Last January 18th. Isabel Moreira, deputy of the Socialist Party, submitted a report to the Constitutional Affairs Committee for the admission of a petition so that, in the future, Chega would be illegalized as a racist and fascist party.
Isabel Moreira argues that Chega is a party that does not respect the essential values and principles of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. The petition in question currently has 12 thousand signatures.
Isabel Moreira’s attitude is understood in the logic of someone who wants to combat Chega’s ideas and practice, which comes dangerously close to violating the most elementary democratic values that govern our society.
However, it is doubtful that this is the most effective and productive way for Isabel Moreira to achieve the objectives she seeks.
Regardless of everything, Chega is today the second largest party with parliamentary representation. André Ventura in the second round of the presidential elections had around one million and seven hundred thousand votes. There are, therefore, more than one million and seven hundred thousand Portuguese voting for Chega. Certainly, in this immense social universe, there is a little bit of everything. Any generalization in this context is dangerous.
Are there Portuguese people who like Salazarism? Definitely yes. Are there Portuguese people who repudiate Salazarism and Marcelism? Certainly yes! Will there be Portuguese from the political center, democrats, moderates? I don’t doubt there is! There are, among Chega’s political base, former social democrats, former socialists, former communists disillusioned with the “singing tomorrows”, centrists disenchanted with the irrelevance that the CDS has today.
Chega has not been asserting itself and growing in the Portuguese political context for strictly ideological reasons. Many of those who vote for Chega today are disenchanted with the current system that does not give them a better life, does not solve their problems and abandons them socially. A country with collapsing health, no housing opportunities, low wages, deficient and ineffective education, youth that are so often unable to access the social elevator, all of this can only generate a vast population of discontent and disbelievers. These end up adhering to the populist theses of easy promises that André Ventura and Chega know so well how to propagandize.
Isabel Moreira’s petition will soon be discussed in Parliament.
The consequence of this parliamentary agenda is that we will once again have Chega in the political spotlight, with great media exposure, André Ventura wrapped in the national flag, victimizing himself, shouting that they want to end a party that represents a third of Portuguese people with electoral capacity. There we will see, more often, the leader of Chega on television, more theatrical scenes of indignation in Parliament, more testimonies from Chega deputies and leaders against left-wing parties accusing them of being false democrats.
Once approved by the Assembly of the Republic (if that is the case) the petition will be sent to the Constitutional Court, the only body that has the legal capacity to illegalize a political party. To date, the Constitutional Court has never illegalized any party with parliamentary representation.
Chega has, sociologically, stupid people, it has cultural eunuchs, ignorant and illiterate people, bullies and other such things. But, once again, we cannot generalize. There are also qualified people, honest workers, simple workers, office workers, teachers, graduates from various areas.
Isabel Moreira certainly knows that Chega is a populist, troublemaker, demagogue, sometimes ordinary party with no respect for democratic principles. But when it comes to the consistency and historical tradition of German Nazism or Italian fascism, Chega is far from this political reality.
The most effective way to combat Chega is to modernize Portuguese society and provide good living conditions for the Portuguese.
Isabel Moreira is a deputy. He has an excellent platform to attack Chega’s ideas and, certainly, he does not lack the intelligence to do so. Starting a process of illegalizing a party with a parliamentary representation of one million and seven hundred thousand votes may be trying to put out the fire with gasoline.
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