At a lunch debate hosted by the International Club of Portugal at a hotel in Lisbon, André Ventura was asked by an audience member how he would like his presidency to be remembered in history books. He responded that he wishes to be recognized as the “heir of Francisco Sá Carneiro,” the former Prime Minister and founder of the PSD.
The candidate acknowledged that the historical social-democrat’s ideas were different from his own, noting that Sá Carneiro’s Portugal lacked the “migratory pressure” and the “set of political scams” that followed his death. Nonetheless, he admired Sá Carneiro’s courage to defend his beliefs, even if it meant opposing his own party.
“Sá Carneiro went against his own party because he believed the country was on the wrong path (…). In 30 years, some will say that André Ventura was, at the time, very calm and very moderate. Others will say (…) that it was Chega, at the time, who instigated disturbance, revolution, and transformation. This is what I mean,” he explained.
In his speech, preceding the question-and-answer session, André Ventura stated he will not adopt a moderate discourse in his candidacy, paraphrasing a biblical verse that “God spews out the lukewarm,” and he prefers to “be who he is.”
He then criticized his main opponents in the presidential election, claiming that whenever Henrique Gouveia e Melo speaks, “he puts anyone to sleep” and criticized his opponent’s words supporting non-discrimination of people based on race or ethnicity.
The leader of Chega added that if the aim is to “say that in Portugal we are all the same, whether immigrants or not, whether convicted for corruption or not, whether from Bangladesh or Lisbon,” there’d be no need for him to run for Belém.
André Ventura suggested that polls “show the country wants an alternative that shakes things up” and expressed frustration with “plastic politicians who say what they think people want to hear at that moment.”
For Ventura, “nobody in their right mind can say” that an immigrant and a Portuguese person are the same after ten years—referring to Gouveia e Melo’s words—although this stance “pleases everyone.”
He also criticized Luís Marques Mendes when discussing the defense of “all candidates” that the Portuguese economy must grow.
“What good is it to say ‘we need to grow, we need to grow’ without any new ideas on what the economy is?” he questioned.
“We need courage in this country. And courage is saying this: We have a group of parasites living off our state for years. What do we have to do? What do we do when we have parasites? I’m not a doctor, but if anyone is a doctor, they know what to do with parasites: kill them. We have to end them. We have to strangle them,” he added.
Regarding Marques Mendes, Ventura argued that “it makes no sense” for any voter to choose the former PSD president if they wish to see the Chega leader as Prime Minister.
For Ventura, Marques Mendes is the “worst representative of the system” and will not accept Chega as a government.
