The president of Chega considered today that extinguishing the party “would not only be an affront to democracy, it would also be extinguishing democracy itself”, arguing that the country must defend itself from those who want to illegalize those with whom it does not agree.
On the day that a complaint from lawyer António Garcia Pereira was addressed to the Attorney General of the Republic so that the Public Ministry activates legal mechanisms to extinguish Chega, André Ventura, in statements to journalists in Parliament, lamented that “a large part of the political and news space is made in favor of an attempt to illegalize a political party”.
“We have seen this consecutively every time there are new election periods. It’s sad because it shows how our opponents don’t want to debate with us, they don’t want to beat us through argument, they don’t want to win through discussion, they want to win through force, they want to win through cancellation, they want to win through illegalization, they want to beat us through silencing”, he shot.
André Ventura argued that “Chega is the leader of the opposition” and “to extinguish the leader of the opposition would not only be an affront to democracy, it would be to extinguish democracy itself”.
For the leader of Chega, the complaints about his posters relating to Bangladesh and gypsies or the request for the party to be dissolved “show that for many years” there has been a climate of “political bias in Portugal”.
“We will be there to respond wherever we have to respond, but above all we have to say today that democracy cannot be at risk”, he said, considering there is “a group of people who think that democracy can be achieved by keeping others quiet”.
Ventura also said he understands that “institutions in Portugal have to defend themselves from these types of requests and these types of people who think that those with whom we do not agree should be illegalized” and assured that Chega will not change its values.
The Chega leader was also asked about the CNN news that PS deputy Eva Cruzeiro will file a complaint against Chega deputy Filipe Melo for “being sent to her homeland”, stating that the parliamentarian from his party was provoked.
“I think I should start with Eva Cruzeiro’s behavior. Because whoever says what they want hears what they don’t want. If I say that you are racist, corrupt, xenophobic and that you steal money from the Portuguese, you will answer me”, he explained, adding that “reaction generates reaction” and that “these reactions are not positive for democracy”.
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