At a press conference at Chega headquarters, the leader and founder of Chega confirmed the re-election bid announced on 12 September, justifying it as necessary to continue "the work done so far to lead the party to electoral victories."

André Ventura argued that the stance the party has taken "is the right path": "It is the path of not giving in, of not softening, of not loosening, of not making unnecessary concessions and of continuing with the same fighting spirit and the same spirit of determination."

“It is this spirit that I intend to bring to the next congress. I think that going back at this stage is a mistake that would be historically marked in Portuguese democracy. The idea of becoming a kind of slightly firmer PSD or a kind of institutionalised right-wing party, entrenched in causes typically of the right and only of the right, incapable of dialoguing with other political camps, shows where our adversaries have ended up. Portugal needs a comprehensive, disruptive, and anti-system popular party,” he argued.

“Ceasing to have the firmness we have will only lead to conditioning and the consideration by many that we are the same as the others. In my perspective, what the system parties call moderation approximates the collusion of interests and the entrenched corruption of the system that we have had in Portugal for 50 years,” he added.

The board will propose to the National Council that the next Chega major meeting take place on 8, 9, and 10 May. The National Council meeting is expected to officially schedule the convention for May, as well as the location, which “has not yet been defined.” This will be Chega's first convention since the party rose to become the second-largest force in parliament, and after André Ventura's result in the presidential elections.

Invalidated election

The party's last National Convention took place in January 2024 in Viana do Castelo, and the election of Chega's national bodies at that major meeting was invalidated by the Constitutional Court (TC). The same had been decided in relation to the previous convention. The TC has also been 'rejecting' successive changes to the party's statutes, so that the originals are currently valid. André Ventura indicated that this congress will again seek to amend the statutes to "modernise the party in the face of its new challenges."

In this press conference, the leader of Chega was also questioned about a defendant in case 1143, accusing MP Rui Afonso of buying votes from members of the neo-Nazi group, which he himself denied, and also about the question from the PS parliamentary leader regarding whether he maintains political confidence in the chairman of the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee.

Ventura said that Rui Afonso has already explained himself and that "internal mechanisms have been activated" to assess this issue, namely the Jurisdiction Council, at the request of the MP who leads the Porto district of Chega. When asked directly whether he maintains political confidence in the leader, André Ventura did not answer and instead criticised the newspaper that broke the news: "I do not maintain confidence in the Público newspaper, I do not maintain that."

The leader of Chega also described Eurico Brilhante Dias' challenge as "a joke" and accused the socialists of wanting to "find a way to return" to chairing the Budget and Finance Committee "by any means." Ventura also spoke about the agreement with the PSD in Cascais, which allocates portfolios to Chega's elected representatives, and indicated that the agreement stipulates that the party will be responsible for "the fight against corruption and the struggle for transparency."

The leader of Chega refused to draw parallels between this local example and the national scenario, considering that "it is not comparable" and stated that "the Government chose to get closer to the PS."

"It's settled, the PSD has chosen its government partner," he lamented.