The football commentator turned far-right leader who could help form Portugal’s next government

Andre Ventura, well known to Portuguese sporting audiences, could become the kingmaker after Sunday’s general election

Far-right Party Chega leader Andre Ventura, centre, takes a selfie with the Portuguese actress, Maria Vieira, right, during the election campaign (EPA)

Once, he regaled millions of viewers about the glories of Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. Now, Andre Ventura is poised to lead the first far-right party since the return of democracy in Portugal to win real power in the snap general election on Sunday.

The leader of the Chega (Enough) party could become a kingmaker as polls showed his party may be the third largest in the Portuguese parliament.

Mr Ventura, a former television football commentator for the CMTV channel, has captured the political limelight by preaching a message against gypsies and black people, policies which include castrating paedophiles and waging a war against corruption.

Established in 2019, Chega stunned Portugal when it won 1.3 per cent of the vote in that year’s parliamentary election, giving the far right a toe-hold on power for the first time since the 1974 Carnation Revolution which ended a 48-year dictatorship.

Opinion polls have shown Mr Ventura could win between 6 and 10 per cent of the votes, meaning his party could gain up to 12 seats in the 230-seat lower parliament.

Mr Ventura, like other hard-right populists such as Vox in Spain, Rassemblement National in France and the Lega Nord in Italy, has latched onto fears about immigration, crime, disenchantment with the existing domestic political establishment and the Europe Union.

Opinion polls suggested neither the ruling Socialists nor the conservative Social Democrats (PSD) can secure a majority in Sunday’s poll, potentially leaving Portugal with a polarised parliament.

PSD leader Rui Rio has said Chega was "unreliable" and he insisted that he would not do deals with the hard right.

However, the PSD did make a deal with Chega in regional elections in 2020. “It is new that we have a party like Chega after decades of democracy but this is happening in other parts of Europe too,” Carlos Magno, a political commentator, told The Independent.

“But other parties here have said they will not work with Chega so I don’t see this far-right party as entering government.”

However, Mr Ventura, who argued in his doctoral thesis at an Irish university in favour of abortion, but now is a vehement opponent, believes Chega cannot be ignored.

“It is inevitable that these other parties will have to speak to our party,” he said at a meeting in Vila Vicosa, a town near the Spanish border.

Marina Costa Lobo, a political scientist, told pollsters Europe Elects that Chega’s results could make it the PSD’s "inevitable coalition partner".

Mr Ventura, who is inspired by Santiago Abascal, the leader of Vox and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, presents himself as an anti-establishment, anti-corruption candidate who also is deeply Catholic.

He has denied scapegoating gypsies but has said in interviews that Portugal must face the “problem”, who make up about 0.5 per cent of the Portuguese population of about 10 million.

Mr Ventura also criticises the black community in a country with a colonial history connected with Africa.

In 2020 he called for a black MP to be “returned to her own country”. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, he organised a demonstration against the idea that racism existed in Portugal.

Chega has attracted disenchanted PSD supporters who feel the political establishment has done too little to tackle issues like corruption.

“I think we must do more about immigration but it is corruption which is the real problem,” Joao Goncalves, a 36-year-old Chega supporter who used to be a member of the PSD.

A survey for Transparency International found 90 per cent of Portuguese believe the government is riddled with corruption.

The election was called after two far-left parties, which had propped up the minority Socialist government, refused to support the 2022 budget.

Finding a stable government to implement this year’s spending plan is key because Portugal is about to receive €45bn (£37.42bn) in EU Covid-19 pandemic rescue funds which is expected by 2026.

However, if as the polls predict no outright winner emerges, Portugal could be left with an unstable minority government.

A surge in support for smaller minority parties like Chega or the far-left Left Bloc will mean that the Socialists or the PSD will be forced to cut a deal with these political minnows.

Andre Ventura (AP)

One key issue is pay. Prime Minister Antonio Costa has promised to raise the minimum wage from €740 (£616) to €1,000 (£832) per month if he is elected.

Portugal’s economy has been falling behind the rest of the eurozone rivals. In 2020, the country’s Gross Domestic Product per capita was €17,070 (£14,210) while the EU average was €26,380 (£21,937).

Low wages have been spurring emigration since the 1960s. Luis Pitarma, 29, who treated Boris Johnson when he tested positive for Covid-19 in 2020, had emigrated from Portugal to live in London.