Europe
Europe's far-right gathers in Portugal, shows
support for Chega ahead of election
By Catarina
Demony
November
24, 20237:42 PM GMT+1Updated 7 days ago
LISBON, Nov
24 (Reuters) - Still in celebratory mood after a shock win for Dutch populist
Geert Wilders, some of Europe's far-right leaders gathered in Lisbon on Friday
in a show of support for their Portuguese counterpart ahead of a snap election
in March.
Andre
Ventura, leader of Portugal's far-right party Chega, welcomed members of
Europe's Identity and Democracy alliance, including France's Marine Le Pen and
co-leader of Alternative for Germany Tino Chrupalla.
The
gathering came days after Wilders, beating all predictions, booked major gains
in the Dutch election on an anti-immigration platform. But his hopes of
building a coalition hit an early hurdle.
"In
Portugal, as in other European countries, the left has reached the end of its
cycle... trust in us (far-right) is growing, in Austria, in Germany, in France,
in Portugal," Le Pen told reporters in Lisbon.
Portuguese
Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa stepped down on Nov. 7 over an
investigation into alleged illegalities in his government's handling of
lithium, hydrogen and data centre deals.
President
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa called an election for March 10.
Established
in 2019, Chega stunned the nation when it grabbed 1.3% of the vote in an
election that year, winning the far-right's first seat since the end of
Portugal's dictatorship in 1974.
It then
managed to increase its share to around 7% in the 2022 election, emerging as
the third-largest parliamentary force. A survey released on Friday by
Intercampus showed support for Chega could now grow to 13.5%.
Prospects
of Chega gaining further support are worrying rights groups who say he fuels
racism and xenophobia.
Ventura was
fined in 2020 for discriminatory remarks against the Roma people, and also
criticises the Black community. At the height of the Black Lives Matter
movement in 2020, he organised a demonstration to deny racism was a problem.
"I am
happy to be by his side today," Le Pen wrote of Ventura on X.
The same
Intercampus poll showed Costa's Socialist Party (PS), which will elect a new
leader next month, with 23.6% of the vote and centre-right opposition Social
Democrats (PSD) with 21.9%. Other polls show PSD ahead.
According
to Friday's poll, PSD would need Chega's support to establish a government but
party leader Luis Montenegro has so far ruled out any such alliance.
"If
(Chega) doesn't win the election but there is a right-wing parliamentary
majority, (I hope) there's the capacity to create an alternative," Ventura
said.
Reporting by Catarina Demony, Miguel Pereira and Pedro
Nunes, Editing by Marguerita Choy
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