Filipe Santos Costa, a commentator for CNN Portugal, analyses the latest CNN Portugal tracking poll and highlights one point: “Perhaps it is time to look at Cotrim de Figueiredo more closely. As no one imagined him to be so competitive, he was less scrutinised.” He refers to a list of supporters that is on Cotrim de Figueiredo's campaign website, which includes “a founder of Chega, who was André Ventura's right‑hand man.” Filipe Santos Costa says it is important to understand which right Cotrim de Figueiredo represents.
Cotrim de Figueiredo has a list of supporters he calls 'champions in various fields'. One of them is Nuno Afonso, who was a founder of Chega with André Ventura: Filipe Santos Costa
Thursday, 8 January 2026RSS
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Context & Explainers
Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.
