Mariana Mortágua
Mortágua in 2022
National Coordinator of the Left Bloc
Assumed office
28 May 2023
Preceded byCatarina Martins
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
Assumed office
31 August 2013
ConstituencyLisbon
Personal details
Born
Mariana Rodrigues Mortágua

(1986-06-24) 24 June 1986
Alvito, Beja, Portugal
Political partyLeft Bloc
RelativesJoana Mortágua (twin sister)
Maria João Rodrigues (cousin)
OccupationPolitician, economist

Mariana Rodrigues Mortágua (born 24 June 1986) is a Portuguese economist, politician, and current National Coordinator of the Left Bloc, serving since 28 May 2023.[1] In 2013, she was elected to the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, replacing Ana Drago.[2]

Early life

Mortágua is the daughter of Camilo Mortágua, an anti-Salazar activist, revolutionary, and founding member of LUAR. She is the twin sister of Joana Mortágua, also MP of the Left Bloc, and distant cousin of socialist Maria João Rodrigues.[3]

She holds a degree and a master's degree in Economics from ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, having completed her PhD in economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.[4]

She made her debut as a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic at the age of 27, in 2013, due to the need to replace Ana Drago in the Lisbon constituency, where she was elected. Her appointment in September 2013 to the top positions on the list of candidates for deputies by the Political Commission of the BE was contested by a group of militants, who criticized the "technocratic criteria" that guided her choice. In view of this, the BE confirmed that Mariana Mortágua was considered as the element that “would best serve the interests of the party in the Assembly of the Republic, due to her knowledge in the area of the Economy”, something that had “been felt since the departure of Francisco Louçã”.[5]

She later gained particular visibility in Portuguese politics after her performance in the parliamentary inquiry of Zeinal Bava and Ricardo Salgado, in the context of the bankruptcy of the BES bank.[6]

She was re-elected as a deputy in the 2015 legislative elections, which gave the Bloco de Esquerda its highest vote ever. She was a member of the Economy and Public Works Commission, the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Commission and the Eventual Commission for Monitoring the Measures of the Financial Assistance Program for Portugal. She was re-elected as a deputy in October 2019.[7]

In September 2016, she stated that, "from a practical point of view, the first thing we have to do is lose the shame of looking for someone who is accumulating money" and that "we cannot be ashamed of having a social policy of this kind."[8]

She was again reelected in 2022, despite the poor results of the Left Bloc. After Catarina Martins decided not to run again in the upcoming Congress, Mariana Mortágua announced her candidacy to the leadership of the party, receiving wide support from party members.[9][10] On 28 May, Mariana Mortágua was elected Left Bloc's new coordinator, with the support of 493 out of 528 delegates for her motion, and 490 out of 600 delegates for her list for the BE's national board on party's convention in Lisbon.

Political views

Mortágua is interested in various humanitarian causes, especially women's rights and LGBT rights. She awakened to the cause of feminism in her youth, when she was part of the Young Association for Justice and Peace (AJP), led by feminist Teresa Cunha.

Mortágua regularly participates in LGBT pride marches. However, she stated in an interview "today the gay parades are no longer political marches, they are publicity marches", contrary to when they were a "cause against capitalism".[11][12]

Personal life

In April 2023, she claimed on SIC Notícias she was being politically targeted through lawsuits filed by Marco Galinha, chairman of the Global Media Group, and Chega, a right-wing populist political party in Portugal, and noted "I know that this type of pressure and political persecution will continue and will even rise in tone and level, whether because I am a woman, because I am on the left, whether because I am a lesbian woman, whether because I am the daughter of an anti-fascist resistance fighter, or because apparently I have the gift of bothering some people with a lot of power".[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Biografia" (in Portuguese). Assembly of the Republic (Portugal). Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Rego, Ricardo (12 May 2015). "Mariana Mortágua: Uma estrela da rede". Sol (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Batista, São José Almeida, Enric Vives-Rubio, Frederico. "A política é a casa deles". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Biografia". www.parlamento.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  5. ↑ Lusa. "Cerca de 100 elementos do BE questionam escolha de deputada". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  6. ↑ "TVI". tvi.iol.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  7. ↑ "Bloco de Esquerda com o seu melhor resultado de sempre". www.jornaldenegocios.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  8. ↑ Sapage, Sónia. "Mariana Mortágua: a frase da polémica, os críticos, os defensores e a explicação". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  9. ↑ "Mariana Mortágua anuncia candidatura a líder do BE esta segunda-feira". Expresso (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  10. ↑ "Mariana Mortágua avança para a liderança do BE". TSF Rádio Notícias (in European Portuguese). 2023-02-14. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  11. ↑ "Mariana Mortágua fala sobre feminismo, sexismo e homofobia". dezanove.pt. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  12. ↑ "As fotos e as surpresas da 16ª Marcha do Orgulho LGBT de Lisboa". dezanove.pt. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  13. ↑ "Mariana Mortágua acusa Chega de perseguição por ser mulher de esquerda e homossexual". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
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