Party hoped to take 30 municipalities but secured three after share of vote halved from parliamentary elections
Portugal’s far-right Chega party has won its first mayoral seats in local elections, final results showed, but fell well short of expectations and its vote share halved from parliamentary elections in May.
The six-year-old nationalist party, whose name means “Enough”, took control of three city halls: São Vicente on the island of Madeira; the central town of Entroncamento; and Albufeira in the south. It won a 11.86% share of the overall vote.
But Chega’s leader, André Ventura, admitted “we wanted more” and said Sunday’s elections had not given the party “the victory we wanted”.
Some pre-election polls had put Chega ahead in the national vote for the first time, and it had hoped its cocktail of populist policies, including stricter immigration controls and chemical castration for paedophiles, might help it win 30 municipalities.
