BE's Bold Stand: Mariana Mortágua Announces Vote Against 2026 State Budget Amid Party Turmoil

In a move that underscores internal party uncertainties, the Left Bloc (BE) has declared it will vote against the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026). This announcement was made by party coordinator Mariana Mortágua following a National Board meeting, where the party also reviewed its recent cycle of electoral defeats. Without addressing her future leadership, Mortágua seized the opportunity to criticize the Socialist Party (PS), accusing it of endorsing right-wing policies.

Mortágua asserted that the PSD governs and Chega dominates the political agenda, while the PS is effectively writing a 'blank check' for these policies. She highlighted that the PS's planned abstention in the budget vote allows measures that, according to the BE, unfairly burden all workers to benefit large banks and suffer from transparency issues, as previously noted by the Public Finance Council.

Given these reasons, the BE's vote against the budget in Tuesday's session is unsurprising. Mortágua was also questioned about the PS's proposal to permanently increase the lowest pensions. While affirming the BE's support for structural pension hikes, she redirected the focus to attack the PS again.

Emphasizing that European Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque advocated for mandatory privatization of parts of the social security system, Mortágua pointed out that the minister responsible presented the budget without guaranteeing against such privatizations. She questioned how the PS could enable a budget with radical right-wing policies that might include privatizing social security, stressing that more than just deficit targets are at stake.

Silence on the Future

These statements come a day after news broke that Mariana Mortágua will not seek re-election as BE leader and will step down as a deputy after the electoral process concludes. However, she declined to elaborate further, deferring to the party's convention in November, where the decision was pre-announced to avoid confusion.

From the A Motion faction—previously led by Mortágua—there are no updates on a replacement. Publicly, only José Manuel Pureza's name emerged, but he quickly dismissed it in a statement to Lusa to prevent premature scenarios. Mortágua reflected that her decision solidified after poor results in legislative and local elections, which were discussed in the National Board meeting.

She noted that the party internally addressed the 'frankly negative' outcomes, including a reduction in local representatives nationwide, posing challenges for territorial organization—a topic also slated for the November convention.