Deputy André Ventura, leader of the nationalist right-wing Chega party, secured a place in the second round of Portugal’s presidential elections after finishing the first round, held this Sunday (18), in second place, behind only the socialist António José Seguro. The result reinforces the consolidation of the nationalist right as one of the main political forces in the country.
According to official data from the National Elections Commission (CNE), Ventura obtained 23.5% of valid votes, while Seguro was above 30%. The second round – something that has not occurred in a Portuguese presidential election for decades – is scheduled to take place on February 8th.
Chega’s entry into the second round of the presidential election is another milestone in the party’s continuous growth process since its founding in 2019. With the fight against illegal immigration as one of the main axes of political discourse, the party went from being a marginal force in Portugal to becoming one of the main references of the conservative and nationalist right in the country in just a few years.
In its first electoral dispute, in the 2019 legislative elections, Chega obtained just over 1% of the votes and elected only André Ventura to Parliament. The modest initial performance, however, gave way to rapid expansion in the following elections.
In the 2022 legislative elections, Chega increased its popularity and reached 7% of valid votes, forming a group of 12 deputies in the Portuguese Parliament. The result marked the consolidation of the conservative party as a relevant political force, expanding its presence in the national debate, especially on issues related to immigration, public security and the fight against corruption.
Growth intensified in the following legislative elections. In 2024, Chega surpassed the 18% mark of valid votes, significantly expanding its parliamentary representation. Last year, in the early legislative election, the party achieved around 22.8% of the votes, electing 60 deputies, thus becoming the second largest political force in Portugal, behind only the coalition led by the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD).
Chega’s electoral history also includes disputes for the European Parliament. In 2019, still in the initial phase of formation, the party did not run alone: Ventura was the head of the Basta! coalition, which brought together conservative parties, but only obtained around 1.5% of the votes and did not elect MEPs. In the 2024 European elections, Chega ran independently and achieved approximately 10% of the votes, electing two representatives to the European Parliament and coming in third place nationally – a performance that marked the party’s continental consolidation.
Before the current result, Ventura had already contested a presidential election. In 2021, he ran for the position for the first time, still at an early stage of Chega’s consolidation, when the party only had him as a deputy in Parliament. In that election, Ventura came in third place, with around 11.9% of valid votes, behind current president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, re-elected in the first round, and former MEP Ana Gomes.
The presence of Ventura and Chega in the second round of this election is seen as politically relevant, although the position of President of the Republic in Portugal has predominantly institutional functions, such as vetoing laws, dissolving Parliament and calling elections. Analysis published by the Portuguese press indicates that the result confirms a reconfiguration of the country’s party system and consolidates the nationalist right, led by Chega, as one of the main and permanent actors in Portuguese politics.
For Filipe Teles, political scientist and researcher at the University of Aveiro, Ventura’s performance in this Sunday’s election confirms Chega’s electoral consolidation in Portugal.
“The fact that André Ventura reached the second round, with around 24% of the votes, shows that Chega maintains a loyal electorate and allows the party to assert that it is the new leader of the right [portuguesa]”, said Teles to the Portuguese newspaper Public.
In his speech after being confirmed in the second round, Ventura also stated that this Sunday’s result consolidates Chega as the main force of the Portuguese right outside the socialist camp: “We will lead the non-socialist space in Portugal”, declared the presidential candidate in front of supporters. For Ventura, even in a scenario of fragmentation of the traditional right, the electorate made a clear choice.
“The right has fragmented like never before, but the Portuguese gave us the leadership of that right,” he said.
Ventura also highlighted that his campaign surpassed candidacies supported by traditional political forces.
“We managed to defeat the government and Montenegrin candidate (a wing of Luís Montenegro, Portuguese prime minister of the center-right PSD party); the candidate who called himself liberal, but was aligned with the globalist agenda and against Portugal”, he stated. The leader of Chega also made a direct appeal to other non-socialist parties in Portugal, defending unity in this second round.
“The right will only lose elections with the selfishness of the PSD, the Liberal Initiative and others who call themselves right-wing. Now we will see the fiber of which they are made”, he concluded.
