CIVICUS discusses Portugal’s presidential election and the rise of the far-right Chega (Enough) party with Johnny Lopes, executive director of the Academia Cidada (Citizens Academy) and member of the steering committee of the European Civic Forum, an organization working on civic engagement, democratic participation and the protection of civic space at national, regional and international levels.
On 8 February, Portugal held the second presidential election in its democratic history, and the first to feature a far-right candidate. Supported by a cross-party coalition spanning from centre-left to centre-right, Socialist Party candidate Antonio José Seguro defeated Chega leader André Ventura. The result was a significant reprisal for Ventura, but in a few years Chega has transformed from a marginal movement to the second largest party in parliament, and continues to influence Portugal’s political landscape.
Why did centre-right voters support the socialist candidate?
Despite not agreeing with his politics, center-right voters supported a socialist candidate seeking to build a firewall around the presidency, believing that the office demands deliberation, predictability, and respect for democratic rules, none of which Chega represents. Seguro’s campaign made this possible. He distanced himself from partisan politics, avoided turning the race into a debate about the Socialist Party, and established himself as a stable figure capable of providing institutional continuity during political crisis.
This was practical risk management, not ideology. The center-right Social Democratic Party is pushing for changes to labor law, leading to a joint general strike in December in which more than three million workers participated. With Chega already holding significant parliamentary power, voters feared that a far-right president would go still further, using veto powers not to check the government’s agenda, but to strengthen it and block any legislation protecting workers’ rights.
This coalition shows that a clear boundary against the far right still exists, at least when it comes to leading the state. It’s a defensible compromise: Democrats can disagree on policy, but there’s a limit when it comes to handing over power to a reactionary force that threatens democratic institutions.
What does the result mean for Portugal and Europe?
For Portugal, this result is a temporary reprieve for democracy. Despite voting being disrupted by the storm, Seguro won two-thirds of the votes in the second round and more than 3.5 million votes, the most votes cast for a presidential candidate in Portugal. This shows that, in the face of a real far-right threat, Portuguese democracy can still mobilize widely in its defence.
But this was not a clear victory against the far right. Ventura won a third of the vote, strengthening his base and establishing himself as a serious contender for the right-wing leadership. In just a few years, Chega has grown from a marginal party to the second largest party in parliament.
This sends a mixed message to Europe: broad democratic coalitions may still prevent far-right candidates from reaching top office, but the far right is now mainstream, shaping the political agenda and forcing other parties to constantly define themselves in relation to it. This is the new normal. This matters particularly for the European Commission, because far-right movements are a structural threat and the only response is to strengthen the rule of law and democratic institutions.
Where does Chega go from here?
Ventura lost the presidential election, but Chega emerged stronger. Winning a third of the vote against a candidate supported by the entire Democratic spectrum strengthens his position. Ventura can now claim to speak for a significant portion of the authority, and his loss only strengthens that claim, as he can frame the firewall as evidence that the political system is rigged against him, fueling stories of elite oppression. He will also use his parliamentary power to extract concessions by supporting or blocking the government budget and by pushing for immigration and security, thereby achieving enough policy gains to show that he works for his voters.
Ventura has previously said there are ‘limits’ to support for sustainability. If the government faces serious problems such as a budget crisis or political impasse, Chega will position itself as the only force ready to break the impasse and ‘make things right’. He is considering the presidential defeat not as the end of his political project but as a stepping stone to bigger gains in future elections. Their calculation is that electoral legitimacy could eventually become government power.
What does this mean for civic space and civil society?
Portugal’s civic space is shrinking. Hate speech is becoming normalized, immigration rules are tightening, government administration is becoming more exclusionary, protest organizers face police intimidation and civil society organizations are struggling economically. These create real barriers to people exercising their rights. The rise of Chega, and his racist and xenophobic rhetoric now heard in parliament, increases the risk that discrimination and violence against migrants will become politically acceptable.
A president committed to protecting rights can set limits: vetoing discriminatory laws, refusing to suppress information the public needs, and protecting communities and organizations under attack. The presidency alone cannot reverse the shrinking of civic space, but it can prevent the government from fully institutionalizing the far-right agenda.
Human rights organizations, labor movements and migrant groups see this moment as an opportunity to strengthen security, not a final victory. The huge turnout, despite devastating hurricanes and emergency situations, was evidence that people were indeed mobilized by the threat, especially urban voters connected to civil society, including unions, who had already fought the government over labor rights. The organizations that coordinated the strike now expect the President to use his powers to protect rights.
How should Seguro use his presidential powers?
Seguro has made clear that he will not cause the dissolution of Parliament, and is committed to working with the government while demanding ‘solutions and results’. This means that the dissolution of Parliament would be a last resort in a real crisis, not a tactical move to deal with general political disagreements. He will use his veto power to block laws he feels violate the Constitution and rights and mediate between the government and the opposition to push them toward compromise.
The challenge will be to keep the democratic parties, both government and opposition, at the center while Chega tries to set the agenda. If Seguro dissolves Parliament too early or without a strong reason, he will fuel Chega’s narrative that the system is broken. If he is too passive and does not use his veto when rights are threatened, he will appear complicit in democratic erosion. Both scenarios would help Chega: either the system appears incapable of functioning, or it appears unwilling to protect people’s rights.
Seguro will have to walk a very fine line between doing too much and doing too little, while a far-right opposition waits to take advantage of his mistakes. If he gets it wrong, his historic election victory will lead to deep crisis rather than democratic renewal.
CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in the interviews are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the views of Civicus. Publication does not imply endorsement of the interviewees or the organizations they represent.
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See also
Portugal’s far-right rise Civicus Lens 30.May.2025
‘Civil society should be involved to prevent discussions from moving towards populism’ Civicus Lens | Interview with George Maximo 28.May.2025
‘The rise of the populist right further weakens trust in the political system’ Civicus Lens | Interview with Ana Carmo 19.February.2024
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