“This district, this region, and the Algarve will be the great stronghold of Chega in the coming years in Portugal because it will be a district that marks the beginning of the conquest of the country, also here, starting from the south. We are going to conquer Portugal, we are going to clean Portugal,” he stated.
The leader of Chega participated in a rally in Portimão (Faro district), accompanied by the party’s candidate for the City Hall, the deputy and also district leader João Paulo Graça, and more than two hundred supporters.
During a route of less than a kilometer, André Ventura was briefly lifted by two supporters.
At the end of the rally, André Ventura spoke supported at the car door and said that in these local elections, the “goal can only be one, to win.”
“We are no longer a party to settle for second or third. We want to win. If we want to rid the country of corruption, if we want to give a future to young people, we have to win,” he emphasized.
Speaking to journalists during the rally, the Chega leader expressed hope for “a great victory in the Algarve on the 12th,” which won’t bring “headaches” later.
“I am convinced that the victories we will have in municipal councils and parish councils will honor the country, both in the fight against corruption and in the reorganization of space in various dimensions, in terms of mobility, in terms of housing,” he said.
André Ventura also anticipated that “the Algarve will become a major laboratory for Chega on a national level, as it will likely be the district where it will win the most councils.”
“I think it is very important for us to transform the result of the legislative elections into this possibility of governing locally and to show that we can govern well in Portimão, where our candidate is Deputy João Graça, but also in Faro, Olhão, Albufeira, Vila Real de Santo António, and basically in the various municipalities that the Algarve has,” he indicated.
Ventura considered that “the Algarve is probably the place where the strength of Chega is most felt and it is here on the street for everyone to see.”
“I hope to win many councils, I hope that Chega shows that it is a local party, with a great municipal dimension. […] People need to understand that voting for André Ventura is not enough, voting on a national level is not enough. It’s not enough just to vote in the presidential elections. They have to vote for those who will directly change their lives, which is at the local councils,” he appealed.
He argued that “the party must not think that it is either André Ventura or nothing; it must have local leaders, it must have responsibilities, even to be scrutinized and criticized when criticism is due.”
The Faro district was the first that Chega won in the 2024 legislative elections, alongside the Europe constituency. This year, the party led by André Ventura was the most voted in the districts of Faro, Beja, Portalegre, and Setúbal, as well as in the two emigration circles.
On this occasion, André Ventura was also questioned about Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro’s withdrawal as a candidate for the presidency of Pombal City Hall, days after also resigning from his parliamentary mandate.
The Chega president stated he was not informed of the decision and refused to provide a justification, claiming he did not have one.
“I can’t give you what I don’t have. I’m sorry. I thanked him for the work done; I can’t invent one, I don’t think I should,” he said, pointing out that there will still “be time” to be informed of the justification.
Questioned if this departure was related to an interview Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro gave to journalist Miguel Carvalho, published now in the book “Inside Chega, the Hidden Face of the Far-Right in Portugal,” where he criticized André Ventura, he dismissed it.
“It had nothing to do with that; I didn’t even know about it… What is written in invented books and by pseudo-journalists interests me little,” he declared.
During this rally, accompanied by drums, slogans were alternated for the leader and the candidate, and the initiative ended with the chant “Portugal is ours, and it shall remain, Portugal is ours until we die.”
