Cotrim Figueiredo announces candidacy for President of the Republic

J oão Cotrim de Figueiredo, MEP for the Liberal Initiative (IL), announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic this Wednesday.

" I can announce that yes. I am a candidate for President of the Republic in the elections that will take place in 2026 ," he said in an interview on SIC's Jornal da Noite.

When asked whether he would be a candidate as 'João' or as a candidate for the Liberal Initiative party, Cotrim de Figueiredo stressed: "I want to make this candidacy a more comprehensive candidacy and open it to everyone who can imagine a Portugal different from what it is today."

"Yesterday, someone on the team remembered that famous poem by Fernando Pessoa that begins with 'God wills, man dreams, the work is born' and ends with 'Portugal remains to be fulfilled'. Between the first and last verses lies the essence of the reasons why I am running ," he highlighted.

And he added: "I'm sure that great works always come from the dream or imagination of someone or groups of people who think a little further ahead. I look at this country and I wish it were a more advanced country, less gray, less musty, more airy, that it were much more modern, that great works of culture and knowledge could be created here ."

Asked whether it is a non-partisan candidacy, Cotrim de Figueiredo said " no " and that he would "be happy to accept and receive the support of the Liberal Initiative".

The IL MEP noted that he had received " hundreds of messages from people across many parties " who encouraged him to move forward and agreed that "this could be much better and different."

" I know I'm not alone in this and I imagine that segment of the electorate - especially the most dynamic, the youngest - looking at the current range of candidates running in these presidential elections and not seeing themselves ," he said.

In the last presidential elections, in January 2021, the IL-backed candidate, Tiago Mayan Gonçalves, came in sixth place, with 3.22% and 134,000 votes.

For these presidential elections, the current IL leader, Mariana Leitão, had already announced her candidacy for Belém, which she ended up withdrawing when she decided to run for the party presidency - which she won.

So far, the former president of the PSD, Luís Marques Mendes, the former Chief of the Navy General Staff, Admiral Gouveia e Melo, the former secretary-general of the PS, António José Seguro, and the former deputy of the PCP, António Filipe, have already formalized their intention to run in the presidential elections of January 2026.

[News updated at 9:00 p.m.]

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