“I think Chega will always be among the winners of the election night, [because it starts] from a different base from the municipal point of view,” he stated.
André Ventura was speaking to journalists during his visit to the Southern Heritage fair in Beja, after toasting “to victory in the country and in Beja” with the party’s candidate for the presidency of this city council, David Catita.
“What I find relevant on election day, on the 12th, is that there is a break in the municipal dominance, whether by PS or PSD, and that Chega can intervene in that dominance and assume it,” he argued.
The Chega leader expressed confidence that the party (currently without municipal presidencies) “will win many municipalities in the south of the country, municipalities around Lisbon, and local governments in the north of the country, and that will make the difference on election night.”
The leader also accused the PSD of being “the same as PS” and, when asked if his party’s results could harm the social democrats and benefit the socialists in the municipal election night, he replied: “The PSD has been harming the country for 50 years.”
Asked about the electoral race in Lisbon, Ventura considered that the current mayor and recandidate by the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition, Carlos Moedas, “is very concerned about Chega’s growth and the possibility of losing the election because of it.”
“If engineer Carlos Moedas had done a good job in fighting immigration, on housing and transportation issues, and had not been the disaster he was about the incident with the Gloria elevator, today we wouldn’t have this problem. We do because it was a disaster. When you are a disaster in governing, you can’t blame others,” he criticized.
Bruno Mascarenhas, Chega’s candidate in the capital, Ventura emphasized, “knows the dossiers, knows the problems, and according to the polls, has a good result and will have a good result in Lisbon.”
“And, attention, Lisbon — city — is not even our main stronghold from an electoral point of view,” he noted.
Earlier in statements to journalists at the start of the visit, André Ventura was asked about having missed dozens of meetings of the Moura Municipal Assembly, in the Beja district, where he was elected in 2021.
The Chega leader did not respond to the question, only saying that the party emerged victorious in this district in the last legislative elections and will “win Beja again,” criticizing the journalists.
Ventura was also questioned about the announced intention to expel people with a criminal record living in public housing and did not specify how this would be done. Asked about what would happen to the families, he replied: “I am indifferent to the family of the drug trafficker, I am indifferent. Whoever is dealing drugs cannot have state homes, period.”
Chega will question the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing if “there are any statistical data on how many criminals” live in public houses, to know “if these data fully coincide with reality.”
This morning, the leader pointed out that “in more than 65% of municipalities, there are houses given to registered offenders, drug traffickers, criminals, and violent people,” and in the afternoon indicated these were data collected by the party.
He was also questioned about the government’s clarifications regarding American planes bound for Israel that stopped in the Azores, stating that “the Portuguese are not at all concerned” with this issue.
André Ventura preferred to talk about the protests demanding the release of activists who were on the humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, accusing the protesters of blocking public transport and the debate between candidates for the Lisbon city council. He also criticized the media coverage of the issue, accusing journalists of being biased.
