Portugal Elections: Far-Right Party Leader Andre Ventura Runs for Office

Portugal is set to hold its elections on Sunday, Mar. 10, and focuses on various issues, such as corruption and the nation's economy.

Additionally, far-right Chega (Enough) party leader Andre Ventura is running for office. This comes as the spotlight is on his party and the unprecedented role that it could play in Portuguese politics.

Portugal Snap Elections

Portugal is holding snap elections on Sunday, Mar. 10, and features a list of candidates who are looking to shore up support among the people, including far-right Chega party leader Andre Ventura.
(Photo : PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP) (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Ventura is a former councilor for the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) as well as a one-time trainee priest. He made his name on national television commenting on football and has made corruption and record immigration the focus of his varial social media campaigns.

He was first elected to parliament in 2018 and has proven that he is an agile performer and his drastic policy shifts have worked to broaden his party's base instead of undermining its credibility.

Ventura now poses as a champion of police officers demanding better pay and he has proposed more modest reforms in education and health while also promising higher pensions. Officials called the snap elections on Sunday after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned, according to BBC.

Polls for the snap elections show that the PSD-dominated Democratic Alliance (AD) is narrowly ahead of the Socialist Party (PS). However, the former falls short of a majority in parliament even with the smaller Liberal Initiative (IL).

The Chega party has been on 16% or more, which is an increase from the 7% in the 2022 legislative election. It has concentrated its attention on what a minority AD government might need to do in order to stay in power.

The leader of PSD, Luis Montenegro, reiterated that "no is no" when he was asked if he was planning to seek the Chega party's support for the AD's program of income tax cuts and free-market reforms.

Costa's resignation came amid the fallout from a corruption investigation into the Socialist government's handling of various major environmental projects. While the prime minister himself has not faced charges, it recently emerged that Jose Socrates, another former Socialist premier, is set to stand trial over allegations of graft, fraud, and money laundering, according to Al Jazeera.

Portugal Election Candidates

A professor of political science at the University Institute of Lisbon, Jose Santana Pereira, said that Chega's increase is primarily due to disappointment with how the current government is performing as well as the center-right government's ideas of doing things very differently.

There are many other candidates who will be running in the Sunday snap elections who are looking to shore up support among the country's people. One of these is 46-year-old Pedro Nuno Santos, the new leader of PS following Costa's resignation.

While Santos is associated with the PS's left wing, his wealthy family background has earned him the title "caviar leftist." In 2018, he acknowledged having sold his Porsche sports car because it "didn't feel right" to own one.

The hard-left party, led by 37-year-old economist Mariana Mortagua, is also looking to win seats in the latest elections. A recent report from Reuters said the party seeks to defend a stronger welfare state, rent controls, taxing the wealthy and big companies and has made overtures to ally itself with the PS.