The start of a potential political sea change occurred in Portugal on Sunday as populist Chega leader André Ventura won a position in the second round of the presidential election.
Less than seven years after forming his anti-mass migration Chega party, Lisbon lawmaker André Ventura is on the precipice of upending the political establishment in Portugal, securing over 1.3 million votes in the first round of voting.
According results published by the Portuguese daily Correio da Manhã, the Chega leader won over 800,000 more votes than he did in the 2021 race. This saw him win 23.5 per cent of the vote, compared to 11.9 per cent five years ago.
Following the vote, Ventura declared that he now represented “the new leader of the right in Portugal” after trouncing centre-right candidate Luís Marques Mendes of the governing Social Democrats. Mendes only managed to win 11.3 per cent, or 637,391 votes, which meant that he came in fifth place and therefore eliminated from contention.
The presidential race that will conclude on February 8th when Ventura will face off against Socialist Party candidate António José Seguro, who won 1.7 million votes on Sunday, good for 31.1 per cent.
The strong showing on Sunday for Ventura builds off the momentum gained last year when Ventura’s Chega surged to become the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament.
Ventura has embraced a politically incorrect style of campaigning, using slogans such as “This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies must obey the law” on promotional material.
The Chega leader made immigration a central plank of his platform and has vowed to radically reform the liberal policies currently governing the country.
For instance, on top of vowing to deport all illegals from Portugal, Ventura said that his party would deport any legal migrant who fails to show self-sufficiency within a year of arriving. Chega has also vowed to prohibit migrants from accessing state benefits until they have contributed to the government for at least five years.
To limit legal immigration, the populist party would also create an annual quota system, which would favour the “entry of foreign citizens with professional specialisations that meet the Portuguese labor market.”
The party also vowed to publish annual reports on immigration to increase transparency, including the total number of foreigners in the country, their employment status, the amount of state aid received, the number of crimes committed, as well as their financial contributions to the nation, among other indicators to allow the public to judge the “reality of immigrants in Portugal”.
The breakthrough for Chega saw populist leaders around Europe hail Ventura’s accomplishments. In neighbouring Spain, VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, who celebrated the “historic” opportunity of being able to defeat the uni-party system that has brought “poverty and insecurity” to Portugal.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said: “Congratulations, André Ventura on reaching the second round in the presidential election. The Portuguese people have sent a clear message: patriots across Europe are on the rise. Good luck in the second round!”