BE bets on MEP José Gusmão as number two for the Europeans

Current MEPs José Gusmão and Anabela Rodrigues will be numbers two and three on the Left Bloc’s list of candidates for the European elections on June 9, an official party source said.

The National Board of the Left Bloc approved this Saturday the list of party candidates for the European elections on June 9, which is headed by the former coordinator of the Left Bloc Catarina Martins.

In the list approved and sent to the Lusa agency, second place is occupied by economist and MEP José Gusmão, elected in the last European elections, in 2019, when he was also number two.

Anabela Rodrigues will be number three on this year’s list from the Bloco de Esquerda to the Europeans.

The 47-year-old cultural mediator, who was number four in the 2019 European Championships, replaced Marisa Matias as MEP, after she assumed her mandate as a deputy in the Portuguese Parliament.

Alexandre Abreu, Paula Cosme Pinto, Luís Fazendeiro, Aurora Ribeiro, Marcos Ferreira, Mónica Pestana and Santiago Mbanda Lima complete the first ten names on the list of 21 permanent staff, which includes, in last place, the former Bloc deputy and full professor at the University from Coimbra José Manuel Pureza.

Catarina Martins’ name was chosen to head the list blocking the Europeans at the last meeting of the party’s National Board, on March 16.

At the time, Mariana Mortágua considered that Catarina Martins “is one of the leaders of the European left with the most experience and most recognition”, being the “strongest candidate that the left can present”.

After a decade at the helm of BE, during which she led the party to its best results, but also one of its worst, in the 2022 legislative elections, Catarina Martins passed the testimony to Mariana Mortágua last year, at the XIII National Convention.

Catarina Martins was coordinator of BE between 2012 and 2023.

In the last European elections, the Left Bloc came in third place, with 9.82% of the votes, electing two MEPs.