Portugal handed up shocking wins this week when the right-wing won it all over the socialists. Most surprising was the dramatic rise of a new ‘right-wing’ populist group called ‘Chega,’ founded only in 2019. They went from taking 1.3% in that first election to 23% and tying for second place yesterday.
In only six short years, the populists matched the left-wingers who had “dominated Portuguese politics for decades.”
Maybe that’s why they won. The people had a good look at what progressivism does to a country.
The Democratic Alliance (AD), a center-right coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), has emerged as the winner of Portugal’s snap legislative election. It secured 89 of the 230 parliamentary seats, with four still to be allocated from overseas constituencies. The result marks a significant gain over the 80 seats AD held in the previous legislature.
However, the most significant political earthquake of the night came from the populist Chega party, which surged to 58 seats, matching the number won by the Socialist Party (PS). This traditional left-wing force has dominated Portuguese politics for decades. Both parties are now in a dead heat for second place, pending final results from voters abroad.
Chega’s leader, André Ventura, celebrated what he called a historic result. “We did what no party had done in Portugal: Today we can officially declare before the whole country and with certainty that bipartisanship is over,” he told supporters, declaring the election the end of the two-party system.
“Portugal is ours,” he concluded. Ventura also promised that “nothing will be the same as before in Portugal” and reaffirmed his ambition, saying, “I will not stop until I am prime minister of Portugal.”
The media calls everyone who is not on the left “far-right.” They may not be far-right.
The ‘far-right’ party CHEGA has become the second major political party in Portugal, destroying the bipartidism that ruled Portugal for 50 years.
Amazing things are happening in Europe pic.twitter.com/diUHkUJ23H
— (@Antunes1) May 18, 2025
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