Ventura. ″It is land by land, street by street, that we will become the government of Portugal″
In the closing speech of the 5th Chega Convention, the re-elected leader of the party assured: “We are going to make this party the biggest party in Portugal”.
André Ventura, elected almost unanimously, guaranteed that it is not a “one man” party and that only with the strength of all has it been possible to “frighten the two biggest parties”. As for Chega, he guaranteed to be “more united than ever”, with “maturity” and “enormous ambition to transform Portugal”. Which, he said, is measured “by the electoral challenges” already faced and made to the election in Madeira this year.
Against “the growing illegal emigration” and the “destruction of the European family”, Ventura promises to do everything to denounce the “debris” that the European project has become. “We are going to have the best result in our history”, already promises the look for the European celebration of 2024.
He then addressed the target audience, some already far removed from current events, such as the thousands of former returnees from former colonies. But also to “those who wear the uniform”. “We will be the voice of those who have no voice in Parliament”, he guaranteed.
In a “country entangled in corruption scandals”, Ventura reaffirmed that this will be the party’s “main battle”. Brandishing the struggle of teachers and health professionals, the leader of Chega attacked the “system”. The “political class privileged that it claimed for itself all the support and judicial protections but did not want to give its own the same. The PCP never paid a cent of IMI in its life. It is this hypocrisy that kills the Portuguese political system”.
In Santarém, André Ventura again attacked those who say that there is a “red line” that does not allow understandings like Chega – like the new leader of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha. “Only the people can draw red lines. We only obey one entity – it is the Portuguese people”.
And I appeal to “those who stopped voting” to listen to “this transformed voice” from Chega. “As we are attacked more, trampled more and called xenophobic and fascist, it is in this force that we become stronger. It is land by land, street by street that we will become the government of Portugal”, he guaranteed. “António Costa has already reached the end”, he still shouted.
Its national board was elected with 91.9%, that is, with the highest number of votes ever. For runners-up he chose António Tânger Correa; Pedro Frazão and Marta Trindade. For deputies Pedro Pinto; Rui Paulo Sousa; Diogo Pacheco Amorim; Patricia Carvalho; Ricardo Regalla and Rita Matias.
European far right
Before the closing, the leaders of the European extreme right, invited to obedience, spoke. MEP Jordan Bardella, who succeeded Marine Le Pen as leader of the French National Union party, Tino Chrupalla of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party (PVV) of the Netherlands, Tom Van Grieken, from Vlaams Belang (VB), from the Belgian region of Flanders, and Boris Kollar, from the Slovak movement Sme Rodina (We are Family). And Rocío Monasterio, leader of Vox in Madrid, and Cláudiu Tarziu, from the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).
Among the guests, the first to speak was the Spanish Rocío Monasterio, who expressed her conviction that there is “a new horizon that is already close in which patriots will have a lot to say”. And she tried to unite Vox with Chega: “They made propaganda against us but it was the lard of the snake”.
Tino Chrupalla appealed to the need for “a secure Europe” that “needs peace and a sovereign position in the world”. The AfD president speaks of the need for “a secure Europe”, which “needs peace and a sovereign position in the world”. Already Cláudiu Tarziu said that “the European Union must stop getting involved in the wars of other peoples and must concentrate on protecting its member states”.
Jordan Bardella congratulated André Ventura for “having transformed the people’s despair into a respectable political movement in such a short time”, creating “a party that generates respect throughout Europe”. And Tom van Grieken recalled that Portugal is “one of the few countries dominated by communists and socialists”, but underlined that “the impressive results [do Chega] prove that the days of the left are coming to an end”.
Geert Wilders went even further when he prophesied: “Next time you are here, promise me that you will not only be the biggest party, but André Ventura will be the prime minister”.