Selling fear: André Ventura, Chega and the making of Portugal’s far-right

This article was written by Bridge Initiative Senior Researcher Farid Hafez and first appeared in Euobserver on the January 26, 2026

For decades, Portugal stood out in western Europe for a notable absence — unlike most of its neighbours, it had no significant party on the radical right capable of challenging the political establishment, long dominated by the alternation between centre-left and centre-right forces.

That ended on 18 January this year.

In an election that now closely resembles patterns seen across Europe, the political centre showed clear signs of erosion, while the far-right emerged as a formidable challenger.

António José Seguro of the Socialist Party (PS) won the first round with 31.11 percent of the vote, but he was followed closely by André Ventura, founder of the far-right Chega party, who secured 23.52 percent.

As in several other European countries, the candidate backed by the political centre failed to achieve an outright majority in the first round.