Portuguese elections (and II): Chega and megalothymia, a clear profile
Since the establishment of democracy in the 1970s until the 2019 legislative elections, Portugal has held permanent parliamentary representation of traditional political parties. For about five decades, the alternation between the ideological axes of left and right facilitated the succession of governments formed by the centre-left Socialist Party and the center-right Social Democrat Party, some of them based on coalitions.
Thanks to the legislative elections of 2022, the party led by Ventura went from a deputy to 12, and transformed the centre-right political map, which disappeared for the first time from the CDS-PP Parliament since 1974. Chega is now the third political force, following the classic bipartisanship symbolised by the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party. The original profile of Chega voters has gone from middle-aged men with primary or secondary education to younger men with religious beliefs, concentrated in rural areas and dissatisfied with politics. Ventura’s followers are critical of globalization and migratory flows and complain about these two phenomena: the economic crisis and stagnation in Portugal.
In Portugal, the Socialists are still losing protection. The Democratic Alliance is leading the latest polls, but it will not only win the investiture, without previously allied with other forces in the centre.
Attacks on the Capitol in January 2021, or on the president's palace in Brasilia, Congress and the Supreme Court after the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro, confirm that far-right voters do not accept the change and are not disillusioned with the leadership of these administrations (Stefanoni, 2023). The political changes in both countries, with the electoral victories of Joe Bide and Lula da Silva, occurred as a result of a greater mobilization of leftist and progressive voters who decided to work to get the populists out of power. Something similar happened in Spain in the parliamentary elections of July 2023, when the government formed by the Popular Party and Vox was avoided.
The advancement of the extreme right around the world responds to the creation of alliances with more ideologically conservative organizations. Extreme groups realize that they cannot reach power on their own, so they resort to treaties that facilitate access to governments. In Portugal, the Socialists are still losing support over previous years. According to Heller, the Democratic Alliance leads the latest polls and has a vote intention of over 28% for the March 2024 elections. However, if these figures are maintained, it will not only win the investiture, without first allied with other forces in the centre, if they reach an agreement and certainly with the far-right side of Chega.
It is important to remember Francis Fukuyama here and to analyse how the strengthening of populist movements can be a response to people’s small respect for modern liberal democracies, where individual rights, the pillars of the rule of law and suffrage are guaranteed. However, these elements are not sufficient to ensure equal respect for people in practice, especially groups with a history of marginalization. Moving from isothymia (demand for respect for equality with others) to megalothymia (desire to be recognised as superior) is very subtle and becomes capable of destabilising societies through racism and xenophobia. The themes built around Thymos (part of the soul that wants the recognition of dignity) are usually recognition, dignity, immigration, nationalism, religion or culture, according to Ruiz (2022). They all go beyond the dogma of economic motivation and become engines of actions that cannot be satisfied with economic or financial resources.
Carvalho Cardoso
Student of the Faculty of Law of the UPV/EHU, Bachelor of Political Science and PhD in Philosophy (University of Porto)
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