| Catarina Martins | |
| Office: | National Coordinator of the Left Bloc |
| Term Start: | 11 November 2012 |
| Predecessor: | Francisco Louçã |
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Porto, Portugal |
| Party: | Left Bloc |
| Occupation: | Actress • Politician |
| Children: | 2 |
| Term Start3: | 15 October 2009 |
| Constituency3: | Porto |
| Alongside: | João Semedo until 30 November 2014 |
| Successor: | Mariana Mortágua |
| Term End: | 28 May 2023 |
| Term End3: | 14 September 2023 |
| Successor3: | Isabel Pires |
| Office1: | Member of the European Parliament |
| Termstart1: | 16 July 2024 |
| Constituency1: | Portugal |
| Birth Name: | Catarina Soares Martins |
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 has been a member of the Assembly of the Republic for the Left Bloc since 2009. 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 is expected to be sworn-in in the upcoming Tenth European Parliament.[2]
Catarina Martins was born in Porto on 7 September 1973. 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 on 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.[3]
In 1994, she co-founded the theater company Companhia de Teatro de Visões Úteis in Porto.
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.[4] [5] 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.[6] On 28 May, Mariana Mortágua was elected Left Bloc new coordinator, thus ending Martins' 11-year tenure as party's leader.[7]
Martins is married to Pedro Carreira, an actor trained in Physics, and has two daughters.[8]
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%|-|bgcolor=|| align=left | João Semedo
Catarina Martins| align=right | 359| align=right | 76.5|-|bgcolor=|| align=left | João Madeira| align=right | 110| align=right | 23.5|-|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout| align=right | 469| align=right | |-| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Results[9] |}
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%|-|bgcolor=|| align=left | João Semedo
Catarina Martins| align=right | 266| align=right | 50.8|-|bgcolor=|| align=left | Pedro Filipe Soares| align=right | 258| align=right | 49.2|-|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Turnout| align=right | 524| align=right | |-| colspan="4" align=left|Source: Results[10] |}
See main article: 2015 Portuguese legislative election. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PàF| align=left |Pedro Passos Coelho || 2,085,465 || 38.6 || 107 || style="color:red;"| –25|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |António Costa || 1,747,730 || 32.3 || 86 || style="color:green;"| +12|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Catarina Martins || 550,945 || 10.2 || 19 || style="color:green;"| +11|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |Jerónimo de Sousa || 445,901 || 8.3 || 17 || style="color:green;"| +1|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |André Silva || 75,170 || 1.4 || 1 || style="color:green;"| +1|-| style="background:black;"|| align="left"| PDR| align=left |Marinho e Pinto || 61,920 || 1.1 || 0 || new|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| PCTP/MRPP| align=left |Garcia Pereira || 60,045 || 1.1 || 0 || ±0|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 178,937 || 3.3 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 201,979 || 3.7 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 5,408,092 || 55.84 || 230 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Diário da República[11] |}
See main article: 2019 Portuguese legislative election. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |António Costa || 1,903,687 || 36.3 || 108 || style="color:green;"| +22|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PSD| align=left |Rui Rio || 1,454,283 || 27.8 || 79 || style="color:red;"| –10|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Catarina Martins || 498,549 || 9.5 || 19 || ±0|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |Jerónimo de Sousa || 332,018 || 6.3 || 12 || style="color:red;"| –5|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDS–PP| align=left |Assunção Cristas || 221,094 || 4.2 || 5 || style="color:red;"| –13|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |André Silva || 173,931 || 3.3 || 4 || style="color:green;"| +3|-| style="background:#202056;"|| align="left"| Chega| align=left |André Ventura || 67,502 || 1.3 || 1 || new|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| IL| align=left |Carlos Guimarães Pinto || 67,443 || 1.3 || 1 || new|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| Livre| align=left |Collective leadership || 56,940 || 1.1 || 1 || style="color:green;"| +1|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 207,162 || 4.0 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 254,875 || 4.9 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 5,237,484 || 48.60 || 230 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[12] |}
See main article: 2022 Portuguese legislative election. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |António Costa || 2,302,601 || 41.4 || 120 || style="color:green;"| +12|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PSD| align=left |Rui Rio || 1,618,381 || 29.1 || 77 || style="color:red;"| –2|-| style="background:#202056;"|| align="left"| Chega| align=left |André Ventura || 399,659 || 7.2 || 12 || style="color:green;"| +11|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| IL| align=left |João Cotrim Figueiredo || 273,687|| 4.9 || 8 || style="color:green;"| +7|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Catarina Martins ||244,603 || 4.4 || 5 || style="color:red;"| –14|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |Jerónimo de Sousa ||238,920 || 4.3 || 6 || style="color:red;"| –6|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDS–PP| align=left |Rodrigues dos Santos || 89,181 || 1.6 || 0 || style="color:red;"| –5|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |Inês Sousa Real || 88,152 || 1.6 || 1 || style="color:red;"| –3|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| Livre| align=left |Rui Tavares || 71,232 || 1.3 || 1 || ±0|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 91,299 || 1.6 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 146,824 || 2.6 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 5,564,539 || 51.46 || 230 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[13] |}
See main article: 2024 European Parliament election in Portugal. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |Marta Temido || 1,268,915 || 32.1 || 8 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|AD| align=left |Sebastião Bugalho || 1,229,895 || 31.1 || 7 || ±0|-| style="background:#202056;"|| align="left"| Chega| align=left |António Tânger Corrêa || 387,068 || 9.8 || 2 || style="color:green;"| +2|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| IL| align=left |João Cotrim de Figueiredo || 358,811 || 9.1 || 2 || style="color:green;"| +2|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Catarina Martins || 168,107 || 4.3 || 1 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |João Oliveira || 162,630 || 4.1 || 1 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| Livre| align=left |Francisco Paupério || 148,572 || 3.8 || 0 || ±0|-| style="background:#1D4E89;"|| align="left"| ADN| align=left |Joana Amaral Dias || 54,120 || 1.4 || 0 || ±0|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |Pedro Fidalgo Marques || 48,006 || 1.2 || 0 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 48,647 || 1.2 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 77,208 || 2.0 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 3,951,979 || 36.63 || 21 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[14] |}