Tiago Petinga / LUSA
The candidate for President of the Republic, André Ventura
It ‘swept’ France, the country with the most subscribers, where it had 60.46%. In Switzerland it was 63.46%. And in South Africa, the African country with the most subscribers, more than 82% voted for him. What explains this phenomenon?
Around here, we already know the story since Sunday: António José Seguro was in the first round of the presidential elections, with 31.11% of the votes, and André Ventura went through to the second round, with 23.52%. But outside, the story was very different.
After counting 95.41% of the votes abroad and with 5 out of 109 consulates to be counted, at the date of publication of this article, Ventura obtained almost double of António José Seguro’s votes (41.88% against 23.25%).
Only 4.01% of those registered abroad went to vote. Ventura collected 41.68% of votes in Europeagainst 24.26% of Seguro; 48.04% in Africaagainst 20.96% of the candidate supported by the PS; 48.96% in Americacontra 19,7%.
It was in the country with the most registered voters, Francewhich André Ventura shone (abstention was 97.29%): he obtained 60.46% of the votes, compared to 18.72% for Seguro. In Marseille, for example, it had 66.54%. But in SwitzerlandVentura surpassed this result: 63.46%, destroying Seguro’s 13.48%. Node LuxembourgVentura also exceeded 42%; Insurance was 22.90%.
Already South Africathe African country with the most registered voters in these elections, Ventura obtained 82.46%: 1067 votes, compared to António José Seguro’s 38.
Only in Asia and Oceania is that Ventura was defeated, and wouldn’t even make it to the second round: he came in third (19.67%), less than 100 votes from Seguro. Marques Mendes came first, with 30.11%.
What explains Ventura’s dominance abroad
The pattern already comes from previous elections. If Chega is already used to investing in Portuguese communities, even with Ventura traveling abroad for proximity campaigns, messages of patriotism also tend to be well digested by those who live outside the country, recalls the political scientist specializing in the Portuguese radical right and author of the book The New Anti-System Right: The Case of Chegahas .
The recurring discourse of exaltation of the past and Portuguese history can function as symbolic anchor for those who live abroad and maintain an emotional connection to their country of origin, highlights Marco Lisi, graduate in political sciences at the University of Florence and assistant professor at the Department of Political Studies at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the New University of Lisbon and researcher at the ICS, to the magazine.
And the diaspora vote also capitalizes on the frustration with traditional partiesoften associated, in the memory of many emigrants, with periods of economic difficulties and lack of opportunities that precipitated their departure from the country.
Ventura’s is another point in the candidate’s favor. Abroad, where in-person campaigning is limited and information circulates mainly online, this advantage makes the difference between a solid result and an indisputable victory.
