PORTUGAL A DARK BREAKTHROUGH

FROM THE EXTREME RIGHT

An uninhibited Salazarism ?

André Ventura presented his political party in 2019 as a group of ordinary people, not an elite, individuals who suffer the consequences of the current system. He affirms that Chega's objective is not to restore Salazarism, but rather to be part of the right-wing populist trend which, for several years, has benefited many political groups in Europe. About Salazar, he said: “For the most part, Salazar has not solved the country's problems and has caused us to fall far behind in many respects. It did not allow us to have the development that we could have had, especially after the Second World War. » He adds: “You don't need a Salazar on every street corner, you need an André Ventura on every street corner. »

And yet there is a certain similarity between André Ventura (born in 1983) and António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1975), who ruled Portugal with an iron fist from 1932 to 1968. In a worldview formulated in the slogan “God, homeland, family”, Ventura adds the word “work”.
In addition, Ventura seeks to seduce part of the electorate nostalgic for the new state. Whenever he can, he presents April 25, 1974, the day of the Carnation Revolution whose fiftieth anniversary is approaching, as the origin of the problems of Portuguese society.
During one of his speeches to Parliament in 2022, he defended the security forces, whom he considered discredited and silenced since that date, and described them as “heroes”. He also presents himself as a defender of the people, wishing to restore their “dignity”; In particular, he plans to highlight national workers and encourage the return of young expatriates.

Some analysts point out that although Ventura is not strictly "Salazarist", he does not hesitate to invoke the principles of Salazarism. Indeed, he adopts the ideological foundations of the new State: highlighting the family as the basis of society and publicly displaying his Catholic faith from 2020 - another key aspect of Salazarism - by showing himself at church alongside his wife Dina.
After his rise in Portugal, are European ambitions emerging for Chega ?

European ambitions

The Chega party embraces the themes of immigration and insecurity, central subjects in the programs of several of its European allies. From 2020, the Portuguese party joined the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament, which includes the Italian Lega, the French National Rally and the German AfD. Chega aspires to play the role of a “bridge” for the union of the rights, aiming in the long term to bring together all patriots within the same group.
Ventura focuses his criticism on Muslim immigration and what he calls "gender ideology", although he adapts them to the Portuguese situation. Portugal has recently experienced strong immigration (121,000 immigrants in 2022, 118,000 in 2023); a third of new arrivals come from Brazil but most of the others arrive from other countries outside the EU, notably India.

Ventura positioned himself in favor of stricter immigration control, proposing to create an offense of "illegal stay on Portuguese soil" and to impose annual quotas on the entry of foreigners based on their qualifications. and the needs of the Portuguese market.

It remains to be seen whether the leader of the right, Luis Montenegro, who won the legislative elections, will have to work with Chega to govern.