52-year-old Rui Rocha was elected the new president of Iniciativa Liberal (IL) on Sunday during the party’s boisterous national assembly. He has always been the choice of former president and founder member João Cotrim de Figueiredo – and now it is clear he is the choice of the party that polled the 4th most votes in last year’s legislative elections. One of Mr Rocha’s first pronouncements as leader was “the government can cling on to power, but it is completely worn out, politically dead”. Outgoing João Cotrim de Figueiredo has said that IL constitutes the most intelligent and effective opposition in Portugal.
