Catarina Martins

Catarina Martins
Official portrait, 2024
National Coordinator of the Left Bloc
In office
11 November 2012 – 28 May 2023
Serving with João Semedo
until 30 November 2014
Preceded byFrancisco Louçã
Succeeded byMariana Mortágua
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 July 2024
ConstituencyPortugal
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
In office
15 October 2009 – 14 September 2023
Succeeded byIsabel Pires
ConstituencyPorto
Personal details
BornCatarina Soares Martins
(1973-09-07) 7 September 1973
Porto, Portugal
PartyLeft Bloc
SpousePedro Carreira
Children2
OccupationActress • Politician

Catarina Soares Martins (born 7 September 1973) is a Portuguese politician and actress.[1] She was the national coordinator of the Left Bloc from 11 November 2012 until 28 May 2023, and was a member of the Assembly of the Republic for the Left Bloc from 2009 until 2023. She trained as a linguist and is active in theater.

Martins was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2024 European election, and was sworn-in in the Tenth European Parliament.[2]

Early life and career

Catarina Martins was born in Porto on 7 September 1973.[3] She did three years of her primary school education in São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde, and returned to Portugal when she was 9 years-old. She enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra but abandoned her course in the third year. Afterwards she obtained a bachelor's degree in Languages and Literature and a master's degree in Linguistics. She also enrolled in a PhD in Language Teaching.[1][4]

In 1994, she co-founded the theater company Companhia de Teatro de Visões Úteis in Porto.

Political career

Martins was elected to the Portuguese parliament as the first Left Bloc representative from Porto in the 2009 Portuguese legislative election. On 11 November 2012, Catarina Martins and João Semedo were elected co-coordinators of the Left Bloc, successors to Francisco Louçã. Semedo quit on 30 November 2014 and Martins has been since the sole party coordinator. She was re-elected in the 2015 and 2019 elections. After the 2015 election the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) agreed to support the government formed by António Costa of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS). On 27 October 2021, the budget proposed by Costa was rejected by the BE and the PCP, leading to early elections. In the January 2022 Portuguese legislative election the BE lost 14 of its 19 seats in the Assembly, although Martins was re-elected in the Porto District constituency.[5][6] On 14 February 2023, Martins announced that she won't run for re-election as the National Coordinator of the Left Bloc on party's XIII National Convention in May.[7] On 28 May, Mariana Mortágua was elected Left Bloc new coordinator, thus ending Martins' 11-year tenure as party's leader.[8]

Personal life

Martins is married to Pedro Carreira, an actor trained in Physics, and has two daughters.[9]

Electoral history

BE leadership election, 2012

Ballot: 30 November 2012
Candidate Votes %
João Semedo
Catarina Martins		 359 76.5
João Madeira 110 23.5
Turnout 469
Source: Results[10]

BE leadership election, 2014

Ballot: 23 November 2014
Candidate Votes %
João Semedo
Catarina Martins		 266 50.8
Pedro Filipe Soares 258 49.2
Turnout 524
Source: Results[11]

Legislative election, 2015

Ballot: 4 October 2015
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PàF Pedro Passos Coelho2,085,46538.6107–25
PS António Costa1,747,73032.386+12
BE Catarina Martins550,94510.219+11
CDU Jerónimo de Sousa445,9018.317+1
PAN André Silva75,1701.41+1
PDR Marinho e Pinto61,9201.10new
PCTP/MRPP Garcia Pereira60,0451.10±0
Other parties 178,9373.30±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 201,9793.7––
Turnout 5,408,09255.84230±0
Source: Diário da República[12]

Legislative election, 2019

Ballot: 6 October 2019
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PS António Costa1,903,68736.3108+22
PSD Rui Rio1,454,28327.879–10
BE Catarina Martins498,5499.519±0
CDU Jerónimo de Sousa332,0186.312–5
CDS–PP Assunção Cristas221,0944.25–13
PAN André Silva173,9313.34+3
Chega André Ventura67,5021.31new
IL Carlos Guimarães Pinto67,4431.31new
Livre Joacine Katar Moreira56,9401.11+1
Other parties 207,1624.00±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 254,8754.9––
Turnout 5,237,48448.60230±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[13]

Legislative election, 2022

Ballot: 30 January 2022
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PS António Costa2,302,60141.4120+12
PSD Rui Rio1,618,38129.177–2
Chega André Ventura399,6597.212+11
IL João Cotrim Figueiredo273,6874.98+7
BE Catarina Martins244,6034.45–14
CDU Jerónimo de Sousa238,9204.36–6
CDS–PP Rodrigues dos Santos89,1811.60–5
PAN Inês Sousa Real88,1521.61–3
Livre Rui Tavares71,2321.31±0
Other parties 91,2991.60±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 146,8242.6––
Turnout 5,564,53951.46230±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[14]

European Parliament election, 2024

Ballot: 9 June 2024
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PS Marta Temido1,268,91532.18–1
AD Sebastião Bugalho1,229,89531.17±0
Chega António Tânger Corrêa387,0689.82+2
IL João Cotrim de Figueiredo358,8119.12+2
BE Catarina Martins168,1074.31–1
CDU João Oliveira162,6304.11–1
Livre Francisco Paupério148,5723.80±0
ADN Joana Amaral Dias54,1201.40±0
PAN Pedro Fidalgo Marques48,0061.20–1
Other parties 48,6471.20±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 77,2082.0––
Turnout 3,951,97936.6321±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[15]

Presidential election, 2026

Ballot: 18 January and 8 February 2026
Candidate First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
António José Seguro1,755,56331.13,502,61366.8
André Ventura1,327,02123.51,737,95033.2
João Cotrim de Figueiredo903,05716.0
Henrique Gouveia e Melo695,37712.3
Luís Marques Mendes637,44211.3
Catarina Martins116,4072.1
António Filipe92,6441.6
Manuel João Vieira60,9271.1
Jorge Pinto38,5880.7
André Pestana10,8970.2
Humberto Correia4,7730.1
Blank/Invalid ballots 125,840 – 275,414 –
Turnout 5,768,53652.395,515,97750.03
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[16][17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Biografia". www.parlamento.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. ↑ 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?]. SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  3. ↑ "Assistants | Catarina MARTINS | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. 7 September 1973. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  4. ↑ "Catarina Martins | Bertrand Livreiros - livraria Online". www.bertrand.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "Parlamento chumba Orçamento do Estado " Archived 27 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine, SIC Notícias, 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "De 19 para cinco. Foi assim que o BE saiu das legislativas". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  7. ↑ Begonha, Ana Bacelar (14 February 2023). "Catarina Martins vai deixar liderança do Bloco de Esquerda". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  8. ↑ Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de (28 May 2023). "Mariana Mortágua: De braço direito de Catarina Martins a líder do Bloco de Esquerda". Mariana Mortágua: De braço direito de Catarina Martins a líder do Bloco de Esquerda (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  9. ↑ "Visão | Era uma vez Catarina". Visão (in European Portuguese). 12 October 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "Catarina Martins e João Semedo confirmados novos líderes". Diário de Notícias. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  11. ↑ "Convenção do Bloco de Esquerda termina com indefinição à volta da liderança". Diário de Notícias. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  12. ↑ "Diário da República - Resultados Oficias 2015". Diário da República. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  13. ↑ "Mapa Oficial Resultados Legislativas 2019" (PDF). CNE. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  14. ↑ "Mapa Oficial n.º 1/2022" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 26 March 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  15. ↑ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 4/2024" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 28 June 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 1-A/2026" (PDF). cne.pt (in Portuguese). Diário da República. 30 January 2026. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
  17. ↑ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 1/2026" (PDF). cne.pt (in Portuguese). Diário da República. 26 February 2026. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
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