In the aftermath of this Sunday's election night, the international press highlights António José Seguro's 'surprise victory' and his success 'against all predictions'; he will contest the second round in three weeks against André Ventura. However, foreign newspapers also emphasise how the first-round results reveal the 'rise' of the far right in Portugal...
'Surprise' Seguro, 'extraordinary' Chega and a 'hard blow' for Montenegro — elections viewed from abroad
Monday, 19 January 2026RSS
AI Summary AvailableSeguro and Ventura set for polarised run‑offRead the synthesized summary with context and explainers
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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.
