Rui Rocha
Rui Rocha | |
|---|---|
 Rocha in 2024 | |
| President of the Liberal Initiative | |
| In office 22 January 2023 – 31 May 2025 | |
| Preceded by | João Cotrim de Figueiredo |
| Succeeded by | Miguel Rangel (acting) |
| Member of the Assembly of the Republic | |
| Assumed office 29 March 2022 | |
| Constituency | Braga |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 March 1970 Lobito, Portuguese Angola |
| Political party | Liberal Initiative (2020–present) |
| Children | 2 |
Rui Nuno de Oliveira Garcia da Rocha (born 13 March 1970) is a Portuguese politician and member of the Assembly of the Republic who served as President of the Liberal Initiative from 2023 until 2025.
Biography
[edit]Born in Lobito, Portuguese Angola, Rocha moved to Braga as a child.[1] He is married and has two children. He graduated with a law degree from the Catholic University of Portugal in Porto and was a guest assistant on law courses at the Moderna University. He works as a lawyer, legal consultant and director of human resources, in the fields of construction, motoring, finance and specialised retail.[2]
Rocha joined the Liberal Initiative in August 2020. He worked on Tiago Mayan Gonçalves's campaign in the 2021 Portuguese presidential election. In the 2022 Portuguese legislative election, he was the party's lead candidate in Braga and was elected.[2]
Endorsed by outgoing leader João Cotrim de Figueiredo, Rocha was voted party leader on 22 January 2023. He received 51.7% of the votes from 2,300 party members.[3] He set the target of reaching 15% of the votes in the following Portuguese legislative election and declared that he would only work with the Social Democratic Party if that party would not ally with Chega.[2]
In the 2024 legislative election, called after António Costa's resignation as Prime Minister, the Liberal Initiative kept the 8 deputies it had before, and had only a slight increase in votes, failing the objective he had set after the election was called of electing at least 12 deputies.[4] Rui Rocha showed himself available for negotiations with the Social Democratic Party,[5] but the two parties ended up not forming any agreement to join the government or for any parliamentary support.[6]
He resigned as president of the Liberal Initiative on 31 May 2025, following the results of the 2025 Portuguese legislative elections[7].
Electoral history
[edit]IL leadership election, 2023
[edit]| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rui Rocha | 888 | 51.7 | |
| Carla Castro | 757 | 44.0 | |
| José Cardoso | 74 | 4.3 | |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 9 | – | |
| Turnout | 1,728 | 74.26 | |
| Source: IL Convention[8] | |||
Legislative election, 2024
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD | Luís Montenegro | 1,867,442 | 28.8 | 80 | +3 | |
| PS | Pedro Nuno Santos | 1,812,443 | 28.0 | 78 | –42 | |
| Chega | André Ventura | 1,169,781 | 18.1 | 50 | +38 | |
| IL | Rui Rocha | 319,877 | 4.9 | 8 | ±0 | |
| BE | Mariana Mortágua | 282,314 | 4.4 | 5 | ±0 | |
| CDU | Paulo Raimundo | 205,551 | 3.2 | 4 | –2 | |
| Livre | Rui Tavares | 204,875 | 3.2 | 4 | +3 | |
| PAN | Inês Sousa Real | 126,125 | 2.0 | 1 | ±0 | |
| ADN | Bruno Fialho | 102,134 | 1.6 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Other parties | 104,167 | 1.6 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 282,243 | 4.4 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 6,476,952 | 59.90 | 230 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[9] | ||||||
IL leadership election, 2025
[edit]| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rui Rocha | 73.4 | ||
| Rui Malheiro | 26.6 | ||
| Blank/invalid ballots | – | ||
| Turnout | |||
| Source:[10] | |||
Legislative election, 2025
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD | Luís Montenegro | 2,008,488 | 31.8 | 91 | +11 | |
| PS | Pedro Nuno Santos | 1,442,546 | 22.8 | 58 | –20 | |
| Chega | André Ventura | 1,438,554 | 22.8 | 60 | +10 | |
| IL | Rui Rocha | 338,974 | 5.4 | 9 | +1 | |
| Livre | Rui Tavares | 257,291 | 4.1 | 6 | +2 | |
| CDU | Paulo Raimundo | 183,686 | 2.9 | 3 | –1 | |
| BE | Mariana Mortágua | 125,808 | 2.0 | 1 | –4 | |
| PAN | Inês Sousa Real | 86,930 | 1.4 | 1 | ±0 | |
| ADN | Bruno Fialho | 81,660 | 1.3 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Other parties | 95,384 | 1.5 | 1 | +1 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 260,648 | 4.1 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 6,319,969 | 58.25 | 230 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[11] | ||||||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Rui Rocha é o novo presidente da Iniciativa Liberal" [Rui Rocha is the new president of the Liberal Initiative] (in Portuguese). ZAP. 22 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
- ^ a b c "Quem é Rui Rocha, líder da IL pouco mais de dois anos após ter entrado no partido" [Who is Rui Rocha, leader of the IL little more than two years after entering the party]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 22 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
- ^ Ribeiro Pinto, Paulo (22 January 2023). "Rui Rocha é o novo presidente da Iniciativa Liberal" [Rui Rocha is the new president of the Liberal Initiative]. Jornal de Negócios (in Portuguese). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
- ^ "IL mantém os atuais oito deputados e elege pela primeira vez em Aveiro". Jornal NOVO (in European Portuguese). Lusa. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
- ^ "Rui Rocha: "Não será pela Iniciativa Liberal que não haverá solução estável de governação"". O Jogo (in Portuguese). 11 March 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
- ^ "Iniciativa Liberal fora do Governo de Montenegro. Partidos "não avançarão para entendimentos alargados"". ECO (in European Portuguese). 26 March 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
- ^ "Rui Rocha abandona liderança da Iniciativa Liberal". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 31 May 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
- ^ "Iniciativa Liberal: Margem curta na vitória da continuidade". Diário de Notícias. 22 January 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
- ^ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 2-A/2024" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Rui Rocha reeleito líder da Iniciativa Liberal". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 3 February 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
- ^ "Mapa Oficial n.º 2-A/2025, de 31 de maio" (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Diário da República. 31 May 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
External links
[edit]- Rui Rocha at Assembly of the Republic (in Portuguese)
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- 1970 births
- 20th-century Portuguese lawyers
- 21st-century Portuguese lawyers
- Catholic University of Portugal alumni
- Liberal Initiative politicians
- Living people
- Members of the 15th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)
- Members of the 16th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)
- People from Braga
- People from Lobito
- Portuguese politician stubs