Catarina Martins, the diminutive but dynamic and determined coordinator of Portugal’s Left wing party Bloco de Esquerda (BE) has announced that she will be standing down after 10 years at the helm. She said today that what spurred the decision is the “instability of the absolute majority” government. BE is not known for retaining coordinators for long periods – this also helped her decide that now is the time to “start preparing for the political change that is coming” with a new energy. Martins, meantime, will not be ‘going anywhere’ “I am here, I am from here: the Bloco is my party and I will be in all the struggles as always. It is with great confidence that I look to the future of my party”.
