Rui Nuno de Oliveira Garcia da Rocha (born 13 March 1970) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

politician who is the current President of the

Liberal Initiative The Liberal Initiative ( pt, Iniciativa Liberal, , IL) is a liberal political party in Portugal currently led by João Cotrim de Figueiredo. In 2019, its debut year at the Portuguese legislative elections, the party won one seat in the Portu ...

and a member of the Assembly of the Republic.

Biography

Born in

Lobito Lobito is a municipality in Angola. It is located in Benguela Province, on the Atlantic Coast north of the Catumbela Estuary. The Lobito municipality had a population of 393,079 in 2014. History The city was founded in 1843 and owes its exist ...

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

, Rocha moved to

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (i ...

as a child. He is married and has two children. He graduated with a law degree from the

Catholic University of Portugal The Catholic University of Portugal ( Portuguese: ''Universidade Católica Portuguesa'', pronounced nivɨɾsiˈðad(ɨ) kɐˈtɔlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ, also referred to as Católica or UCP for short, is a concordat university (non-state-run univer ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

and was a guest assistant on law courses at the

Moderna University Moderna University (''Universidade Moderna'') was a Portuguese private university headquartered in Lisbon, with departments in Setúbal, Porto and Beja. The institution was authorized by the Portuguese Ministry of Education to provide university ...

. He works as a lawyer, legal consultant and director of human resources, in the fields of construction, motoring, finance and specialised retail. Rocha joined the

in August 2020. He worked on

Tiago Mayan Gonçalves Tiago Mayan Gonçalves (born 5 March 1977) is a Portuguese politician who represents Liberal Initiative. Background and personal life Mayan was born in Porto, on 5 March 1977. By profession he is a lawyer and studied at Catholic University of ...

's campaign in the

2021 Portuguese presidential election The 2021 presidential election was held in Portugal on 24 January. The incumbent President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was reelected for a second term. The election was held during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Portugal was under a lockdown as of elec ...

. In the

2022 Portuguese legislative election Early legislative elections were held on 30 January 2022 in Portugal to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic to the 15th Legislature of the Third Portuguese Republic. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were up for election. ...

, he was the party's lead candidate in the

Braga District The district of Braga ( pt, Distrito de Braga ) is a district in the northwest of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Braga, and it is bordered by the district of Viana do Castelo in the north, Vila Real in the east, Spain (Galicia) i ...

and was elected. Endorsed by outgoing leader

João Cotrim de Figueiredo João Fernando Cotrim de Figueiredo (born 24 June 1961) is a Portuguese businessman and Liberal Initiative politician. He was the party's first member of the Assembly of the Republic, for the Lisbon District, in October 2019. He was the leader ...

, Rocha was voted party leader on 22 January 2023. He received 51.7% of the votes from 2,300 party members. He set the target of reaching 15% in the

next Portuguese legislative election The next Portuguese legislative election will take place on or before 11 October 2026 to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic to the 16th Legislature of Portugal. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic will be at stake. Backgr ...

, and declared that he would only work with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

if that party would not ally with

Chega Chega may refer to: * Chega, Iran, a village *Chega (political party), a political party in Portugal *Chega!, a report by the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in ...

References

External links

Rui Rocha
at Assembly of the Republic (in Portuguese) Liberal Initiative people Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Catholic University of Portugal alumni 1970 births Living people People from Braga People from Lobito category:20th-century Portuguese lawyers category:21st-century Portuguese lawyers {{Portugal-politician-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links