Chega (; officially stylised as CHEGA!, , often truncated to CH in visual media) is a

national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conserva ...

and

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

political party in Portugal, formed in 2019 by André Ventura. It is on the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

of the political spectrum. Chega won one seat in the Assembly of the Republic in the 2019 election. Since this election, the party has rapidly grown in popularity, gaining significant support for its anti-establishment positions. It was the third most voted party in the elections of

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

taking 12 seats. It saw a surge in support in the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

winning 50 seats, more than quadrupling its previous seat count. It improved its position further in the 2025 election, winning 60 seats and overtaking the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

's tally to achieve second place.

History

Foundation and Basta! coalition

André Ventura was the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD) candidate for mayor of

Loures Loures () is a city and a municipality in Portugal which is part of the Lisbon District, District and Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Metropolitan area of Lisbon. It is the fifth most populous municipality in the country, with a total population of 201, ...

in the

Lisbon District Lisbon District () is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the current Setúbal District. ...

in the 2017 local elections. During his campaign, he made comments about Romani people in Portugal that led to a criminal complaint by Left Bloc candidate Fabian Figueiredo, and the withdrawal of the endorsement from the CDS – People's Party. After Rui Rio's election as leader of the PSD, André Ventura founded a movement within the party called "Chega", with the objective of gathering enough signatures to unseat Rio. After not being able to do so, in October 2018, he left the PSD, turned his movement into a new party with the same name, and resigned his seat on Loures city council. Chega had been initially prevented from registering as a political party as some of the 8,000 signatures presented to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

included minors and police officers. The court accepted the party's registration on 9 April 2019. Ventura made a coalition with the People's Monarchist Party, Citizenship and Christian Democracy and Democracy 21, for which he would be the lead candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election in Portugal. The coalition was approved by the Constitutional Court at the third request as it was rejected the first two times for having a name that included "Chega"; it was finally named Basta!, a synonym of Chega in Portuguese. Ventura garnered controversy for not attending an electoral debate and instead appearing on CMTV in his role as a sports pundit; coalition representative Sofia Afonso Ferreira said that this was due to a late change of the debate's timing by broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. The coalition targeted one or two seats in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

but won none, taking 1.49% of the vote.

2019 and 2022 elections

In the

2019 Portuguese legislative election The 2019 Portuguese legislative election was held on 6 October 2019. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were contested. In a campaign dominated by the Tancos airbase robbery

, Chega won one seat in the Assembly of the Republic, taken by Ventura for the Lisbon constituency. Throughout the 2010s, Portugal was widely seen internationally as an exception to the advance of right-wing populism in Europe. Chega entered the

Legislative Assembly of the Azores The Legislative Assembly of the Azores () is the regional assembly/legislature of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. History The regional legislative assembly, since it was first instituted, has maintained its seat in the city of Ho ...

with two seats in the 2020 regional election. While the

(PS) won the most seats, Chega gave support to a right-leaning government led by

José Manuel Bolieiro José Manuel Cabral Dias Bolieiro (born 23 June 1965) is a Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD) politician, serving as the President of the Regional Government of the Azores since the 2020 election. As holder of that office, he is also a me ...

of the PSD, in exchange for a review of the region's constitutional status. Ricardo Cabral Fernandes of ''

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

'' reflected that "The Azores are a small region — but this was a big step in the normalization of Chega, and a trial run for a similar solution at a national scale". Ventura ran for the mainly ceremonial role of

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic (, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister ...

in the 2021 election, coming third with 12% of the vote, marginally behind runner-up Ana Gomes of the PS. Ventura celebrated his result as the "first time an openly anti-system party has disrupted the traditional right". In the 2022 general election, receiving 7.2% of the vote, it increased its seat count to 12, coming third behind the PS and PSD.

2024 election

In the 2024 general election it received 18.07% of the vote, quadrupling its seat count to a final total of 50. In the 2024 election, the party was the most voted in the Faro constituency, which corresponds to the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

. This was the first time that a third party was the most voted in a district since the

Unitary Democratic Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition (, CDU) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party () and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" ( Portuguese: Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes" or PEV). The coalition also integrates ...

(CDU) won the

Beja District The Beja District (; ) is located in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Beja. It is the largest district of the country by area, comprising around 11% of Portuguese territory. It borders Spain. Municipalities The district i ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. The party was the most voted in ten municipalities, five of which were in the Algarve, though its highest percentage was 36.53% in

Elvas Elvas (), officially the City of Elvas (), is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about east of Lisbon, and ab ...

in the

Portalegre District Portalegre District ( ) is located in the east of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Portalegre. As of 2021, it is the least populous district of Portugal. It borders Spain. Municipalities The district is composed of 15 municipalit ...

. Portuguese political scientists credited Chega's advances to a

protest vote A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms ...

against the two largest parties, and the result in the Algarve to the difficulty that locals face finding housing in the tourism-heavy region.

Luís Montenegro Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves (; born 16 February 1973) is a Portuguese politician and lawyer serving as the prime minister of Portugal since April 2024. He is the president of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social De ...

, leader of the PSD and the Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition that took the plurality of votes in the election, refused the prospect of forming a coalition with Chega. When invited to form a government by President

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...

, he continued with this position and chose to form a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

. Ventura said that Chega would vote against the state budget proposed by AD if his party were not included in the government. During the 2024 election, Chega nominated two

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

s, both of whom were elected as MPs for the party.

2025 election

Chega improved its position again in the 2025 general election, winning 60 seats, beating the

. The party strongly outperformed polls, which had put their vote share under 20%. Retaining its position as the most voted party in the Faro constituency, Chega added three more southern districts from the Socialists: Beja, Portalegre and Setúbal. Alison Roberts of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

put forward that Chega had been helped by recent scandals involving prime ministers from the Socialist and Social Democratic parties, respectively; the election had been triggered by a motion of no confidence in Luís Montenegro for alleged

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

Ideology

Chega considers itself a party with

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and

personalist Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...

roots. Third-party sources have defined the party as

ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...

. It defends the promotion of an effective judicial system and the decrease of the state's intervention in the economy. The party also presents itself as

and

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

. The agenda of Chega is heavily focused on criminality issues, support for the police forces of the country, and to control the misuse of taxpayers' money in terms of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

at the top, overstaffing in the civil service at the middle and undeserving welfare recipients at the bottom. Chega's president, André Ventura, has protested with a group of police officers called Movement Zero, who have suspected extremist ties.

Constitutional revision

Chega supports a rewriting of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic to be "smaller and less ideological". The current Portuguese constitution was drafted during the Ongoing Revolutionary Process (PREC), a tumultuous period of Portuguese history where a transition to some form of socialist society seemed imminent. Two revisions in 1982 and 1989 removed some of the overtly leftist ideological bent (including allowing for

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

s) as well as more charged language, but crucially, the phrase that the constitution itself "opens the way for a socialist society" remains. This is taken by many as an official declaration that the

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

is, or at the very least, ought to be an ideologically socialist state. Despite being a relatively small section of the constitution, Chega takes this to be a form of ideological favoritism that ignores and alienates large sections of the Portuguese population, resulting in an overall unrepresentative constitution. Proposed constitutional changes involve getting rid of several government positions and jobs (including but not limited to, the Ministry of Education), reducing the number of members of the Assembly to 100 down from 230, revieweing

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians or other political leaders are granted full immunity from legal prosecution, both civil prosecution and criminal prosecution, in the course of the exe ...

, and requiring that the prime-minister be a Portuguese citizen from birth. More drastically, Ventura has argued for the abolishment of the position of

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, thus ushering in a "Fourth Portuguese Republic" under a

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

, as well as getting rid of the constitution's "material guardrails", which would facilitate further ammendments to any and all of its parts.

Society

Chega supports

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

sentences, the reintroduction of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

and

chemical castration Chemical castration is castration via anaphrodisiac drugs, whether to reduce libido and sexual activity, management of cancer, to treat cancer, or otherwise. Unlike orchiectomy, surgical castration, where the gonads are removed through an incision ...

for reoffending rapists. Which would require a change to the constitution, which "cruel punishments" as well as lifetime or indefinite sentences Chega opposes abortion and "

gender ideology The anti-gender movement is a global phenomenon that opposes concepts often referred to as "gender ideology" or "gender theory". These loosely-defined terms are commonly used by the movement to critique a range of issues related to gender equ ...

". It supports " traditional marriage" on its party platform, but it has not gone as far as advocating for the criminalization or even just un-legalization of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, with André Ventura going as far as stating that he would never prohibit it for as long as he remains party leader. While having not overtly religious (unlike even some more moderate right-of-center parties, like CDS-PP) , Christianity is said to remain an important aspect of Chega's character. President André Ventura and vice-president Pedro Frazão are well-known Catholics, and in 2024, 67.9% of Chega supporters identified as having a religious identity. Chega also has ties with and enjoys support from many Christian movements, including several

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

es where the majority of congregants are of Brazilian origin. While this fact may be used to dissuade charges of xenophobia, critics of the party have highlighted the hypocrisy of touting anti-immigrant rhetoric while enjoying broad support from certain immigrant demographics, with some immigration restrictionists both within and outside the party even alleging a conflict of interest.

Immigration and minorities

Describing itself a "strong proponent of

Western civilization Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompasses the social no ...

", the party positions itself against " Islamist extremism" and proposes stronger border controls and a decrease of "mass and illegal immigration". It has been also described as antiziganist. The party supports integration measures for immigrants and states that all immigrants and foreign residents should be "obliged to respect our rules, rites, customs and traditions." It also supports bilateral agreements and limited immigration from former Portuguese colonies such as

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Portuguese-speaking African countries The Portuguese-speaking African countries (; PALOP), also known as Lusophone Africa, consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Prínci ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

while taking a more critical stance on non-Western immigration. It also calls for a

zero tolerance A zero-tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, I ...

policy on illegal immigration and for the deportation of immigrants with criminal records or those who are economically inactive. It is also opposed to

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

. The party claim that it rejects xenophobia on its platform. The party opposes

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

and "open door immigration" policies for both Portugal and the

external border of the European Union The border of the European Union consists of the land borders that member states of the EU share with non-EU states adjacent to the union. The EU shares land borders with 21 countries and 3 dependencies. List The lengths of the borders the Eu ...

Economy

The party advocates for a decrease of the

tax incidence In economics, tax incidence or tax burden is the effect of a particular tax on the distribution of economic welfare. Economists distinguish between the entities who ultimately bear the tax burden and those on whom the tax is initially imposed. Th ...

, considering the current system to be "brutal and aggressive to the ones who work and build wealth, taking away half of their incomes". It additionally defends a reduction of both

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

and the number of

bureaucrat A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", wh ...

s, asserting that it is one of the main reasons for the "Portuguese competitive economic backwardness".

Foreign policy

Europe

Chega's stance on the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

has been described as

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

. The party states that it supports the original " four freedoms" principle of free movement of goods, capital, services and people among member states, but argues for a "Europe of sovereign nations united by shared

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

and Judeo-Christian principles" and opposes interference into national political decision making within member states by the EU. It also calls on Portugal to pursue more independent foreign and economic policies from Brussels and rejects compulsory EU migrant and refugee quotas. Furthermore, the party also argues that Portugal should exit the EU if it tries to become a

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

. On the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, António Tânger Corrêa, the party's vice president and leading candidate for the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

, has been critical of Ukraine, advocating a peace deal that would involve "reinforced cooperation" between Ukraine and Russia in a way that the "Russians feel comfortable". On the other hand, Ventura has said that the defeat of Ukraine will be the defeat of the entire

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, and Portugal, as a member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and the

, would send troops "in case of extreme need".

Brazil

Chega supported the

presidency of Jair Bolsonaro Jair Bolsonaro's tenure as the 38th president of Brazil began with his inauguration on 1 January 2019, and ended on 1 January 2023. Bolsonaro took office following his victory in the 2018 Brazilian general election, 2018 general election, defea ...

in Brazil, but party leader Ventura said that the former

President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

deserves condemnation if proven to have instigated the 2023 Brazilian Congress attack; Ventura also said that sections of the Brazilian population were right to be frustrated by

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

's victory over Bolsonaro before the attack.

Middle East

Chega has taken a strongly pro-Israel stance on the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, criticising other Portuguese political parties for their stances on the conflict.

Organization

Leadership elections

The 2020 Chega leadership election was held on 6 September 2020. André Ventura was re-elected with more than 99% of the vote, facing no opposition. The party's statutes have been rejected by the

several times for concentrating excessive power in the hands of Ventura.

Factions

In 2020, it was reported that there was a "guerrilla atmosphere" within the party, the result of tensions between the different factions that make up the party.

Elected politicians

Members of the Assembly of the Republic

* André Ventura (

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

) * Rui Paulo Sousa (Lisbon) * Marta Martins da Silva (Lisbon) * Pedro Pessanha (Lisbon) * Ricardo Dias Pinto (Lisbon) * Felicidade Vital (Lisbon) * Bruno Nunes (Lisbon) * Madalena Cordeiro (Lisbon) * José Barreira Soares (Lisbon) * Rui Afonso (

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

) * Diogo Pacheco de Amorim (Porto) * Cristina Rodrigues (Porto) * José António Carvalho (Porto) * Marcus Santos (Porto) * Sónia Monteiro (Porto) * Raul Melo (Porto) * Filipe Melo (

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

) * Rodrigo Alves Taxa (Braga) * Vanessa Barata (Braga) * Carlos Alberto Pinto (Braga) * Rita Matias (

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

) * Patrícia de Carvalho (Setúbal) * Nuno Gabriel (Setúbal) * Daniel Teixeira (Setúbal) * Jorge Valsassina Galveias ( Aveiro) * Maria José Aguiar (Aveiro) * Armando Grave (Aveiro) * Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro (

Leiria Leiria () is a city and municipality in the Central Region, Portugal, Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, after Coimbra, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat o ...

) * Luís Paulo Fernandes (Leiria) * António Pinto Pereira (

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

) * Eliseu Neves (Coimbra) * Pedro Pinto ( Faro) * João Graça (Faro) * Sandra Ribeiro (Faro) * Pedro Frazão ( Santarém) * Pedro Correia (Santarém) * Luísa Costa Macedo (Santarém) * João Tilly (

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões Interm ...

) * Bernardo Pessanha (Viseu) * Francisco Gomes (

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

) * '' Miguel Arruda (

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

) – became independent in January 2025'' * Eduardo Teixeira (

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a concelho, municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo District, Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2021 was 85,778, in an area of . The urbanized are ...

) * Manuela Tender (

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the Norte, Portugal, North region, Portugal. It is also the seat of the Douro (intermunicipal community), Douro Intermunicipal communities of Portugal, intermunicipal comm ...

) * João Ribeiro ( Castelo Branco) * Diva Ribeiro (

) * Rui Cristina (

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

) * Nuno Simões de Melo ( Guarda) * Henrique de Freitas ( Portalegre) * José Dias Fernandes (

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

) * Manuel Magno ( Outside Europe) * André Ventura (Lisbon)
''Sofia Diniz – from November 2023 to November 2023'' * Rui Paulo Sousa (Lisbon)
''Luís Pereira – from November 2023 to November 2023'' * Rita Matias (Lisbon) * Pedro Pessanha (Lisbon) * Rui Afonso (Porto) * Diogo Pacheco de Amorim (Porto) * Filipe Melo (Braga)
'' Rodrigo Alves Taxa – from November 2023 to November 2023'' * Rita Matias (Setúbal) * Jorge Valsassina Galveias (Aveiro) * Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro (Leiria) * Pedro Pinto (Faro) * Pedro Frazão (Santarém) * André Ventura (Lisbon)
'' Diogo Pacheco de Amorim – from September 2021 to October 2021''

Members of the European Parliament

* António Tânger Corrêa * Tiago Moreira de Sá

International affiliation and relations

Chega maintains close links with Vox, a similar party in neighbouring Spain. In July 2020, Chega joined the European

Identity and Democracy Party Patriots.eu (), formerly known as the Identity and Democracy Party (ID or ID Party) and the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), is a nationalist, right-wing populist and Eurosceptic European political party founded in 2014. It ...

, where its allies included the

National Rally The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

(France), Lega (Italy) and the

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

. The party has the mutual support of

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

, the former

Election results

Assembly of the Republic

Vote share in the Portuguese legislative elections ImageSize = width:250 height:200 PlotArea = width:188 height:170 left:40 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:CH value:rgb(0.02,0,0.57) legend:Chega DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:25 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:0 PlotData = bar:Seats color:claret width:27 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:2019 color:CH from:start till:1.3 text:1.3 bar:2022 color:CH from:start till:7.2 text:7.2 bar:2024 color:CH from:start till:18.1 text:18.1 bar:2025 color:CH from:start till:22.8 text:22.8

Presidential

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Regional Assemblies

Local elections

Public profile

Critical response

Due to its

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...

, anti-Islam and

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

stances, Chega has been the target of its critics who underline the party's extreme views on various subjects, some of which include the negative comments regarding immigration and minorities, namely the Romani, its opposition to certain aspects of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, its criticism of the judicial leniency regarding serious crimes, and governmental over-expenditure with public services. The party has also been targeted by critics for reusing a slightly modified version of the motto of the Portuguese dictator

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman, academic, and economist who served as Portugal's President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal, President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1 ...

"Deus, Pátria, Família" (God, Fatherland, Family). The party has been criticized for having supporters of Salazar within their ranks. The Global Project against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), an American NGO specialising in the study of extremist movements, warned in a 2023 report that Chega is an "anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-LGBT, anti-Roma, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial party". The organisation also highlights the presence of numerous

white supremacists White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine o ...

, identitarians and

neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...

in the party's ranks. A subsequent investigatory article by GPAHE found evidence of "more extreme" members in the Chega Youth group, including "white supremacists, fans of former dictator Antonio Salazar, and

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

sympathizers" including the President of the Coimbra branch João Antunes, the leader of the Porto branch Francisco Araujo, and Vila Nova de Famalicão leader Joana Pinto Azevedo. In a TV debate in 2024,

called Chega leader André Ventura "xenophobic, racist and demagogic".

Accusations of racism

In response to criticism of the

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...

, party president André Ventura denounced the accusations of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

against his party, claiming that Chega defends equal rights and duties, and that it "doesn't desire a country on which minorities can believe they have more rights than others simply for being minorities". On 27 June 2020, the party organized a protest entitled "Portugal is not racist", where Ventura further mentioned that there is no

structural racism A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

in Portugal, and that the political left uses racism as a pretext to foment political agendas.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Political parties in Portugal 2019 establishments in Portugal Anti-abortion organizations in Europe Anti-immigration politics in Europe Antiziganism in Portugal Anti-Islam political parties in Europe Anti-Islam sentiment in Portugal Conservative parties in Portugal Eurosceptic parties in Portugal Far-right parties in Portugal Far-right politics in Portugal Member parties of the Identity and Democracy Party Misogyny National conservative parties Opposition to same-sex marriage in Europe Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Europe Political parties established in 2019 Political parties in Portugal Portuguese nationalism Right-wing parties in Europe Right-wing populism in Portugal Right-wing populist parties Social conservative parties Ultranationalist parties

History

Foundation and Basta! coalition

2019 and 2022 elections

2024 election

2025 election

Ideology

Constitutional revision

Society

Immigration and minorities

Economy

Foreign policy

Europe

Brazil

Middle East

Organization

Leadership elections

Factions

Elected politicians

Members of the Assembly of the Republic

Members of the European Parliament

International affiliation and relations

Election results

Assembly of the Republic

Presidential

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Regional Assemblies

Local elections

Public profile

Critical response

Accusations of racism

See also

Notes

References

External links