João Cotrim de Figueiredo explained

João Cotrim de Figueiredo
Office:3rd President of the Liberal Initiative
Term Start:8 December 2019
Term End:22 January 2023
1Namedata:Miguel Rangel
Predecessor:Carlos Guimarães Pinto
Successor:Rui Rocha
Term Start2:25 October 2019
Constituency2:Lisbon
Birth Date:24 June 1961
Birth Place:Lisbon, Portugal
Party:Liberal Initiative
Children:3
Alma Mater:London School of Economics
NOVA University Lisbon
Termend2:25 March 2024
Office1:Member of the European Parliament
for Portugal
Termstart1:16 July 2024
Birth Name:João Fernando Cotrim de Figueiredo
Occupation:BusinessmanPolitician

João Fernando Cotrim de Figueiredo (born 24 June 1961) is a Portuguese businessman and Liberal Initiative politician. He was the party's first member of the Assembly of the Republic, for Lisbon, in October 2019. He was the leader of the party between October 2019 and January 2023, during which the party won eight seats in the 2022 election.

He was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2024 European election, and is expected to be sworn-in in the upcoming Tenth European Parliament.[1]

Education and career

Cotrim de Figueiredo grew up in Lisbon, where he sold clothes hangers door-to-door for a company established by his great-grandfather. He attended the German School Lisbon before studying Economics at the London School of Economics, and then obtained a Masters in Business Administration from the NOVA University Lisbon.[2]

He worked in executive positions at Compal, Nutricafés, Privado Holding and TVI. In 2015 he was elected vice president of the European Travel Commission, while also being president of the board at Turismo de Portugal.[2]

Politics

In July 2019, Cotrim de Figueiredo was chosen to head the Liberal Initiative's list in Lisbon for the October legislative elections.[3] He became the party's only Assembly member, in their first elections.[4]

After the resignation of Carlos Guimarães Pinto, Cotrim de Figueiredo ran for leader of the party in December 2019 and was elected with 96% of the votes.[5]

In the snap election in January 2022, the Liberal Initiative received 5% of all votes, rising from one seat to eight and forming a parliamentary group. Cotrim de Figueiredo said that the group would be a firm opposition to socialism.[6]

On 22 January 2023, Cotrim de Figueiredo was succeeded as leader of the Liberal Initiative by Rui Rocha, whom he had endorsed.[7]

Electoral history

IL leadership election, 2019

|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%|-|bgcolor=|| align=left | João Cotrim de Figueiredo| align=right | 181| align=right | 95.8|-| colspan=2 align=left | Blank/Invalid ballots| align=right | 8| align=right | 4.2|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout| align=right | 189| align=center | |-| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Results[8] |}

Legislative election, 2022

See main article: 2022 Portuguese legislative election. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |António Costa || 2,302,601 || 41.4 || 120 || style="color:green;"| +12|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PSD| align=left |Rui Rio || 1,618,381 || 29.1 || 77 || style="color:red;"| –2|-| style="background:#202056;"|| align="left"| Chega| align=left |André Ventura || 399,659 || 7.2 || 12 || style="color:green;"| +11|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| IL| align=left |João Cotrim Figueiredo || 273,687|| 4.9 || 8 || style="color:green;"| +7|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Catarina Martins ||244,603 || 4.4 || 5 || style="color:red;"| –14|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |Jerónimo de Sousa ||238,920 || 4.3 || 6 || style="color:red;"| –6|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDS–PP| align=left |Rodrigues dos Santos || 89,181 || 1.6 || 0 || style="color:red;"| –5|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |Inês Sousa Real || 88,152 || 1.6 || 1 || style="color:red;"| –3|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| Livre| align=left |Rui Tavares || 71,232 || 1.3 || 1 || ±0|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 91,299 || 1.6 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 146,824 || 2.6 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 5,564,539 || 51.46 || 230 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[9] |}

European Parliament election, 2024

See main article: 2024 European Parliament election in Portugal. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |Marta Temido || 1,268,915 || 32.1 || 8 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|AD| align=left |Sebastião Bugalho || 1,229,895 || 31.1 || 7 || ±0|-| style="background:#202056;"|| align="left"| Chega| align=left |António Tânger Corrêa || 387,068 || 9.8 || 2 || style="color:green;"| +2|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| IL| align=left |João Cotrim de Figueiredo || 358,811 || 9.1 || 2 || style="color:green;"| +2|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Catarina Martins || 168,107 || 4.3 || 1 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |João Oliveira || 162,630 || 4.1 || 1 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| Livre| align=left |Francisco Paupério || 148,572 || 3.8 || 0 || ±0|-| style="background:#1D4E89;"|| align="left"| ADN| align=left |Joana Amaral Dias || 54,120 || 1.4 || 0 || ±0|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |Pedro Fidalgo Marques || 48,006 || 1.2 || 0 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 48,647 || 1.2 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 77,208 || 2.0 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 3,951,979 || 36.63 || 21 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[10] |}

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Jerónimo . Mariana . 9 June 2024 . Quem são os 21 eurodeputados que Portugal vai enviar para o Parlamento Europeu? . Who are the 21 MEPs that Portugal is sending to the European Parliament? . pt . . 10 June 2024.
  2. News: Caetano . Maria João . Contra o Estado impositor-mor. Quem é o deputado da Iniciativa Liberal?. Against big government. Who is the Liberal Initiative deputy?. 27 January 2021 . . 7 October 2019 . Portuguese.
  3. News: Cotrim de Figueiredo cabeça de lista por Lisboa do partido Iniciativa Liberal. Cotrim de Figueiredo heads list in Lisbon for the Liberal Initiative party. 27 January 2021 . . 15 July 2019 . Portuguese.
  4. News: O gestor que serviu cocktails agora é deputado. Quem é o primeiro deputado da IL. The manager who served cocktails is now a deputy. Who is the first IL deputy. 27 January 2021. . 7 October 2019 . Portuguese.
  5. News: Iniciativa Liberal elege João Cotrim Figueiredo com 96% dos votos. Liberal Initiative elects João Cotrim Figueiredo with 96% of the votes. 27 January 2021 . Público . 8 December 2019 . Portuguese.
  6. News: João Cotrim de Figueiredo: “Grupo parlamentar da Iniciativa Liberal será oposição firme ao socialismo”. João Cotrim de Figueiredo: "Liberal Initiative parliamentary group will be a firm opposition to socialism". 31 January 2022 . SIC Notícias. 31 January 2022 . Portuguese.
  7. News: Donn . Natasha . Rui Rocha elected president of Iniciativa Liberal . 27 January 2023 . Portugal Resident . 23 January 2023.
  8. Web site: João Cotrim Figueiredo eleito presidente da Iniciativa Liberal com 96% dos votos . Jornal de Negócios . 8 December 2019 . 7 August 2024.
  9. Web site: Mapa Oficial n.º 1/2022 . Comissão Nacional de Eleições . 26 March 2022 . 1 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220401072948/https://www.cne.pt/sites/default/files/dl/2022ar_mapa_oficial_resultados.pdf . 1 April 2022 . live.
  10. Web site: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 4/2024 . Comissão Nacional de Eleições . 28 June 2024. 28 June 2024.