The Liberal Initiative (, , IL) is a liberal political party in Portugal. Founded in 2017, it is currently led by Miguel Rangel, who is the interim leader since the resignation of Rui Rocha in May 2025. The party has been described as being on the political right by academics and journalists. "The third noteworthy party on the right was IL (Iniciativa Liberal – Liberal Initiative) (...)" It has 9 elected seats out of a total of 230 in the

Portuguese Parliament The Assembly of the Republic (, ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament "is the representative assembly of all Portuguese citizens". Th ...

. 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. It had run in its first elections in May 2019 for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

and in 2020 supported its first government coalition, at regional level, after the

2020 Azorean regional election The 2020 Azorean regional election was held on 25 October 2020, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores. All 57 members of the assembly were up for election. The Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

. The party espouses a

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

-influenced economic platform, including support for a

flat income tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressi ...

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

s and

liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

of the

labour market Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labou ...

. However, it intends to preserve an equitable and universal

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

to a certain extent. In other dimensions of life, the party favours views aligned with

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

secular liberalism Secular liberalism is a form of liberalism in which secularist principles and values, and sometimes non-religious ethics, are especially emphasised. It supports the separation of religion and state. Moreover, secular liberals are usually advoca ...

History

The Liberal Initiative was founded as an association in 2016, and was approved as a party by the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

in 2017. It was admitted to the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...

, a

European political party A European political party, formerly known as a political party at European levelArticle 10.4 of the 2007 Treaty on European Union states that "political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness" and Regul ...

, in November 2017, having run for election for the first time in the 2019 European Parliament election in Portugal, garnering 0.9% of the votes, and failing to win any seats in the

. In the 2019 legislative election, the party won a single seat in the

through the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, earning 67,681 votes in total, equivalent to 1.3% of the votes cast. At the regional level, IL supported its first government coalition after the

. In the

2021 Portuguese local elections Local elections in Portugal were held on 26 September 2021. The election consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Municipalities of Portugal, Portuguese municipalities: the election for the Câmara Municipal, Municipal Chamber (the executi ...

, it won 26 seats in municipal assemblies, and none in municipal councils. In the 2022 legislative election, the Liberal Initiative party increased the number of its MPs from one to eight with 5.0% of the vote. Besides João Cotrim Figueiredo (already an MP at the Portuguese Parliament and incumbent party leader), IL elected seven new MPs for the party, including

Carlos Guimarães Pinto Carlos Manuel Guimarães Oliveira Pinto, better known as Carlos Guimarães Pinto (born in Espinho, Portugal, in 1983), is a Portuguese economist, author, university professor, think tank executive, blogger and politician. A prominent member of ...

(a former party leader), as MPs.

Ideology and platform

The party has been described as liberal,

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

conservative liberal Conservative liberalism, also referred to as right-liberalism, is a variant of liberalism combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right wing of the liberal movement. In the case of modern con ...

, and

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

. It has been described as

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

, right-wing and

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

with its policy base described as combining economic liberalism with more progressive stances on cultural issues. According to its own official statements about this topic, the Liberal Initiative was founded with the

Oxford Manifesto {{Liberalism sidebar The Oxford Manifesto, drawn up in April 1947 by representatives from 19 liberal political parties at Wadham College in Oxford, led by Salvador de Madariaga, is a document that describes the basic political principles of the L ...

in mind and believes in individual

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

, by which all individuals have fundamental rights, including the possibility of having a life of their own, owning property or choosing how they want to live in their community, closely following the principles of

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited governmen ...

. The party's conception of freedom encompasses both the economic and social spheres as well as the political and

individual An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...

spheres, and believes that if any of them are restricted, freedom ceases to exist. The party's political ideas are based on the idea of freedom as the greatest engine of human development, social harmony and economic prosperity. The party's leaders and founders have ascertained that they envisage Portugal as a country that will model itself on Germany's multi-payer health care system – which is paid for by a combination of public health insurance and private health insurance – on Ireland's corporate tax policy and on Estonia's fiscal, educational, and public administration systems, following classical liberal economic policies. On 5 May 2018, the Liberal Initiative approved its political programme under the slogan "Less State, More Freedom" (''Menos Estado, Mais Liberdade''). The party proposes the reduction of the number of civil servants and the extension of their health system to all Portuguese citizens, as well as extending the freedom for parents to choose their children's school without it necessarily being linked to their address. The party, which describes itself as a liberal party of all types of liberalism, rejects to be simplistically described as a blind follower of the political philosophy of

libertarianism Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...

, arguing that while it defends a

small government Small means of insignificant size. Small may also refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text Arts and ...

and opposes

economic interventionism A market intervention is a policy or measure that modifies or interferes with a market, typically done in the form of state action, but also by philanthropic and political-action groups. Market interventions can be done for a number of reas ...

in principle, it also defends an effective government which guarantees the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured right to health, access to health care. It is genera ...

universal education Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnic background or physical and mental disabilities. The term is used both in colle ...

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

and a

. The party said that it doesn't want to dismantle the Portuguese welfare state, but instead wants to "rationalize it" based on the principles of "

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

and equity" by redefining its fairness proposition from the point of view of both social welfare beneficiaries/non-beneficiaries and taxpayers, regardless of age, current or previous occupation and other individual factors.

Platform for the 2019 legislative election

Among the measures announced for the 2019 parliamentary elections were: * Introducing a flat income tax rate of 15%. * Extending coverage by the ("Instituto de Proteção e Assistência na Doença") to all Portuguese citizens. This body is in charge of health care, and works like a

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

, for the Portuguese civil servants only. * Providing freedom of choice of school in both the state-owned and privately owned systems, through a school-voucher system. * Granting more freedom for universities to define admission criteria, and following the American and British models for universities by adopting a

student loan A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest ...

funding system.

Party factions

The Liberal Initiative has a number of internal factions:

Classical liberalism

This faction defends opposition to

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

through

, calling for a low tax burden and promoting "efficient, effective and accountable government", while defending respect for individual, social, political and economic freedoms.

Social liberalism

This faction adheres to the principles of

social liberalism Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

. In 2024, a former candidate to the leadership of IL left the party and tried to establish a new party called the Social Liberal Party.

Libertarianism

The faction espouses an outright

platform with

economic and political stances, whose proposals include support for a lower

, unprecedented wave of

s and deeper

economic liberalization Economic liberalization, or economic liberalisation, is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...

of the economy, including in the

, able to address modernisation and

overstaffing In Keynesian economics, underemployment equilibrium is a situation with a persistent shortfall relative to full employment and potential output so that unemployment is higher than at the NAIRU or the "natural" rate of unemployment. Theoretical fr ...

issues in the civil service, productivity gaps and competitiveness problems of the country in the context of the European Union and

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

Conservative liberalism

The faction supporting

conservative liberalism Conservative liberalism, also referred to as right-liberalism, is a variant of liberalism combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right wing of the liberal movement. In the case of modern con ...

, although being liberal on economic issues, is more conservative on social issues. By 25 November 2023, most of the members from this faction had left the party, with two joining Chega.

Organization

Structure and communication

The party is organized and managed in a decentralized, digitized way. It has no physical headquarters in most municipalities of the country and makes heavy use of

information and communication technologies Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and compute ...

. Since its foundation, the party made an impact through the acclaimed originality of its communication and marketing campaigns, in particular its eye-catching billboards.

Leadership

List of presidents

Elected politicians

Members of the Assembly of the Republic

* Mariana Leitão (

) * Rodrigo Saraiva (Lisbon) * Angélique da Teresa (Lisbon) * Jorge Miguel Teixeira (Lisbon) *

(

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

) * Miguel Rangel (Porto) * Rui Rocha (

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

) * Joana Cordeiro (

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

) * Mário Amorim Lopes ( Aveiro) *

Bernardo Blanco Bernardo Alves Martinho Amaral Blanco (19 November 1995), is a Portuguese politician. He is currently a Member of the Portuguese Parliament and Vice-President of the Liberal Initiative. Biography Blanco was born in Torres Vedras in 1995. He h ...

(

)
''André Abrantes Amaral – from February 2025 to March 2025'' * Mariana Leitão (Lisbon) * Rodrigo Saraiva (Lisbon) *

(

)
''Albino Ramos – from December 2024 to January 2025'' * Patrícia Gilvaz (Porto) * Rui Rocha (

) * Joana Cordeiro (

) * Mário Amorim Lopes ( Aveiro) * João Cotrim de Figueiredo (Lisbon) * Carla Castro (Lisbon) * Rodrigo Saraiva (Lisbon) *

(Lisbon) *

(Porto) * Patrícia Gilvaz (Porto) * Rui Rocha (Braga) * Joana Cordeiro (Setúbal) * João Cotrim de Figueiredo (Lisbon)

Members of the European Parliament

* João Cotrim de Figueiredo * Ana Martins

Electoral performance

Assembly of the Republic

Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections ImageSize = width:250 height:200 PlotArea = width:188 height:170 left:40 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:IL value:rgb(0.4,0.8,1) legend:IL DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:6 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:0 PlotData = bar:Seats color:claret width:27 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:2019 color:IL from:start till:1.3 text:1.3 bar:2022 color:IL from:start till:4.9 text:4.9 bar:2024 color:IL from:start till:4.9 text:4.9 bar:2025 color:IL from:start till:5.4 text:5.4

Presidential

European Parliament

Regional Assemblies

Local elections

References

External links

* * {{Portuguese political parties 2017 establishments in Portugal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Centre-right parties in Europe Classical liberal parties Economic liberalism Liberal parties in Portugal Libertarian parties Political parties established in 2017 Political parties in Portugal Right-libertarianism Neoliberal parties