| FREE | |
| Native Name: | LIVRE |
| Native Name Lang: | pt |
| Leader1 Title: | Spokesperson |
| Leader1 Name: | Rui Tavares |
| Abbreviation: | L |
| Headquarters: | Praça Olegário Mariano, n.º 5, 2.º esq. 1170–278 Lisbon |
| Europarl: | Greens/EFA[1] |
| Colours: | Green and red |
| Seats1 Title: | Assembly of the Republic |
| Seats1: | [2] |
| Seats2 Title: | European Parliament |
| Seats3 Title: | Regional parliaments |
| Seats4 Title: | Local government (Mayors) |
| Seats5 Title: | Local government (Parishes) |
| Country: | Portugal |
LIVRE[3] (L;), previously known as LIVRE/Tempo de Avançar[4] (L/TDA), is a green political party in Portugal founded in 2014. Its founding principles are ecology, universalism, freedom, equity, solidarity, socialism and Europeanism.[5]
In 2011, Left Bloc MEP Rui Tavares departed the party due to disagreements with coordinator Francisco Louçã and began sitting as an independent in European Parliament.[6] Tavares also left the Left Bloc's European Parliament group, GUE-NGL, and began sitting with Greens–European Free Alliance.
In 2014, ahead of that year's European elections, Tavares formed Livre. Its founding congress was 31 January.[7] The party was legalised by the Portuguese Constitutional Court on 20 March 2014.[8] On 20 May 2015, it officially changed its name LIVRE to LIVRE/Tempo de Avançar, with L/TDA as its abbreviation.[9] It switched back to its original name a few years later. Its symbol is a poppy.
In the 2019 legislative election, the party firstly entered parliament, with Joacine Katar Moreira as their sole MP.[10] After several clashes between Katar Moreira and the party's leadership, including accusations that LIVRE only used her to achieve the state mandated subvention due to her being a black woman,[11] the party expelled her from their caucus on 31 January 2020, losing all representation in the Assembly of the Republic.[12]
During the campaign for the 2022 legislative election, Rui Tavares, once again the main candidate from LIVRE, was able to appear in the televised debates due to the party having elected one MP during the previous election.[13] Rui Tavares was elected as the party's sole MP, with LIVRE regaining representation in parliament.[14]
During the 2024 legislative election, LIVRE increased their result to 3.2% and elected 4 MPs: Rui Tavares, Isabel Mendes Lopes (who became the first Parliamentary leader of LIVRE), Jorge Pinto and Paulo Muacho.[15]
In the same year, LIVRE selected Francisco Paupério as the main candidate for the 2024 European Parliament election after his victory in the party primaries, a result that caused some internal turmoil in the party after allegations of electoral fraud. Rui Tavares was later criticized for not being present in the party's campaign for the European elections. In the end, LIVRE achieved 3.8% of the votes, their best result so far, but failed to elect any MEPs.
One of the main points of the party's manifesto going into the 2022 Portuguese legislative election was support for a universal basic income.[16] The party also highlighted its support for increasing the national minimum wage to €1,000 per month, extending support for: remote working, pregnant workers, workers with health problems, caregivers and supporting "micro-businesses". The party also supports a Green New Deal for Portugal, lowering VAT from 23% to 6% on vets and pet food, banning bullfighting and legalising cannabis.[17] [18]
Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections
Colors = id:L value:rgb(0.7,0.86,0.06) legend:Livre
DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:5TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:0
PlotData = bar:Seats color:claret width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:2015 color:L from:start till:0.7 text:0.7 bar:2019 color:L from:start till:1.1 text:1.1 bar:2022 color:L from:start till:1.3 text:1.3 bar:2024 color:L from:start till:3.2 text:3.2
| Election | Main candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Rui Tavares | 39,330 | 0.7 (#9) | New | |||
| 2019 | Joacine Katar Moreira | 56,940 | 1.1 (#9) | 1 1 | Joacine Katar Moreira was expelled from the LIVRE caucus in January 2020. | ||
| 2022 | Rui Tavares | 71,232 | 1.3 (#9) | 1 | |||
| 2024 | 204,875 | 3.2 (#7) | 3 |
| Election | Candidate | Votes | % | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Sampaio da Nóvoa | 1,062,138 | 22.9 (#2) | ||
| 2021 | Ana Gomes | 540,823 | 13.0 (#2) |
| Election | Main candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Rui Tavares | 71,495 | 2.2 (#6) | New | ||
| 2019 | 60,446 | 1.8 (#8) | 0 | |||
| 2024 | Francisco Paupério | 148,572 | 3.8 (#7) | 0 | ||
The following results include LIVRE led coalitions.
| Election | Votes | % | Mayors | +/- | Councillors | +/- | Assemblies | +/- | Parishes | +/- | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 17,417 | 0.3 (#8) | New | New | New | New | |||||
| 2021 | 24,685 | 0.5 (#10) | 0 | 2 | 6 | 66 |
| Region | Election | Main candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azores | 2016 | José Manuel Azevedo | 227 | 0.2 (#11) | New | ||
| 2020 | 362 | 0.4 (#11) | 0 | ||||
| 2024 | 735 | 0.6 (#8) | 0 | ||||
| Madeira | 2023 | Tiago Camacho | 858 | 0.6 (#10) | New | ||
| 2024 | Marta Sofia | 911 | 0.7 (#11) | 0 |