The leader of Chega, André Ventura, clarified that the exclusion of deputy Henrique Freitas, elected for the Portalegre electoral district, from the party’s candidate lists for the May legislative elections, results from a “focus on more youth” and is a consequence of a “personal assessment”.
“Ensuring the party’s harmony and unity and ensuring representation of various professional sectors, from security forces to pensioners, administrative and auxiliary workers, to have a winning list. We are going to these elections to win, and a result that is not to win or lead the Right’s space will not be a good result for us”, Ventura justified on Monday during the submission of the party’s lists for the legislative elections at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon.
Chega was the last party to submit its lists, emphasizing that the primary objectives of the candidacy are tackling corruption, uncontrolled immigration, and the “fight” for security and the assurance of quality of life.
“In the debates, we will focus heavily on explaining to the country the reasons for our candidacy, but I aimed to present in Lisbon people representative of the entire country”, added the Chega leader.
Meanwhile, Chega deputy Henrique de Freitas, elected for the Portalegre electoral district, disclosed last Friday that he was excluded from the party’s candidate lists for the legislative elections of May 18.
Henrique de Freitas, who also served as president of Chega’s Political District Commission in Portalegre, further stated that he submitted his resignation “with immediate effect” and expressed “great disappointment”.
The Portalegre electoral district is the one that elects the fewest deputies in the country, only two, with the last elections assigning the mandates to Ricardo Pinheiro (PS) and Henrique de Freitas (Chega), formerly of PSD.
According to the calendar released by the National Election Commission (CNE), candidacies for the anticipated legislative elections of May 18 must be submitted by the 41st day before the election date, i.e., this Monday, to the presiding judge of the district court headquartered in the capital of the electoral district.
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