Portugal: Populist Chega Party Surges, QUADRUPLES the Number of Seats, Becomes a Political Player Ahead of European Parliament Elections
The outcome in Portugal’s snap elections was the one expected by most analysts, with a narrow victory of the ‘centre-right’ but populist party Chega’s growth was WAY larger than predicted.
This reality will shape the future of the country, and it’s also indicative of the European continental trend expected in this year’s European Parliament Elections – a huge shift to the right.
Right-wing Democratic Alliance (AD) won Sunday’s general election by a slim margin of two seats over the socialists, but in its hubris, it is preparing to govern without a majority, lest they enter into coalition with the ‘far-right’ Chega.
The upsurging populists warned of instability if they are not included in government.
AD won 79 seats in the 230-seat legislature, followed by the Socialists with 77 seats.
Reuters reported:
“Chega, meaning “enough”, came third, quadrupling its parliamentary representation to 48 lawmakers after campaigning on a clean governance and anti-immigration platform.”
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is expected to formally invite the AD to form a government.
“Rebelo de Sousa, who will meet with political parties from Tuesday until March 20, told Expresso newspaper on Friday he would do everything he could to prevent Chega from gaining power. Those remarks drew criticism as the head of state is mandated to remain neutral.”
Chega’s surge was boosted by widespread dissatisfaction with the utterly corrupt mainstream parties, as well as leader André Ventura’s communication skills, and it could help it garner even better results in the European Parliament (EP) elections – expected to see the right grow in most countries.
“Chega has since 2020 been part of the European Parliament’s Identity & Democracy group, which is expected to see gains in June.
Spain’s far-right VOX and Matteo Salvini, who leads Italy’s co-ruling party Lega, congratulated Ventura.”
The ‘high’ voter turnout of 66.23% was caused by voters who had been ‘out of the system’ but came back to support Chega.
Luis Montenegro, head of the Democratic Alliance, has ruled out the possibility of governing with Chega, and he reiterated this stance in the early hours of Monday after election results came in.
CNBC reported:
“Chega leader Andre Ventura told reporters that Sunday’s vote ‘clearly showed that the Portuguese want a government of the AD [Democratic Alliance] with Chega’. Ventura said Montenegro would bear responsibility for any political instability if he refused to negotiate with Chega.
The party’s political success reaffirms a political drift to the right across the continent. Observers had been closely monitoring the result of Portugal’s election as a potential bellwether ahead of European Parliament elections in June.”
Portugal’s election was prompted by the abrupt resignation of Socialist Prime Minster Antonio Costa, mired in a corruption investigation.
Populist parties across Europe congratulated Chega’s Ventura for the significant gains in Sunday’s vote.
“’Congratulations Andre Ventura for that great result’, Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s Vox party, said Sunday via social media, according to a Google translation.
Maximilian Krah, member of the European parliament for Alternative for Germany, said Sunday as the votes were being counted, that Portugal’s Chega party was ‘on the way to a fantastic success’, according to a translation.”
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