Liberal Initiative (Portugal)

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 Portuguese Parliament. The party ran in its first elections in 2019, for the European Parliament, supporting its first government coalition, at regional level, after the 2020 Azorean regional election. It currently has 8 elected members of the parliament out of a total of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament.

It defends opposition to statism through liberalism, calling for a low tax burden and laissez-faire, defending respect for individual freedom, opposing socialism.

Founders

The Liberal Initiative arises from a dinner on December 23, 2015 between the founders Alexandre Krauss, Bruno Horta Soares and Rodrigo Saraiva, at the Cisterna restaurant, in Lisbon. It was formed as an association on September 20, 2016, based on the discussion of the Oxford Liberal Manifesto. In September 2017, 8176 signatures were delivered to the Portuguese Constitutional Court, becoming, as a party, officially formalized as of December 13, 2017.

History

''Iniciativa Liberal'' is a socially, economically, and politically liberal party whose core tenents include support for an open society based on liberal democratic principles of the rule of law, property rights, individual liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of association, market freedom, democracy and a welfare state. It was created as an association in 2016, and was approved as a party by the Constitutional Court in 2017. It was admitted to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, a European political party, 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 European Parliament. In the 2019 legislative election, the party won a single seat in the Portuguese Parliament through the electoral district of Lisbon, earning 67,681 votes in total, equivalent to 1.3% of the votes cast. At regional level, IL supported its first government coalition after the 2020 Azorean regional election. In the 2021 Portuguese local elections, 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 deputies from one to eight with 5.0% of the vote. Besides João Cotrim Figueiredo (already a deputy at the Portuguese Parliament and incumbent party leader), IL elected seven new deputies for the party, including Carlos Guimarães Pinto (a former party leader), as MPs.

Ideology and platform

The party has been described as adherent to the principles of liberalism, economic liberalism, and libertarianism. It has been also described as centre-right and right-wing, 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 in mind and believes in individual freedom, 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. The party's conception of freedom encompasses both the economic and social spheres as well as the political sphere 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 rejects the political philosophy of libertarianism, arguing that while it defends a small government, it also defends an effective government which guarantees the rule of law, universal healthcare, universal education, social security and a welfare state.

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, 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 funding system.

Organisation, communication and style

The party is organised and managed in a decentralised, digitised way. It has no physical headquarters in most municipalities of the country and makes heavy use of information and communication technologies. Since its foundation, the party made an impact through the acclaimed originality of its communication and marketing campaigns, in particular its eye-catching billboards."Iniciativa Liberal. Uma dúzia de outdoors mudaram a vida do 'partido do Twitter' O partido começou por ser conhecido como do "Twitter", mas domingo chegou ao parlamento. Sem rostos conhecidos ou grandes recursos como conseguiu isto? Muita criatividade e uma...", Diário de Notícias https://www.dn.pt/poder/iniciativa-liberal-uma-duzia-de-outdoors-mudaram-a-vida-do-partido-do-twitter-11387496.html

Electoral results

Assembly of the Republic

Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections

European Parliament

Regional Assemblies

Local elections

Presidential elections

Assembly of the Republic

XV Legislature

2022-
* João Cotrim de Figueiredo
* Carlos Guimarães Pinto
* Carla Castro
* Rodrigo Saraiva
* Bernardo Blanco
* Rui Rocha
* Patrícia Gilvaz
* Joana Cordeiro

XIV Legislature

2019-2022
* João Cotrim de Figueiredo

List of Presidents

References

External links

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{{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