Left Bloc

The Left Bloc (Portuguese: Bloco de Esquerda, pronounced [ˈblɔku dɨ (ɨ)ʃˈkeɾdɐ]) is a left-wing political party in Portugal founded in 1999. It is often in print abbreviated to BE, but its name is usually said in full or colloquially abbreviated as O Bloco (The Bloc).

This article is about the political party in Portugal. For other uses, see Left Bloc (disambiguation).
Left Bloc

Bloco de Esquerda
AbbreviationBE
Coordinator of the Political CommissionCatarina Martins[1]
Founded24 March 1999 (1999-03-24)
Merger ofUDP, PSR, Politics XXI[2]
HeadquartersRua da Palma, 268
1100-394 Lisbon
NewspaperEsquerda
Youth wingJovens do Bloco[3]
Membership (2009)6,830[4]
IdeologyDemocratic socialism[5]
Anti-capitalism[6]
Social democracy[7]
Multi-tendency[8]
Eco-socialism[9]
Feminism[6]
Euroscepticism[10]
Left-wing populism[11]
Anti-establishment[12]
Political positionLeft-wing[13] to far-left[14]
European affiliationParty of the European Left[15]
European Anti-Capitalist Left[16]
Maintenant le Peuple
European Parliament groupEuropean United Left/Nordic Green Left[17]
Colours     Red (official)
     Maroon (customary)
Assembly of the Republic
19 / 230
European Parliament
2 / 21
Regional Parliaments
2 / 104
Local Government
12 / 2,074
Party flag
Website
www.bloco.org

Notable members have included Fernando Rosas, Francisco Louçã, and Miguel Portas. The party's current spokesperson is Catarina Martins.

History

Formation and early history

The Left Bloc (B.E.) was formed in March 1999 by the merger of the People's Democratic Union (União Democrática Popular, UDP, communist: Marxist), Revolutionary Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Revolucionário, PSR, ex-LCI, Trotskyist Mandelist), and Politics XXI (Política XXI, PXXI, democratic socialist).[2] B.E. has had full party status since its founding, yet the constituent groups have maintained their existence as individual political associations, so restaining some levels of autonomy in a loose structure.

In the 1999 legislative election the B.E. polled at 2%. In 2002 this rose to 3%.

First parliamentary representation
Marisa Matias, Left Bloc MEP (since 2009)

At the 1999 election B.E. 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 were Francisco Louçã and Fernando Rosas. At the 2005 election B.E. received 6.5% of the votes winning them 8 MPs. In the Portuguese 2006 presidential elections, the Left Bloc's candidate, Francisco Louçã, received 288,224 votes (5.31%).

In the 2009 European 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.

Pro-Left Bloc graffiti on the façade of a vacant house in Rato, Lisbon

The Financial crisis led socialist prime minister Sócrates to agreeing into a bailout memorandum with 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 programme in response to the financial crisis.

Renewal, split and recovery
Francisco Louçã at the 6th Nacional Convention of BE
Catarina Martins, current leader of BE

The historical merger of ideologies which 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 in restricting theory to the basic humanistic and ethical principles common to partisans and supporters in order to conquer 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 chair-man in 2012 arguing that “it is time for renewal” and delegating his functions to a man and a woman.[18] Catarina Martins, 39 years old, and João Semedo, a veteran, would be elected co-chairmen of the party on November 11, 2012. However, the renewal process would last for over one year.[19]

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 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.[20] 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 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.

On 10 November 2015, the Left Bloc signed an agreement with the Socialist Party that is aimed at identifying convergence issues, while also recognizing their differences.[21] The Bloc supported the minority Socialist Costa Government (2015–2019) with a confidence and supply agreement.

Praxis

The Left Bloc is often considered by foreign observers and conservative local commentators as a radical left-wing party.[22] It actually occupies a flexible and moderate position to the left of the Socialist Party (PS).[23]

The Bloc proposed 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 the Socialist Party. 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 the Iberian Peninsula but as in all European territory.[24][25][26][27]

Electoral results

Assembly of the Republic
Election Assembly of the Republic Government Size Leader Notes
Votes % ±pp Seats won +/−
1999 132,333 2.4%
2 / 230
 Opposition 5th Francisco Louçã
2002 149,966 2.7% 0.4
3 / 230
 1 Opposition 5th
2005 364,971 6.4% 3.6
8 / 230
 5 Opposition 5th
2009 557,306 9.8% 3.1
16 / 230
 8 Opposition 4th
2011 288,923 5.2% 4.6
8 / 230
 8 Opposition 5th
2015 550,945 10.2% 5.0
19 / 230
 11 Opposition (2015) 3rd Catarina Martins Confidence and supply support for the PS minority government.
Parliamentary support
2019 498,549 9.5% 0.7
19 / 230
 0 Opposition 3rd

European Parliament
Election European Parliament Size Candidate Notes
Votes % ±pp Seats won +/
1999 61,920 1.8%
0 / 25
 5th Miguel Portas
2004 167,313 4.9% 3.1
1 / 24
 1 5th
2009 382,667 10.7% 5.8
3 / 22
 2 3rd Two seats since 2011 after Rui Tavares' departure.[28]
2014 149,764 4.6% 6.1
1 / 21
 2 5th Marisa Matias
2019 325,450 9.8% 5.2
2 / 21
 1 3rd

Regional Assemblies
Region Election Regional Assemblies Government Size
Votes % ±pp Seats won +/−
Azores 2016 3,414 3.7% 1.4
2 / 57
 1 Opposition 4th
Madeira 2019 2,489 1.7% 2.1
0 / 47
 2 Extra-parliamentary 6th

List of coordinators
Francisco Louçã, founder of BE
Name Start End
1st Francisco Louçã 24 March 1999 10 November 2012
2nd João Semedo 10 November 2012 30 November 2014
3rd Catarina Martins 10 November 2012 Present
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See also

References
  1. "Portal do Bloco de Esquerda - Mesa Nacional elege Comissão Política e Comissão Permanente". Portal do Bloco de Esquerda. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  2. "European Social Survey 2012 - Appendix 3 (in English)" (PDF). European Science Foundation. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  3. https://www.bloco.org/jovens/not%C3%ADcias/item/3377-resultados-da-vii-confer%C3%AAncia-de-jovens-do-bloco-de-esquerda.html
  4. "Bloco de Esquerda comemora décimo aniversário", Público (newspaper), 28 February 2009, retrieved 21 August 2013
  5. Radical left parties in Europe. p.1801. Author - Luke March. Published by Routledge. Published December 2011.
  6. "Where is Portugal's Radical Left? — Global Politics". 11 February 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  7. "Programa do Bloco é "essencialmente social-democrata"". SÁBADO. 9 February 2019.
  8. Dinis, Rita (29 August 2014). "O que está a dividir o Bloco de Esquerda | Ainda não percebi bem. Então quais são hoje as correntes dentro do BE?" [What is dividing the Left Bloc | Still don't get it. So what are the current tendencies inside the BE?]. Observador (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  9. Wall, Derek (2010), The Rise of the Green Left: Inside the Worldwide Ecosocialist Movement, Pluto Press, p. 97
  10. "Country profile – Portugal - Euroviews 2014". www.euroviews.eu. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  11. "Populism Report Q3 2018" (PDF). Foundation for European Progressive Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  12. "Portugal's bright outlook offers Europe some hope". Financial Times. 25 August 2019. The alliance between Mr Costa’s Socialist Party (PS) and further left groups such as the anti-establishment Left Bloc was considered tenuous when it was forged in 2015.
  15. EL-Parties Archived 2016-06-29 at Archive.today. Party of European Left (official website). Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-12. Retrieved 2017-03-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "Bloco de Esquerda - GUE/NGL - Another Europe is possible". GUE/NGL. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  18. Francisco Louçã deixa liderança do Bloco ao fim de 13 anos - News TSF, 18 August 2012
  19. Portugal: Left Bloc in struggle to regain unity after convention at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal, December 13, 2014
  20. Frederico Pinheiro (April 2014). "Out of the Trap". Luxemburg Online. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  21. "Agreement signed between the Socialist Party and the Left Bloc". 6 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  22. "Left Bloc (BE)". The Democratic Society. 19 May 2014. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  23. Conn Hallinan (5 November 2015). "Portugal's Democracy Crisis". Foreign Policy in Focus. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  24. Spain’s election will be felt across the whole continent – article by Owen Jones at The Guardian, December 18, 2015
  25. Governing Party in Spain Loses Majority in Parliamentary Election – article by Raphael Minder at The New York Times, December 20, 2015
  26. Splintered Spanish vote heralds arduous coalition talks – news by Julien Toyer Archived 2015-12-28 at the Wayback Machine and Sonya Dowsett Archived 2019-04-25 at the Wayback Machine at Reuters, December 20, 2015
  27. Parties in Spain Wrestle to Form a Government – article by Raphael Minder at The New York Times, December 21, 2015
  28. "Rui Tavares rompe com o Bloco de Esquerda". Expresso. 21 June 2011.
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