“Chega has supported, underlined, addressed this support, which honours me greatly, with the clear objective of winning the first round of the face-to-face elections in January and managing to win in the second round or have the most expressive result possible, which shows that our base of support, that the movement that supports this movement to reorder the country, that this movement to revitalise the country, is alive, is strong and is today the strongest political movement in Portugal,” he said.
The Chega leader was speaking to journalists at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon at the end of a meeting of the National Directorate, where the party’s support for his presidential candidacy was formalised. According to the candidate and president of the National Directorate, the decision was unanimous.
André Ventura said that his candidacy is personal, but that it is rooted in and built on the growth and implantation of Chega throughout the country.
For this reason, the candidate wants to “mobilise the electorate that has come to trust Chega and broaden this base of support to those who want a country that is truly free of corruption, to those who want a country that can control the uncontrolled immigration that it has had, but also affirm the values of the homeland and the nation”.
Even so, he said that he is not going into these elections with the guarantee, nor with the fear, of not having the result of the legislative elections in May, 1,400,000 votes.
“The Portuguese on 18 May gave Chega an incredibly high result, we haven’t won yet, but it was an incredibly high result. I want to have that result, I’m going to fight to beat that result, but I’ll accept the verdict of the people,” he said.
And it’s a candidacy of unity with the mayors and leaders of the party, he said, indicating that he “wants to go further and show that the growth that the party has had will now be reflected in a great movement of political dynamism that will lead to at least the second round of these presidential elections”.
Ventura also argued that this is “the only patriotic candidacy” for the presidential elections in January. The presidential candidate and party president also indicated that the other 59 MPs who make up the parliamentary group will sign “a declaration of support for this presidential candidacy as well”.
André Ventura also said that the party’s decision to support his candidacy does not require a vote by the National Council, and that this body will not meet again before the presidential elections.
“There was a National Council, and that position was expressed. There just needed to be a meeting of the National Directorate to formalise this support and to formally state, for all political, legal and other purposes, that the party supports this candidacy, and that’s what happened today. It’s following this National Council,” he explained.
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