Tiago Petinga / LUSA
The candidate for President of the Republic, André Ventura
André Ventura warns that Francisco Sá Carneiro is not the exclusive property of the PSD or Cavaco Silva – which is “wrong”.
He died in 1980 but, in 2026, Francisco Sá Carneiro became one of the centers of exchanges of words in the campaign for the presidential elections.
The presidential candidate and leader of Chega, André Ventura, defended that the historic social democrat and former prime minister Francisco Sá Carneiro It is not “exclusive heritage” of the PSD “nor of Cavaco Silva”.
“I think Sá Carneiro was probably the best Portuguese politician of recent decades. And I think that, if Sá Carneiro does not belong to anyone, it is also not the exclusive heritage of the PSD, nor of Cavaco Silva”, stated André Ventura, next to the Pinhal Novo train station, district of Setúbal, before a campaign action for the presidential elections on the 18th.
The leader of Chega was also reacting to an opinion published today by the former President of the Republic and chief executive Aníbal Cavaco Silva, in which the social democrat says he is shocked by the way in which the name of Francisco Sá Carneiro has been invoked by several candidates for the presidential elections such as André Ventura, Cotrim de Figueiredo and Henrique Gouveia e Melo.
Ventura argued that Cavaco Silva “is wrong” and said he was convinced that If Sá Carneiro were alive today “he would feel much closer to ChegaChega’s values, Chega’s way of doing politics, than the PSD itself”.
The deputy supported this thesis by stating that the social-democratic founder was “a man of take risks” and “say things when they need to be said”.
Stating that Sá Carneiro is his “political model”, Ventura denied wanting to appropriate his figure but considered that “there is no right, on the other side” to say that “you cannot talk about Sá Carneiro because he was from the PSD”.
The “smoke” of Marques Mendes
André Ventura, accused Luís Marques Mendes of creating “smoke” over the State Budget for 2027 for being “desperate” and “going down in the polls”.
“It’s January, we have elections in a few days, and this is just Luís Marques Mendes wanting to throw smoke, – it’s just smoke, – so we don’t discuss the presidential elections”, accused André Ventura, paraphrasing a historic phrase from Prime Minister Pinheiro de Azevedo, during the “Hot Summer” of 1975, when he tried to calm down a demonstration in Terreiro do Paço.
The candidate was asked about the fact that Luís Marques Mendes (candidate supported by PSD and CDS-PP) had warned, on Monday, in Guarda, that “there are signs that it may be difficult to pass” the next State Budget.
“This is a typical example of when a candidate starts to lose control of thingshe starts to be nonsense and say nonsense things. They spent this entire campaign saying ‘André Ventura only talks about legislative issues, he only talks about parliamentary issues and it can’t be that we are in presidential elections’. But as soon as they start to fall in the polls, bring parliament and budgets to the presidential campaign“, he criticized.
Ventura spoke in “despair” and accused Mendes of trying to “snag” with the topic, as he leads Chega, a party that currently has 60 deputies in the Assembly of the Republic, being the second political force with the most parliamentarians, behind the PSD.
“But what is the sign we have in January that in October the budget will be approved, not approved? That’s just Dr. Marques Mendes’ talk for one reason: it’s going down,” he argued.
The deputy stated that Marques Mendes “has to grow a lot” to “snag” him adding, immediately afterwards: “Growing up too much politically to get stuck, that’s what I mean”.
André Ventura recalled that it was Luís Marques Mendes who announced that he would dedicate a State Council to the issue of Justice and asked that this issue be addressed but also health or housing, as well as “the powers of the President” during the campaign, and not the vote on the State Budget, a debate that begins in October.
“Leave the State Budget there now”, he requested.
