Chega becomes Portugal's third political force

The Chega party is now considered the country's third political force, with 13.2 % of voting intentions in the latest polls. Although none of its members currently sit on the European ParliamentIf the current trend continues, the party could win three or four seats and join the ranks of the ID political group. 

Chega becomes Portugal's third political force

Portugal's far-right Chega party is set to enter the European Parliament next year with 13.2 % of the national vote, but a recent report has highlighted the party's rhetoric, fueled by a discourse anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-immigration, anti-women and conspiratorial.

In Portugal, the party, which currently has 12 seats in parliament, is now considered the country's third political force, with 13.2 % of voting intentions in the latest polls. Although none of its members currently sit in the European Parliament, the party could gain three to four seats and join the ranks of the ID political group if the current trend continues.

In the same vein as neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, Chega's ideology is described as anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-Roma, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial, according to a report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (Global Project against Hate and Extremism, GPAHE).

The organization's series of reports, which screened Australia, Ireland, France and Bulgaria, sheds light on organized "hate" groups, whose "beliefs and activities demean, harass and incite violence against people on the basis of their identity traits".

As far as the Roma community is concerned, the president of Chega, André VenturaMr. Ventura accused the Roma of being "criminals", abusing social benefits and posing a "serious public safety problem". In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Ventura asserted the need to implement a "specific containment plan for the gypsy community", the report also states.

Ventura also believes that "growing illegal immigration is destroying Europe" and calls for "the drastic reduction of the Islamic presence in the European Union". In the same vein, Chega's speech includes elements of the "Grand Remplacement" theory, a conspiracy theory based on the belief in the threat of a "demographic substitution" of European populations by non-European ones.

Campaigning against the "gender ideology" of LGBTQIA+ rights, the party believes in the existence of a "cultural Marxist" conspiracy, arguing that pro-LGBTQIA+ culture is being imposed on Portuguese society "to change society and destroy European Civilization".

Founded in 2019, Chega represents the first significant far-right political force in Portugal since the end of the fascist dictatorship in 1974. The party's statutes have been repeatedly rejected by the country's Constitutional Court for concentrating excessive power in the hands of the "charismatic" Mr. Ventura.