In 2017, when the now leader of the Portuguese far-right André Ventura made the leap into politics as a candidate for mayor in the periphery of Lisbon, then still within the conservative PSD party, people immediately identified him on his campaign tours, despite being a newbie. "They knew me for being a Benfica fan on television," Ventura later recounted. Soccer worked as the lever of popularity for this former seminarian lawyer who founded Chega (Basta, in Spanish) in 2019. With his racist and xenophobic message and his harsh and effective speech, he became the third force, although with only 7% of the votes, but the polls give him almost double.
Ventura now appears as the great protagonist of Portuguese politics. With not much rationality, it is discussed all the time if, after the next elections (in 2026 although they could be anticipated), the PSD would agree with it, if the liberals would lift their veto or if the socialists, if defeated, would help the conservatives .
“Only five years ago, André Ventura was Benfica's man. That was what catapulted him into a national figure”, affirms the journalist Vitor Matos in the podcast that the weekly Expresso is dedicating to the vital trajectory of the Chega leader, through elaborate weekly deliveries.
The social omnipresence of soccer is very intense in Portugal, more than in Spain. On weekends, the first information given by the public RTP newscasts is that of the goals of the big three: Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon. Thus, it is not surprising that it served as a platform for leadership, through the already classic Portuguese way of television talk shows.
Although they were by no means unknown and talked about politics, it was as television commentators that the current President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and also the Prime Minister, António Costa, launched their careers to power, as happened with several others. of his predecessors, such as José Sócrates and Pedro Santana Lopes, who presided over Sporting.
But Rebelo's calm and ironic interventions have nothing to do with the vociferous, harsh and insult-filled style, in a similar vein to the Spanish one, of the sets in which Ventura hardened himself. It was a very suitable training arena for the constant overacting of a rising far-right, as seen with Jean Marie Le Pen. Later, with power in sight, the forms are softened, as his daughter Marine did, but Ventura is a long way from that phase.
The Chega leader is unleashed. On March 28, when two workers from the Ismaili center, a minority Islam, were killed in Lisbon by a knife attack by a mentally challenged Afghan refugee, Ventura wrote on Twitter that “the open door policy without any controls ends in this. The blood of these victims is the responsibility of the Afghan criminal but it is in the hands of the Government of António Costa”. He later insisted on that line, connecting it with the substitution theory in vogue in the European extreme right. It consists of the prediction that in a few generations Muslims may be the majority in Europe.
Born into a non-religious family in a Sintra suburb, where his father ran a retail distribution company, Ventura converted to Catholicism and was baptized at age 14. He was adopting fundamentalist positions. He has recounted that he mortified himself with the hair shirt. It was in the seminary, that he finally left because he couldn't stand celibacy, in the face of carnal attraction. He later studied Law.
Ventura warns of a "risk of a certain cultural and civilizational adulteration of Europe with migratory flows from Islamic countries." There are neighborhoods in Lisbon that look like Africa to you. He calls for the strictest control on entries into the EU. And he has the gypsies in his sights, as was made clear in the 2017 municipal elections, when he denounced that they live in "impunity", "of State subsidies" and without the law being applied to them.
The non-existence of the requirement of a minimum percentage of votes to have seats allowed Ventura to be deputy for the Lisbon district in 2019 with only 2%. He entered Parliament with his overwhelming speech against a traditional right in very low hours and against a center-left government. He took advantage of the situation and in 2022 it climbed to 7%, which in the midst of high fragmentation among minorities placed him third, partly because Costa used it to mobilize his electorate.
The best result was obtained in the southern half of the country, where the northern right was always weaker. But with an abstention for some time close to 50%, it is doubtful that in Lisbon, the Alentejo and the Algarve Ventura captured many votes from the left. Perhaps it would rather mobilize voters who previously abstained, in addition to what it took from the PSD.
Now the polls are giving Chega around 13%, close to what Vox has, at a time of sharp decline for Costa, while the conservative leader, Luís Montenegro, of the PSD, settles in ambiguity so as not to define his future alliance policy.
Like Ventura, he knows that there is a lot left to do.
