Prime Minister Luís Montenegro will be in the Algarve this Tuesday, 7 October, to take part in the PSD’s local election campaign, with votes being cast in just a few days' time.
At 2 p.m., Montenegro is scheduled to attend a lunch gathering followed by a boat trip in Faro, where the coalition’s candidate for the local council. representing not only the PSD but also Iniciativa Liberal, CDS-PP, PAN, and MPT (Partido da Terra), is Cristóvão Norte. At 6 p.m., the Prime Minister will head to Silves for a campaign rally in support of João Garcia.
The day will conclude in Albufeira, where Montenegro is expected to attend a dinner rally at the city’s Multiusos venue, starting at 8 p.m. In this municipality, the PSD’s candidate for mayor is the current officeholder, José Carlos Rolo.
This comes as just last week Chega leader André Ventura declared that the Algarve will become the party’s “great stronghold” and mark “the beginning of the reconquest of the country,” at the end of a campaign walkabout in Portimão during which he was carried on supporters’ shoulders.
“This district, this region — the Algarve — will be Chega’s great bastion in the years to come in Portugal, because it will mark the beginning of the country’s conquest, starting here, from the south. We are going to conquer Portugal, we are going to clean Portugal,” he said.
Ventura took part in the Thursday afternoon walkabout in Portimão, accompanied by the party’s candidate for the local council, MP and district leader João Paulo Graça, along with more than two hundred supporters.
During the short route of less than a kilometre, Ventura was briefly lifted into the air by two supporters. At the end of the march, speaking from the side of a car, he told the crowd that in these local elections “there can only be one goal: to win.”
“We’re no longer a party to settle for second or third place. We want to win. If we want to rid the country of corruption, if we want to give young people a future, we must win,” he stressed.
Speaking to journalists during the event, the Chega leader said he expected a “major victory in the Algarve on the 12th” — one that would not “cause headaches later on.”
“I’m convinced that the victories we’ll achieve in municipal and parish councils will honour the country — both in the fight against corruption and in reorganising public space, in terms of mobility and housing,” Ventura said.
He went on to predict that “the Algarve will be Chega’s great testing ground at the national level, as it will probably be the district where we win the most councils.”
“I think it’s very important to turn our legislative election result into an opportunity to govern locally — to show that we can govern well in Portimão, where our candidate is MP João Graça, but also in Faro, Olhão, Albufeira, Vila Real de Santo António, and across the Algarve’s many municipalities,” he added.
Ventura argued that “the Algarve is probably the place where Chega’s strength is felt most clearly — it’s here in the streets, plain for all to see.”
“I hope to win many councils. I want Chega to show it’s a true local party, with a strong presence in municipal politics. […] People need to understand that it’s not enough to vote for André Ventura or at the national level, or even just in the presidential elections. You have to vote for those who will change your daily life, your local councils,” he urged.
He also stressed that “the party cannot think it’s all about André Ventura — it must have mayors and local representatives, people who can be held accountable and criticised when criticism is due.”
The Faro district was the first that Chega won during the 2024 general election. Earlier this year, the party also came out on top in the districts of Faro, Beja, Portalegre and Setúbal, as well as in both overseas constituencies.
The Portimão walkabout, accompanied by drums and chants, alternated between support for the leader and for the candidate, ending with the crowd singing: “Portugal is ours, and always will be — Portugal is ours until we die.”
