The leader of Chega, André Ventura, stated on Saturday that “the country needs three Salazars,” asserting that if he had said, “we need three Otelos Saraiva de Carvalho or three Álvaros Cunhais,” it would have been much better understood. However, he emphasized that he is not a supporter of António de Oliveira Salazar, while assuring that if elected, he would not be a President of the Republic who merely cuts ribbons, a role he attributed to the other candidates running for Belém.
“If I had said, ‘the country needs three Álvaros Cunhais,’ would you be outraged? Or ‘three Otelos Saraiva de Carvalho’? Would there be a problem or not? Or have we created a narrative that being Right-wing is bad, that the Left-wing guys are good, and we can only be Left-wing in Portugal?” he questioned in an interview with CNN Portugal.
The Chega leader argued that his statement broadcast on SIC Notícias was “a popular expression that is widely used,” noting that “we cannot compare Salazar or the Estado Novo regime with the times we are living in.”
“I am not a defender of Salazar, but I think the country has entered such a state of chaos in terms of crime, in terms of organization, that today, frankly, I think that three Salazars were needed to put the country in order. Perhaps, if I had said that we need three Otelos Saraiva de Carvalho or three Álvaros Cunhais, the country would understand much better and would be happy. […] Those did kill, set bombs, wanted to destroy the country. Salazar made many mistakes, but at least he managed to end the chaos,” he added, stating that “the country needs more of three Salazars than three Otelos Saraiva de Carvalho or three Álvaros Cunhais.”
Similarly, he reiterated the idea that the President of the Republic often becomes a ribbon-cutter, a role he attributed to Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, Luís Marques Mendes, and António José Seguro, also candidates for the 2026 presidential elections. “I will not be that ribbon-cutter,” he stressed.
André Ventura officially announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic in September and now takes on the missions of putting Portugal “in order” and fighting the “epidemic of corruption.” As head of state, the Chega leader promises he would not be a “ribbon-cutter” or a “marketing agent.”
Notícias ao Minuto | 23:21 – 24/10/2025
“With the exception of General Ramalho Eanes, we have always had bad Presidents. Then there were others, like the one we have now, who sought to generate greater intervention, but a clumsy intervention,” he said, arguing that the head of state “is a conductor of the nation’s destiny.”
In an interview marked by attacks on commentators and the journalist, whom he accused of spreading fake news, André Ventura said he views politics “as a mission rather than an ambition,” which is why he stepped up as a candidate, even though it wasn’t his desire.
“I don’t want to run for the sake of being a candidate; that’s bad, it’s wrong. The country knows these weren’t the elections I desired. The country knows Chega sought to have a candidate with political affirmation in this area, in the fight against corruption, in immigration, in security issues, in the country’s traditional values, and in defending national identity, and none of the candidates did that”, he explained.
“I’m sure Sá Carneiro would be against the system”
When asked about the nature of the system he intends to fight, since, by most definitions, Chega is part of this same system, the candidate referred to the controversy over posters with statements like “This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies have to obey the law” to support that, in his view, he is “on the right track.”
“When there is a system that constantly unites against a person or a party, I have the conviction that, as [Winston] Churchill said, I’m on the right path. I recently had this feeling with the Gypsies and Bangladesh posters, when the whole country was bothered by saying ‘this is not Bangladesh.’ My friends, it’s not Bangladesh, I don’t want it to be Bangladesh,” he said, indicating that the wave of negative reactions he faced belongs to the system.
Lawyer António Garcia Pereira filed a complaint with the Attorney General of the Republic, Amadeu Guerra, against Chega, requesting that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) initiate a “procedure to request the dissolution” of the party led by André Ventura.
Daniela Filipe | 15:47 – 30/10/2025
He admitted, moreover, that he cannot promise that he will never have a deputy or a mayor who does not abide by the law, but his attitude “will always be to make that cleanup.”
“In the most famous cases, which I considered truly serious, I immediately removed the people, which did not happen in the PSD and much less in the PS. […] I ask, [Francisco] Sá Carneiro would be a person of the system? It’s not because he was the PSD leader or a candidate for President of the Republic or a mayor that he would stop being against the system. I’m sure Sá Carneiro would be against the system,” he speculated.
“It was the PSD that did not want to keep pace with the change happening in the world”
André Ventura also rejected that Chega has grown thanks to the dissemination of false news, despite the numerous cases associated with the party. For example, the Chega was the party that most spread misinformation on its social networks in the last legislative elections, according to a study by the University of Beira Interior (UBI), in partnership with the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC). The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) also linked Chega to the increase of anti-immigration misinformation, suggesting coordination with the far-right Vox party of Spain in some cases.
“No, we do not grow based on false news. We tell truths that people are not used to hearing and that you, often, do not want to publish. That is the difference between a party growing because it has people’s votes and others growing because they don’t need votes, they never go to scrutiny,” he said.
Confronted with his contradictory positions over the years, especially regarding the Gypsy community and immigrants, the Chega leader recalled that he lost the support of the CDS, in 2017, because “he wanted to carry out what he believed, even if there were proceedings, even if there were charges.”
Portugal and Spain experienced an increase in electoral misinformation, particularly in legislative elections, with far-right parties like Chega being the main sources, according to a SmartVote report.
Lusa | 17:48 – 28/05/2025
“Do you know why I lost the support of the CDS when I was a candidate for the PSD in 2017? Because I said that the Gypsies had to work, that the Gypsies could not continue to live off subsidies, nor live outside the law. At that time, I wasn’t from Chega, I was a PSD leader. […] It wasn’t me who turned my back on the PSD, the PSD turned its back on this speech and this model. In fact, in Loures, I had one of the best results ever with the PSD,” he pointed out, confessing to “having the certainty” that, currently, “Sá Carneiro would say the same thing.”
Ventura maintained that he still believes we should help “a woman [who comes] fleeing from Pakistan or Afghanistan,” but rejected accepting the entry of “everyone without any criteria.”
“Another thing is to let everyone in without any criteria, without any rules – criminals, bandits, Brazilians, Pakistanis, from Bangladesh, everything comes in without any regulation. This is not being social-democratic, nor Christian-democratic. This is being stupid because it is destroying the country,” he said.
And he concluded: “It was the PSD that did not want to keep pace with the change happening in the world. Today, perhaps, we would have a completely different country if the PSD had made this change in time.”
