Portugal’s far-right party Chega! (ID) is expected to enter the European Parliament next year with a projected 13.2% of national votes, but a recent report highlighted the party’s rhetoric fuelled by anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigration, anti-women and pro-conspiracy discourse.
In Portugal, Chega! (Enough!), which currently has 12 seats in parliament, is now projected to be Portugal’s third political force with 13.2% in recent polls. Even though none of its members currently sit in the European Parliament, the party could gain three to four seats and likely join the ID political group if the current upwards trend persists.
In a similar vein to neo-nazi and white supremacists groups, Chega!’s ideology is described as anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Roma, anti-muslim, and pro-conspiracy, according to the report by Global Project against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE).
The series of reports, which has scrutinised Australia, Ireland, France, and Bulgaria, sheds light on organised “hate” groups whose “beliefs and activities demean, harass, and inspire violence against people based on their identity traits”.
Regarding the Roma community, Chega! President André Ventura accused the Roma of being “criminals”, “abusing social benefits”, and “a serious public safety problem”. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ventura claimed the need to implement a “specific confinement plan for the gipsy community”, the report reads.
Ventura also believes that “growing illegal immigration (…) destroys Europe” and calls for “the drastic reduction of the Islamic presence in the European Union”. Along these lines, Chega!’s discourse includes “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory instances, arguing the threat of a “demographic substitution” in Europe.
Many white supremacists, identitarians and neo-nazis also feature within the party’s ranks. Together with other party leaders, they spread disinformation and push conspiracy theorists, the report also adds.
Advocating against “gender ideology” LGBTQ+ rights, the party believes in the existence of a “Cultural Marxist” plot, arguing that pro-LGBTQ+ culture is being imposed on Portuguese society “to change society and destroy European Civilisation”.
Founded in 2019, Chega! represents Portugal’s first significant far-right political force since the fall of the fascist dictatorship in 1974.
The party’s statutes have been rejected by the Constitutional Court several times for concentrating excessive power in the hands of the “charismatic” Ventur.
(Max Griera | EURACTIV.com)
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