Portuguese
far-right leader taken to hospital after second collapse
André
Ventura taken ill at campaign event less than 48 hours after first collapse and
three days before election
Sam Jones
in Madrid and agency
Thu 15
May 2025 19.27 CEST
The
leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega party has been taken to hospital after
another collapse during a rally days before the country votes in its third snap
election since 2022.
André
Ventura, whose brash, blunt leadership style has helped make the populist,
anti-immigration party Portugal’s third biggest political force, was taken ill
at an event in the southern town of Odemira on Thursday, two days after a
similar episode.
Videos
from the rally showed Ventura, 42, grabbing his chest and trying to undo his
tie before falling into the arms of aides who carried him away. He was taken to
a local clinic and then transferred to a hospital in Setúbal, near Lisbon, to
undergo a medical procedure.
Ventura
had been discharged from hospital in Faro on Wednesday after his previous
collapse. The hospital said he had had an oesophageal spasm caused by gastric
reflux and high blood pressure.
The Chega
MP Marta Silva told CNN Portugal on Thursday that an electrocardiogram in an
ambulance immediately after the second collapse had shown that “everything is
well with his heart” and that it was probably another spasm.
Ventura
posted a picture of himself giving a thumbs-up sign from a hospital bed on
Thursday afternoon. “This is a setback and a difficulty,” he wrote on X. “It
won’t bring us down. Keep going … keep going!!! Portugal is much more
important, it is this country that moves us.”
Chega
looks likely to once again finish third on Sunday, behind the ruling,
centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) and the Socialist party (PS). Recent
polls put the AD on about 33%, the PS on 26% and Chega on 17%.
Ventura’s
efforts to win a place in government have been rebuffed by Portugal’s prime
minister, Luís Montenegro, who has repeatedly ruled out any deal with the
far-right party.
Chega,
which has campaigned on a promise to clean up Portuguese politics at the same
time as increasing its rhetoric against the Roma population, has been hit by a
series of damaging allegations relating to some of its members over recent
months.
In
January, Chega expelled one of its MPs from the party after he was accused of
stealing suitcases at several airports. Another party member was caught
drink-driving the same month, while a third has been charged with paying for
oral sex with an underage male, who was 15 at the time.
Reuters
contributed to this report
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