Much of the international media portrayed the results of Sunday's first round of Portugal's presidential election as a setback for the Chega (Enough!) Party — the Portuguese counterpart to nationalist and populist parties such as the UK's Reform Party, Austria's Freedom Party, and France's National Front — and for its leader and presidential nominee, André Ventura, often dubbed the "Portuguese Donald Trump" by both supporters and critics.
Where many polls showed Ventura topping the 14-candidate race, the final outcome was Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro leading Ventura by 31% to 24% and thus necessitating Portugal's first presidential run-off in 40 years on February 8.
"Seguro's triumph was an unforeseen upset over André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party," proclaimed Politico in its first post-election report, noting that "[p]re-election surveys had consistently shown [Ventura] enjoying the strongest support among eligible voters."
Regardless of the polling and the outcome of the run-off, Chega and its hardline stance against illegal immigration scored impressively, barely six years after it was founded.
At a time when foreign workers are increasingly conspicuous throughout the country, Ventura drew massive crowds and standing ovations when he declared, "Portugal is ours!"
Chega billboards blared: "This isn't Bangladesh" and "Immigrants shouldn't be allowed to live on welfare."
Ellen Fantini, editor of the European Conservative, told Newsmax, "The fact that he is second shows a remarkable rise of his party, Chega. It went from having one member of Parliament to becoming Portugal's main opposition party in just 6 years!"
Of the ever-controversial Ventura, 43, a best-selling novelist, onetime TV commentator on football, and attorney, Fantini said, "he's a disrupter of the status quo. He has shifted discourse to the right on existential matters like migration. Finally, it appears that the Portuguese people have a voice in government. Patriotic, sovereigntist parties are on the rise across Europe, which is an encouraging trend."
Under Ventura's aegis, Chega went from one member in the Portuguese Assembly (Ventura himself) to 60 in the most recent parliamentary elections in 2025 — making it the second largest party in the Assembly.
Noting Chega's second-place standing in the Assembly, political scientist Louis Perron, author of the critically-acclaimed "Beat The Incumbent," told Newsmax that the presidential election results Sunday "underscore the rapid ascent of Chega and its leader. They came in second in the parliamentary election last year. He seems to slightly overperform the results of his party."
He added that the second-place showing "shows that this young party is still very much trending with voters."
Perron, however, quickly added, "I doubt that Ventura has enough room to grow to win the run-off. I think that the coalition of the other parties to block Chega from winning will hold. In that sense, I think that Portugal is at a different place than France might be soon."
For his part, Ventura has long signaled that he is less interested in the largely ceremonial position of president than in eventually leading Chega to a triumph in parliament and thus making himself prime minister, where the true power lies.
In any event, he and his party are now being watched far outside the boundaries of Portugal and Europe itself.
Also, in Portugal, the political power lies with the prime minister. The president has a certain role to play during a crisis, I would say similar to the one in Austria, for example.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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