Livres (movement)


Livres is a Brazilian social-liberal and liberal economic political movement which joined the Social Liberal Party in 2016 to reinforce the political party's social liberal values.
Livres went on to grow as a liberal wing of the PSL and control the party's political agenda, communication and 13 out of its 27 state directories. Inspired by Livres' liberal approach, notable Brazilian public intellectuals such as political scientist Fábio Ostermann and journalist Leandro Narloch openly supported the PSL.
Livres split from the PSL in January 2018 after conservantive Jair Bolsonaro joined the party. The PSL subsequently dropped social liberalism altogether from its platform, adopting social and national conservatism. Today, Livres is not a party, but a political movement. Although many politicians are still members of the organisation, Livres does not run its own candidates and instead acts as a pressure group supporting socially and economic liberal candidates and policies.
Livres currently has 25 members holding public office positions: one senator, seven federal deputies, eight state deputies and nine city councillors, along with economists, political scientists and more than three thousand registered activists.

History

Livres was founded by Sérgio Bivar and his supporters in late 2015 as an internal libertarian tendency within the PSL. The initial goal of Livres was to reform the PSL following the 2018 general elections and modernize the PSL's platform. After Bolsonaro joined the PSL, Livres split with the PSL, claiming Bolsonaro's ultranationalism policies were incompatible with the organization.
After leaving the PSL, Livres announced it would become a non-partisan political movement, with members and supporters free to join any political party in Brazil, provided they followed the 17 principles of the movement. Of the 43 members who were seeking election in 2018, thirteen went to the New Party, eight went to the Popular Socialist Party, seven to Podemos, seven to the Party of National Mobilization, three to the Sustainability Network, two to the Democrats, two to the Green Party and one to Solidariedade.
In the 2018 elections, Livres elected one Senator, two members of Congress and five members of Legislative Assemblies. In total, Livres-backed candidates received more than 2.5 million votes. After the elections, two more elected politicians joined: one federal deputy and one state deputy.
With the election of Bolsonaro as President of Brazil, the party adopted a position of independence and defense of freedom as a whole and for all people.