Mariana Leitão

Mariana de Lemos Quintão Correia Leitão (born 1982) is a Portuguese politician, business administrator and international contract bridge competitor. In the March 2024 national election she was elected to the Assembly of the Republic as one of eight members of the centre-right Liberal Initiative (IL) party. She was then elected unanimously by the other seven as the parliamentary leader of the party.

Early life and education
Leitão was born in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon on 28 September 1982. She graduated in 2005 in international relations, from the Lusíada University of Lisbon. Since then, she has taken three post-graduate courses: in business management, from the European University of Lisbon, in international management from ISCTE in Lisbon, and in data science and business analytics from the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) in Lisbon. From graduation to 2019 she worked in the field of business administration.

Political career
Leitão joined the IL in 2019. Living in Oeiras, she was elected as a member of the municipal assembly of Oeiras in October 2021. She served as president of the party's national council in 2022 and 2023. From March 2023 she worked in the national assembly as the chief of staff of the IL. In the March 2024 national election she was second on the IL list of candidates for the Lisbon constituency and was duly elected when the party won three seats.

Private life
Leitão has two daughters. A bridge player since 2008, she has represented Portugal at the 2018 and 2022 European Bridge Championships and at the 2022 World Bridge Championships. She has been a member of the Portuguese Bridge Federation since 2011 and was president of the Lisbon Regional Bridge Association for the 2021-2024 period.