Miguel António Taveira Franco Sousa Arruda (born 27 March 1984) is a Portuguese politician. He was elected to the Assembly of the Republic by the Azores constituency in 2024. In January 2025, he was expelled from Chega and sat the final three months of his term as an non-attached member.

Education and early career

Arruda has bachelor's and master's degrees in scientific fields from the

University of the Azores The University of the Azores (Portuguese: ''Universidade dos Açores''), or commonly abbreviated as ''UAc'', is the only public university in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. It was founded on January 9, 1976, two years after the Carnation Re ...

. He was a sergeant in the

Portuguese Army The Portuguese Army () is the land component of the Portuguese Armed Forces, Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. With its ...

, a researcher at his university, and a senior technician in an inter-municipal company; he was also the cabinet secretary for the Chega group in 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 ...

Political career

Arruda was elected by the Azores constituency in the

2024 Portuguese legislative election Snap election, Snap legislative elections were held on 10 March 2024 to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic to the 16th Legislature of Portugal. All 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic were up ...

, representing Chega. In October 2024, Arruda spoke in defence of convicted neo-Nazi , calling him a "political prisoner". On 25 December, he wrote that the country was missing

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 ...

, leader of the Estado Novo regime. On 24 January 2025, Arruda was expelled from his party due to a police investigation into allegations that he stole luggage from airports. He denied the accusations and said that security footage of the alleged incidents had been generated by artificial intelligence. He continued to sit in the assembly as an

Independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

. He then attacked Chega lawmakers António Pinto Pereira and Pedro Frazão, accusing them of being

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arruda, Miguel 1984 births Living people University of the Azores alumni Chega politicians Members of the 16th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Politicians affected by a party expulsion process