The leader of Chega, André Ventura, responded on Monday to the Social Democratic Party’s (PSD) parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, who accused Chega of having “fake candidates”.
“I would like to see the Prime Minister in the campaign and not any lackey, honestly, pretending to be Prime Minister,” Ventura stated in Alenquer, located in the Lisbon district, when questioned about the social-democrat’s remarks made on Sunday.
Speaking to journalists at the start of the campaign for the local elections, Ventura emphasized: “[Hugo Soares] is not the Prime Minister. I have to respond to the leader of PSD. The leader of PSD is not in the campaign, I don’t know where he is either, but I will wait for him.”
The party leader recalled that just yesterday, “the country saw a clear video in which the PSD’s secretary-general threatens Chega deputies, to be heard in Parliament, with his voice: ‘I’ll beat you up’. These are the words.”
“I understand that he is concerned about the victories Chega will achieve in the local elections and about what PSD will lose due to the awful management it has done,” he considered.
The controversies and the dispute with Filipe Melo: “Real situation”
The party leader also pointed fingers at journalists for “opening and closing” news bulletins with the controversy involving Chega’s vice-secretary Filipe Melo and Socialist Isabel Moreira, while, on the other hand, “trying to hide” the threats by Hugo Soares.
“It is not fair to the country, but it is mainly not fair to democracy, that in a case where there is visible violence, evident, notorious, you try to hide this. You cannot say you didn’t see it. It is already on all social networks, disclosed by ourselves,” he pointed out.
Notably, last week the national press published the news of the complaint made by Chega deputy Pedro Frazão to the Commission of Transparency and Deputies’ Statutes about having been threatened last week.
Quero perguntar ao Presidente do Parlamento se também vai abrir um inquérito a isto? Ou se os deputados do PSD podem fazer o que quiserem e ameaçar os outros de pancada livremente… pic.twitter.com/OL46vjys6u
— André Ventura (@AndreCVentura) September 28, 2025
It is also worth noting that the cameras of the Assembly of the Republic that captured and publicly aired the moment Hugo Soares spoke were the same ones that captured Chega’s deputy sending “kisses” to Socialist Isabel Moreira, a situation that, according to Ventura, “opened and closed news bulletins.”
While Ventura today spoke of “injustice” for democracy, already on Sunday, Socialist Isabel Moreira stated that what happened was not about her, but about democracy as well. “Before Chega, Parliament was different […]. What is at stake is an attack on democracy, hatred, and a far-right program […] against women, immigrants, racialized people,” she said. A complaint was also filed regarding Filipe Melo’s gesture, which has already been deemed “unacceptable” by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro-Aguiar-Branco.
Regarding the situation involving the socialist, Ventura further stated: “A few days ago, there was a situation whose contours we do not yet know, and it was disclosed. And rightfully so. Now, in a situation of real, evident threat with words, the televisions, newspapers, and radios are trying to hide the situation. In democracy, there are no favorites and stepchildren; in democracy, things are what they are and should be discussed as they are.”
Socialist deputy Isabel Moreira spoke of the complaint about what happened in the Assembly this week when Chega’s vice-secretary Filipe Melo sent her “kisses”. The parliamentarian pointed out that what was important was to discuss what “is at stake,” essentially, democracy and the future.
Ana Teresa Banha | 08:56 – 29/09/2025
[Updated at 12:23 pm]
