André Ventura | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Ventura in 2025 | |||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 3 June 2025 | |||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Luís Montenegro | ||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Pedro Nuno Santos Carlos César (acting) | ||||||||||||||
| President ofChega | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 9 April 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Party established | ||||||||||||||
| Member of the Assembly of the Republic | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 25 October 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Lisbon | ||||||||||||||
| Member of the Council of State | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 19 June 2024 | |||||||||||||||
| Appointed by | Assembly of the Republic | ||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | André Claro Amaral Ventura (1983-01-15)15 January 1983 (age 43) | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Chega (since 2019) | ||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Social Democratic Party (2001–2018) | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Rui Gomes da Silva (godfather) | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | NOVA University Lisbon University College Cork | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Politician | ||||||||||||||
André Claro Amaral Ventura (Portuguese pronunciation:[ɐ̃ˈdɾɛvẽˈtuɾɐ]; born 15 January 1983) is a Portuguese politician and founder of thefar-right political partyChega.[1] He is the leader of the opposition since Chega finished in second place inPortugal's 2025 legislative election, leading theOppositionShadow Cabinet.
Ventura was affiliated with theSocial Democratic Party (PSD) until 2018, having run for Mayor ofLoures in2017 as the PSD candidate. He founded the political partyChega in April 2019 and six months later was elected to theAssembly of the Republic in theOctober 2019 legislative election. In 2021, he ran forPresident of Portugal, coming third in theelection with 11.9% of the votes. In the2024 Portuguese legislative election, Chega, under his leadership, received 18.1% of the vote, more than quadrupling its seat count to a final total of 50.[2] A year later in the2025 Portuguese legislative election, Chega's vote total rose to 22.8% of the vote and the party won 60 seats, overtaking theSocialist Party for second place.
Ventura is the son of the owner of a small local bicycle shop,[3] and an office worker. He is a native ofAlgueirão–Mem Martins,Sintra, a suburban locality in theLisbon metropolitan area. Unlike his peers, he was not raised in a religion because his parents wanted him to choose his own.[4] At 14, he became an enthusiastic Catholic, was baptised, and made hisfirst communion andconfirmation. He wanted to be a priest and attended the Penafirme Seminary, theminor seminary of thePatriarchate of Lisbon, but said he did not continue his ecclesiastical formation because he fell in love.[5][4] He graduated in law from the Law Faculty ofNOVA University Lisbon, with agrade of 19 out of 20.[6] As a law student he took part in theERASMUS Programme inSalamanca, Spain.[7]
In 2013, he finished hisPhDthesis inpublic law from the Faculty of Law,University College Cork,Ireland,[8] with ascholarship from the Portuguese national science foundation, theFoundation for Science and Technology.[9] In the thesis, he criticised "criminal populism" and "stigmatisation of minorities", and revealed concern about the "expansion of police powers".[10][11] In a 2019 interview toDiário de Notícias addressing the apparent contradictions between the issues raised in his PhD thesis and his later political views, Ventura said he has "always made a distinction between science and opinion" and called his thesis "scientific analysis, not ideological postulate".[12]
He published two novels,Montenegro in 2008, andA Última Madrugada do Islão ("The Last Dawn of Islam") in 2009, both with significant elements offemale submission andhomoeroticism.[13][14] Notably, inMontenegro, theArabic word for uprising (intifada) is used four times: three times as a metaphor for strength and courage, and once when describing the act ofsexual penetration.[13] The publication ofA Última Madrugada do Islão, a novel about the death ofYasser Arafat, was suspended by the publishers, Chiado Editora, for its "incendiary potential", for its gratuitous references toMuhammad and the leaders of thePalestine Liberation Organization.[15]
He taught at theAutonomous University of Lisbon, from 2013 to 2019, and at NOVA, from 2016 to 2018.[16] He worked at Caiado Guerreiro, a prominent Portugueselaw firm, from 2018 to 2019,[17] and was a consultant at Finpartner, atax advising firm,[18] for 9 months until 2020. He also had acolumn in the newspaperCorreio da Manhã, the most widely read daily newspaper in the country,[19] and, from 2014 to 2020, was a football commentator representingS.L. Benfica's point of view[20][21] on the TV channelCMTV.[17] He is also a jurist-consultant of the Tax Authority (AT) where he was employed from 2011 to 2014. As a Portuguesecivil servant, he was granted leave[22] from AT without pay since 2014 to teach and ultimately offer tax consultancy and advisory services in theprivate sector, and had also previously enjoyed the right to be absent from his workplace in thepublic sector due to his student-worker status as an international doctoral student until 2013.[18][17][23]
In an interview in July 2017, in response to Ventura's statements aboutPortuguese Romani people,José Pinto Coelho (leader of far-right and previously namedNational Renewal Party) wrote that "unfortunately, it seems, some of 'my people' are still in the parties of the system". In another, Ventura said that he "vehemently repudiates the support of the far-right".[24][25] In the course of the same campaign, Ventura made several controversial statements about the Romani community in the municipality of Loures,[26] having become the target of a criminal complaint presented by the opposing candidate from theLeft Bloc, headed by Fabian Figueiredo.[27] He is accused by Pinto Coelho of stealing the speech from the National Renewal Party.[28] In October 2017, Ventura stated that he was ready to dispute the leadership of the PSD, in case nobody else advanced againstRui Rio.[29]
On 9 April 2019, he founded the political partyChega, and three days later he joined theBasta! coalition for the2019 European Parliamentary Elections. Failing to elect any MEP, the coalition was dissolved on 30 July 2019. He ran in the2019 Portuguese legislative elections as the main candidate of Chega'selectoral list for theLisbon constituency; he was the party's first and single member to be elected to Parliament. He claims to have positions that are "economically liberal, culturally nationalist and conservative in matters of customs".[30][4]
André Ventura was elected a member of theAssembly of the Republic for theLisbon constituency in the2019 Portuguese legislative election. He claims to be "the voice of common people" and an "anti-system politician". In September 2020, he presented a proposal to decrease the number of deputies from 230 to 100, which was ruled unconstitutional by theCommittee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.[31] In November, he renounces these proposals to accompany the PSD.[32] In January 2020, he proposed a 5 to 7.5% decrease in Members' salaries.[33]
He provoked an outcry in Parliament in January 2020 by proposing thatJoacine Katar Moreira, an Assembly member born in Guinea Bissau who said that museum items from Portugal's former colonies be returned, be similarly "returned to her country of origin".
Ventura was present at a Zero Movement protest in front of the Assembly. The Zero Movement is an unofficial police union that has been accused of political links to Ventura's party. The only politician to speak, he did so allegedly without an invitation from union leaders. He received a shower of applause.[34]
In November 2020, he was fined more than €400 for discrimination against Romani communities. In December of the same year, he was ordered to pay €3,370 for ethnic discrimination in the form of harassment. Ventura, later in a press conference at the Assembly of the Republic, stated that he would not pay the fine: "to limit the freedom of expression of a citizen, a deputy of the nation and a political leader".[35][36][37]
Ventura criticised the Minister of Justice,Francisca Van Dunem, for the release of prisoners to ease COVID-19 transmissions, saying that the measure was an "infamy".[38]
Ventura criticised the state of emergency decree of 17 December 2020, saying:
"This is not really a state of emergency. It is a state of chaos over a state of chaos, which is destroying the lives of the Portuguese people without planning, that the only thing they have to give to the country is a Director of Health who says to have breakfast at Christmas and [this] will solve your problems."[39]
On 22 December 2020, Ventura requested the temporary suspension of his term in the Assembly to run in the 2021 Portuguese presidential election[40] but this suspension was prevented by the Parliament on 29 December.[41] On 31 December, after the decision of the majority of the parliamentary groups not to authorise the suspension of mandate, Ventura advanced with a subpoena against the Assembly of the Republic andFerro Rodrigues, theSpeaker of the Assembly of the Republic, in theSupreme Administrative Court of Portugal.[42][43][44]
On 8 February 2020, inPortalegre, Ventura announced his candidacy for the office ofPresident of the Republic in the2021 election.[45][46]
Ventura invited actressMaria Vieira to be hiscampaign chair (mandatária) for the Portuguese communities abroad[47] and chose Patrícia Sousa Uva (ex-member of Chega) to be the national director. Subsequently, with the resignation of the latter, Ventura invited Rui Paulo Sousa, 7th member of the national board, to become the national campaign director.[48]
On 18 December 2020, Ventura handed 10,250 signatures of proponents to theConstitutional Court, as legally required to formalise his candidacy forBelém Palace.[49] On 30 December, his candidacy was formally accepted by the Constitutional Court.[50]
At the beginning of the electoral campaign, the president of the FrenchNational Rally party,Marine Le Pen, confirmed that she would go to Lisbon to support Ventura's presidential candidacy.[51]
In a televised debate against incumbentMarcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Ventura showed a photograph of the president in the Bairro da Jamaica, a poor and largely black neighborhood inAmora,Setúbal District, where there had been tensions with the police. He accused the president of not being truly right-wing, and called the black residents in the photograph "bandits".[52] In September 2021, a Portuguese court convicted Ventura forsocial segregation in the aftermath of these events related to Bairro da Jamaica.[53][54]
Ventura came third with 11.9% of the vote, behind Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (60.7%) and theSocialist Party’sAna Gomes (12.9%).[55]
Ventura placed second in the first round2026 Portuguese presidential election on 18 January with 23.5% of the vote and was defeated byAntónio José Seguro from theSocialist Party in a runoff on 8 February.[56]
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Ventura has expressed controversial views in the past, whilst the majority of international media refer to his ideology as being far-right.[57][58][59][60] Ventura categorizes himself as an "economic liberal,nationalist andconservative". Many of his statements on social issues are said to beanti-Romani,Islamophobic,xenophobic andsexist by thenews media.[61] In a TV debate in 2024,Luís Montenegro called Ventura "xenophobic, racist and demagogic".[62]
AboutAntónio de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese dictator during theEstado Novo regime, André Ventura said: "The Republic led by Dr. António de Oliveira Salazar, for most of the time, also didn't solve [the country's problems] and set us back a long way in various aspects. It didn't allow us to have thedevelopment that we could have had, especially in the post-World War II framework. Portugal could have developed extraordinarily well and we fell behind, just like theSpaniards".[63]
Under Ventura's leadership, theChega party has been the target of critics who underline the party's extreme views on various subjects, some of which include the negative comments regarding immigration and minorities, namely theRomani and someblack communities[64] subjected toghettoization[65] living in problematic neighborhoods associated with high[66]crime rates that Ventura described[67] at one time as bandits and for which he was convicted by the courts of justice.[68][69][70][71] Ventura's comments on Romani people are often described as racist and xenophobic.[72][73]
On being compared negatively toDonald Trump andJair Bolsonaro, Ventura responded "I am very accustomed to that and it doesn't worry me. These are the ideas that I believe in. In addition tolife imprisonment andchemical castration, I also want a reduction in Islamic migration, especially from countries known for terrorism".[4] Ventura attendedTrump's January 2025 inauguration and has embraced the support of Bolsonaro.[74]
Ventura supports some rights for gay people, but he believes that same-sex couples should be incivil partnerships and not marriages.[4] He is personally opposed toabortion, but does not want the procedure to be criminalised for women.[4] He supports thelegalisation and regularisation ofprostitution as a way to protect and integrate sex workers. However, he believes thatlegalisation of recreational drugs increases drug traffic.[4] He is personally opposed tobullfighting, but opposes its sudden abolition due to the economic role it plays in some towns.[4]
In May 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, Ventura proposed a specific containment plan for the Romani community.[75] He was lambasted for this proposal by professional footballerRicardo Quaresma, of Romani descent.[76] In June 2020, Ventura organised a counter-protest the day after anti-racist concentrations were announced in honour of actor Bruno Candé, victim of a premeditated homicide. This counter-protest was made under the motto "Portugal is not racist", denying the allegation of racism in Portugal and condemning the "politically correct" associations and affirming that the counter-protest "is a manifestation of everything butwhite supremacy".[77][78]
He has spoken in admiration ofMariano Rajoy, conservative formerprime minister of Spain.[4] Ventura signed theMadrid Charter, a document drafted by the Spanish partyVox that describesfar left-wing groups as enemies ofIbero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime".[79] On 24 February 2022, Twitter permanently suspended Ventura's account for violating the rules of the social network regarding the "conduct of propagating hate".[80] Shortly after, the suspension of his account was lifted.[81]
Changing and evolving the focus of his speech, Ventura has expressed views in which he says that he doesn't want immigrants unable to integrate and dedicated to a life of marginalization and economic deprivation for themselves and their children, perpetuating cycles of poverty and crime, and constraining the Portuguese welfare state, thenational health service, the security forces, wages and housing in the country.[82][83][84]
André Ventura is married to Dina Marques Nunes Ventura,[85][17] a children'sphysiotherapist at a hospital in Lisbon, who met André Ventura after he had left law school at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.[86] They arechildless[87] but he wants to be a father someday.[88]
Mário Rui Leal Pedras, a priest of theLisbon Patriarchate in the churches of São Nicolau and Santa Maria Madalena, located in Lisbon'sBaixa Pombalina, who celebrated theCatholic wedding of Ventura, is hisconfessor andspiritual director since when Ventura was still a university student.[89] In 2025, Ventura said his path had been guided by a "divine mission".[74]
He is asupporter of S.L. Benfica.[90][91][21][excessive citations]
Ventura spoke in 2024 ofMatteo Salvini being "a very good friend" and of having "a great relation" withGeert Wilders.[92]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | Bernardino Soares | 28,701 | 32.8 | 4 | –1 | |
| PS | Sónia Paixão | 24,737 | 28.2 | 4 | ±0 | |
| PSD/PPM | André Ventura | 18,877 | 21.5 | 3 | +1 | |
| BE | Fabian Figueiredo | 3,107 | 3.5 | 0 | ±0 | |
| CDS–PP | Pedro Pestana Bastos | 2,508 | 2.9 | 0 | ±0 | |
| PCTP/MRPP | João Resa | 2,232 | 2.5 | 0 | ±0 | |
| PAN | Ana Sofia da Silva | 1,824 | 2.1 | 1 | new | |
| Other parties | 1,452 | 1.7 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 4,162 | 4.8 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 87,600 | 52.31 | 11 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Autárquicas 2017[93] | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS | Pedro Marques | 1,104,694 | 33.4 | 9 | +1 | |
| PSD | Paulo Rangel | 725,399 | 21.9 | 6 | ±0 | |
| BE | Marisa Matias | 325,093 | 9.8 | 2 | +1 | |
| CDU | João Ferreira | 228,045 | 6.9 | 2 | –1 | |
| CDS–PP | Nuno Melo | 204,792 | 6.2 | 1 | ±0 | |
| PAN | Francisco Guerreiro | 168,015 | 5.1 | 1 | +1 | |
| Alliance | Paulo Sande | 61,652 | 1.9 | 0 | new | |
| Livre | Rui Tavares | 60,446 | 1.8 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Basta! | André Ventura | 49,388 | 1.5 | 0 | new | |
| NC | Paulo de Morais | 34,634 | 1.1 | 0 | new | |
| Other parties | 116,743 | 2.7 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 235,748 | 3.5 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 3,307,644 | 30.75 | 21 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[94] | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS | António Costa | 1,903,687 | 36.3 | 108 | +22 | |
| PSD | Rui Rio | 1,454,283 | 27.8 | 79 | –10 | |
| BE | Catarina Martins | 498,549 | 9.5 | 19 | ±0 | |
| CDU | Jerónimo de Sousa | 332,018 | 6.3 | 12 | –5 | |
| CDS–PP | Assunção Cristas | 221,094 | 4.2 | 5 | –13 | |
| PAN | André Silva | 173,931 | 3.3 | 4 | +3 | |
| Chega | André Ventura | 67,502 | 1.3 | 1 | new | |
| IL | Carlos Guimarães Pinto | 67,443 | 1.3 | 1 | new | |
| Livre | Joacine Katar Moreira | 56,940 | 1.1 | 1 | +1 | |
| Other parties | 207,162 | 4.0 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 254,875 | 4.9 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 5,237,484 | 48.60 | 230 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[95] | ||||||
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa | 2,531,692 | 60.7 | |
| Ana Gomes | 540,823 | 13.0 | |
| André Ventura | 497,746 | 11.9 | |
| João Ferreira | 179,764 | 4.3 | |
| Marisa Matias | 165,127 | 4.0 | |
| Tiago Mayan Gonçalves | 134,991 | 3.2 | |
| Vitorino Silva | 123,031 | 3.0 | |
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 85,182 | – | |
| Turnout | 4,258,356 | 39.26 | |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[96] | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS | António Costa | 2,302,601 | 41.4 | 120 | +12 | |
| PSD | Rui Rio | 1,618,381 | 29.1 | 77 | –2 | |
| Chega | André Ventura | 399,659 | 7.2 | 12 | +11 | |
| IL | João Cotrim Figueiredo | 273,687 | 4.9 | 8 | +7 | |
| BE | Catarina Martins | 244,603 | 4.4 | 5 | –14 | |
| CDU | Jerónimo de Sousa | 238,920 | 4.3 | 6 | –6 | |
| CDS–PP | Rodrigues dos Santos | 89,181 | 1.6 | 0 | –5 | |
| PAN | Inês Sousa Real | 88,152 | 1.6 | 1 | –3 | |
| Livre | Rui Tavares | 71,232 | 1.3 | 1 | ±0 | |
| Other parties | 91,299 | 1.6 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 146,824 | 2.6 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 5,564,539 | 51.46 | 230 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[97] | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD | Luís Montenegro | 1,867,442 | 28.8 | 80 | +3 | |
| PS | Pedro Nuno Santos | 1,812,443 | 28.0 | 78 | –42 | |
| Chega | André Ventura | 1,169,781 | 18.1 | 50 | +38 | |
| IL | Rui Rocha | 319,877 | 4.9 | 8 | ±0 | |
| BE | Mariana Mortágua | 282,314 | 4.4 | 5 | ±0 | |
| CDU | Paulo Raimundo | 205,551 | 3.2 | 4 | –2 | |
| Livre | Rui Tavares | 204,875 | 3.2 | 4 | +3 | |
| PAN | Inês Sousa Real | 126,125 | 2.0 | 1 | ±0 | |
| ADN | Bruno Fialho | 102,134 | 1.6 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Other parties | 104,167 | 1.6 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 282,243 | 4.4 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 6,476,952 | 59.90 | 230 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[98] | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD | Luís Montenegro | 2,008,488 | 31.8 | 91 | +11 | |
| PS | Pedro Nuno Santos | 1,442,546 | 22.8 | 58 | –20 | |
| Chega | André Ventura | 1,438,554 | 22.8 | 60 | +10 | |
| IL | Rui Rocha | 338,974 | 5.4 | 9 | +1 | |
| Livre | Rui Tavares | 257,291 | 4.1 | 6 | +2 | |
| CDU | Paulo Raimundo | 183,686 | 2.9 | 3 | –1 | |
| BE | Mariana Mortágua | 125,808 | 2.0 | 1 | –4 | |
| PAN | Inês Sousa Real | 86,930 | 1.4 | 1 | ±0 | |
| ADN | Bruno Fialho | 81,660 | 1.3 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Other parties | 95,384 | 1.5 | 1 | +1 | ||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 260,648 | 4.1 | – | – | ||
| Turnout | 6,319,969 | 58.25 | 230 | ±0 | ||
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[99] | ||||||
| Candidate | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| António José Seguro | 1,755,563 | 31.1 | 3,484,695 | 66.8 | |
| André Ventura | 1,327,021 | 23.5 | 1,729,894 | 33.2 | |
| João Cotrim de Figueiredo | 903,057 | 16.0 | |||
| Henrique Gouveia e Melo | 695,377 | 12.3 | |||
| Luís Marques Mendes | 637,442 | 11.3 | |||
| Catarina Martins | 116,407 | 2.1 | |||
| António Filipe | 92,644 | 1.6 | |||
| Manuel João Vieira | 60,927 | 1.1 | |||
| Jorge Pinto | 38,588 | 0.7 | |||
| André Pestana | 10,897 | 0.2 | |||
| Humberto Correia | 4,773 | 0.1 | |||
| Blank/Invalid ballots | 125,840 | – | 271,620 | – | |
| Turnout | 5,768,536 | 52.39 | 5,486,209 | 50.03 | |
| Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[100][101] | |||||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Media related toAndré Ventura at Wikimedia Commons
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| New political party | President ofChega 2019–present | Incumbent |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
