288,224 votes (5.31%). In
860-536: The Iberian Peninsula but as in all European territory. The Left Bloc has called for the legalisation of cannabis in Portugal. The party attempted to pass legislation in Parliament regarding cannabis law reform in Portugal in 2013 and 2015, both of which were rejected by the then ruling centre-right coalition government. In terms of economics the party advocates "greater state intervention in
903-414: The Left Bloc lost more than half of 2009's votes and two of its three mandates. LIVRE received 2.2% but failed to win any mandate. In the 2015 legislative election , the Left Bloc achieved 10.2% of the votes and elected 19 deputies, their best result in legislative elections ever, in what was considered a major upset. On 10 November 2015, Catarina Martins signed an agreement with the Socialist Party that
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#1732771909279946-418: The Socialist Party and the Left Bloc's opposition to the budget were blamed. The Socialist Party would be re-elected with a majority government. On 14 February 2023, Catarina Martins announced she would leave the Left Bloc's leadership. In the 13th Convention of the Left Bloc, on 27 and 28 May 2023, Mariana Mortágua , one of the party's most well known deputies, was elected as the party coordinator with 83% of
989-579: The Socialist Party. In comparison to the Portuguese Communist Party, the Left Bloc has been described as "more socially libertarian ". At present, together with the PS, Left Bloc aims at "building a stable, long-lasting and reliable majority at the Parliament, in order to support the formation and subsequent action of a government committed to the change demanded through the ballot box". This purpose foreshadows changes taking place not only in
1032-439: The Socialists won a majority and the 1st time a single party won a majority since Cavaco Silva's PSD victory in 1991 . The PSD suffered a heavy defeat, achieving their worst results since 1983, and faced with this failure, the then PSD leader and outgoing Prime Minister, Pedro Santana Lopes , resigned from the leadership and called an election for party chair. During the first months in his government, Sócrates raised taxes to cut
1075-456: The deficit and initiated a policy of strict budgetary rigor. At the same time, he faced a very harsh summer with Wildfires across the country. That same October, the Socialists suffered a heavy defeat in the 2005 local elections , winning just 108 cities, a drop of 4, against the PSD's 158 mayoral holds. The PS was also unable to retake control of Lisbon and Porto . In January 2006, a new president
1118-487: The economy entered in a recession and protests against the government policies began. On 12 March 2011, protests against the Government's austerity measures drew up to 280,000 people just in the streets of Lisbon and Porto alone. By the same month of March, the PS Government had presented three Stability and Growth Programs (PECs) and all failed in controlling spending and convincing markets. A forth one, PEC IV,
1161-408: The economy in order to reduce inequalities", such as rises to the minimum wage. It has also put forward "many legislative proposals defending salaries, pensions and the welfare state". The party has been described as anti-capitalist . In September 2019, the party called for the minimum monthly wage to be raised to € 650 for both the public and private sectors in January 2020. It is also part of
1204-459: The effects of the financial crisis that was shaking the global economy, and, therefore, the country entered in a recession. As a result, the government adopted stimulus measures that worsened the public finances and increased the deficit and the debt. In the European elections of June 7, 2009 , the PSD stunned pundits by winning a European election for the first time since 1989, with 31.7 percent of
1247-456: The election: The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas. By 2010, Portugal was facing a big economic crisis and the Government was forced to implement austerity measures. Plus, Sócrates name was also involved in a new corruption investigation, Face Oculta , although no accusation was made. Despite the government's announcement of more fiscal restraint policies in order to control public spending,
1290-527: The end of a primetime evening news show on TVI network, anchored by Manuela Moura Guedes , also led to accusations of pressure from Sócrates and the PS to end the evening news show as it had several reports on the Freeport affair and an unfavourable coverage towards the Prime Minister. The Freeport affair was ultimately closed due to lack of evidence. Entering 2009, Portugal was strongly hit by
1333-441: The job. In the following leadership elections, held in May 2008, Manuela Ferreira Leite became the first woman to lead a major party in Portugal, winning 38 percent of the votes, against the 31 percent of Pedro Passos Coelho and the 30 percent of Pedro Santana Lopes . The results were the following: The Assembly of the Republic has 230 members elected to four-year terms. Governments do not require absolute majority support of
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1376-520: The new Lisbon airport. The Socialist Party , led by incumbent Prime Minister José Sócrates , won the largest number of seats, but didn't repeat the overall majority they gained in 2005 . The Socialists came in first, despite losing 9 percent of the vote and 24 seats, with a clear lead over the conservative Social Democrats, with big gains for the People's Party and for the Left Bloc . Neither of
1419-473: The party in the 2005 elections saying that "in no civilized country in the world, the difference between Trotskyists and Christian Democrats is one percent" , referring to the result of the BE . A snap leadership congress was called to elect a new leader. Two candidates were in the ballot: Telmo Correia , the preferred candidate of Paulo Portas, and José Ribeiro e Castro , more critical of Portas. Ribeiro e Castro
1462-419: The two major parties won an absolute majority in the Assembly of the Republic, so, the future prime minister had to form a coalition, or at least rely on other parties to govern. In that case, José Sócrates was in a better position than Manuela Ferreira Leite, since the Portuguese left won by 54.23 percent of the vote and 128 seats, against 39.54 percent and 102 deputies to the right. On 12 October, José Sócrates
1505-485: The votes against the No's 41 percent, making abortion legal in Portugal. While the deficit reduction had been successful, and with the economy growing above 2 percent of GDP, the government faced heavy opposition for its policies, particularly from teachers unions. In March 2008, more than 100,000 teachers protested in Lisbon against Sócrates and his Education minister, Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues . José Sócrates four-year term
1548-464: The votes. After the resignation of António Costa , the Left Bloc expected to gain seats and increase their voting share. Despite that, in the 2024 legislative election , the Left Bloc achieved a very similar result, keeping their five seats. Following that poor result, and in light of Luís Montenegro 's victory, Mariana Mortágua led negotiations with the remaining parties on the left ( PS , PCP , LIVRE and PAN ) in order to build an alternative to
1591-472: The votes. The Socialists suffered a huge defeat, winning just 26 percent of the votes, a drop of 18 points. In the party's congress in April 2005, Luís Marques Mendes became party leader winning 56 percent of the delegates, against the 44 percent of his rival, Luís Filipe Menezes . The results were the following: CDS–PP leader Paulo Portas , resigned from the leadership following the disappointing result of
1634-550: Was also marred by a series of corruption and sleaze accusations towards the Prime Minister himself, with the two main cases being the Independent affair and the Freeport affair . In the first, Sócrates was accused of obtaining his degree in engineering by irregular means from the Independente University , and this case, plus further irregularities, led to the closure of the university. Several years later,
1677-477: Was easily elected and the results were the following: In April 2007, former CDS–PP leader Paulo Portas challenged the then party leader, José Ribeiro e Castro , for the leadership and was elected for his former job by a landslide. The results were the following: In the Social Democratic Party, incumbent leader Luís Marques Mendes was being very criticized for his opposition strategy and
1720-481: Was elected. Aníbal Cavaco Silva , PM between 1985 and 1995, became the first center-right candidate to win a presidential election , although only just. The PS candidate, former PM and President Mário Soares polled a disappointing third place with just 14 v of the votes. In 2007, a referendum for the legalization of abortion was held. After the failure of the 1998 referendum , the Yes side prevailed winning 59 percent of
1763-471: Was formed in 1999 by the merger of the Marxist People's Democratic Union , Trotskyist Revolutionary Socialist Party , and the democratic socialist Politics XXI . It has had full party status since its founding, yet the constituent groups have maintained their existence as individual political associations, retaining some levels of autonomy in a loose structure. In the 1999 legislative election
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1806-465: Was invited by President Aníbal Cavaco Silva to form government. The new cabinet was announced on 22 October and sworn in on 26 October. Voter turnout was one of the lowest in Portuguese election history, as 59.7 percent of the electorate cast a ballot. In the February 2005 early elections , the Socialists, under the leadership of José Sócrates, won 45 percent of the votes and 121 MPs, the 1st time
1849-525: Was left weakened after the PSD disappointing result in the 2007 Lisbon mayoral by-election , where the PSD polled 3rd with less than 16 percent of the votes. Marques Mendes called a snap leadership election and was challenged by his rival in the 2005 PSD congress, Luís Filipe Menezes . Menezes easily defeated Marques Mendes. The results were the following: The then PSD leader, Luís Filipe Menezes , elected in September 2007, resigned after just 6 months in
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