Another week, another accusation
11 February 2025
Portugal's far-right Chega party wants to "clean Portugal" of its criminals, but is yet to stop producing them in its own ranks. Nuno Pardal, the vice president of the Lisbon district assembly, is the latest example. He is being accused of aggravated minor prostitution. The victim is a 15-year-old boy. While the age of consent in Portugal is 16, consenting to prostitution is only allowed once everyone involved is 18 years old.
That’s not all. Criminal charges against Chega come in pairs. In the same week, José Paulo Sousa, regional deputy of Chega in Azores, was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. Just a week prior, Miguel Arruda, one of the deputies of Chega, was accused of regularly stealing suitcases from an airport, as we reported on before.
And when it rains, it really does pour: according to Público, at least 9 of 50 deputies elected by Chega, had or have problems with the law. There are deputies accused of robbery, illegal immigration, the crime of disobedience, document forgery, and deputies with large debts to pay.
 | Marta Tuna For now, a request to lift Miguel Arruda's parliamentary immunity was filed to charge him in court. Nuno Pardal, meanwhile, resigned from his office and remains under investigation. Some people say that Chega is finally revealing its true face. On the other hand, and unsurprisingly, the party itself is trying to turn reality in favour of its own campaign, encouraging the conviction of its members in order to show that the party does not have double standards. However, there are former Chega deputies who say that André Ventura (the party's president) knew from the beginning of the legislature that it had deputies in legal trouble. Far-right parties all over the continent have been at the centre of similar scandals for years. The German Member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland Maximilan Krah was accused of spying for Chinese intelligence services last year. In France, Marine Le Pen's party is on trial for allegedly diverting EU funds to pay party staff. In Austria's infamous "Ibiza scandal" in 2019, the Freedom Party's former leader Heinz-Christian Strache was accused of offering public contracts to a fake Russian oligarch's niece, leading to his resignation and government collapse. |
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