Multiple corruption scandals fuel support for populist Chega party led by André Ventura
Portugal’s two-week general election campaign has officially begun with centre-right and centre-left parties leading in the polls, but a far-right populist forecast to collect almost a fifth of the vote is a further sign of Europe’s nativist drift.
Recent polls show almost 20% of votes to this far right party, which is very scary to me. Roughly one fifth of parliament members would subscribe to this platform. By the way, they aren’t focusing on this topic as much recently but when they rose to power their platform focused essentially on “solving” the gypsy problem in Portugal.
Last Friday there as a debate between all major parties and to my surprise, it went very well for this guy. He is usually very disrespectful during debates, constantly interrupting others, and is also prone to saying bullshit and his opponent wiping the floor with him. But on Friday the representatives of the two biggest political parties, the ruling party (PS, the socialist party) and especially the main opposition (PSD, or SPD in the linked article, the social democratic party) made fools of themselves and all Ventura (far right) had to do was stay quiet and interject at key points. It makes sense since both parties are wrapped up in controversy right now. I still disagreed with his message but I foresee people him getting many votes from those who were uncertain about whether they’d vote for him or for the social democratic party.
Also, not mentioned in the article, last Tuesday there was a debate between parties without parliamentary seats and it was shocking how many far right parties are popping up (there were always some far left parties). With some saying things like “the carnation revolution (where Portugal overthrew its dictatorship) was the biggest treason in the history for this country”…
I wonder if the majority of Portuguese people are aware that “far-right” = “less rights”.
Why should we Europeans allow people who shit on our values and way of life to live among us?
I agree
We should not tolerate fascism.
Why is it fascist to want to live among people who respect my culture, values, and traditions. All things which these immigrants have proven they do not. How many schoolteachers need to be decapitated? How many more people should get humiliation robbed? How many more girls should become prey to grooming gangs?
Kick them out.
Im saying we should not tolerate fascism because those people do not respect our culture, values and traditions. So I definitely agree that we should kick them out.
Shutting every complaint down with ‘racist’, ‘fascist’, ‘nazi’ etc. is why far right parties are rising. It is time to stop acting like middle schoolers and allow people to voice concerns and have debate, lest they vote far right as the only alternative. Nobody wants that.
Mate, far right parties, especially in Portugal want anything but debate. Their whole message is to pollute discussion and make the extremes normal.
A lot of people vote for them as protest but also a lot of people like their racist, fascist rethoric and goals. This is not a “them poor misunderstood far right parties”.
Fortunately no party is collaborating with them so their biggest impact is making sure that a right government can’t really govern.
That being said, every party has their blame in this by not solving problems or improving people’s lives as much as they should have. Another way to fight this is by having proper alternatives that people believe in but that’s easier said than done.
Far-right wouldn’t win. Poland just PiSsed off the PiS party. At least TVP is airing anti-PiS stuff unlike under the previous government, which TVP was a mouthpiece.
We’re talking about Portugal here, not Poland. But yes they won’t win. It’s still problematic
Socialism would be better for the future of Europe.
