Brazilian businessman and former athlete Marcus Santos was elected deputy in Portugal's legislative elections this weekend, one of 48 from the right-wing Chega party. The party grew the most in the election, doubling the number of parliamentarians, and intended to ban Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) from entering if he won the majority.
Marcus is from Rio de Janeiro and ran for the Porto district. He was previously a mixed martial arts athlete and currently owns a martial arts school. He left Brazil at the age of 18 to live in the United States and has been in Portugal since 2009, where he started a family, with a Portuguese wife and son.
In a 2023 report on the Visão website, Marcus mentioned that he considered he had “values” similar to those of the Chega party, such as “defense of the family, the country and private property”. He also highlighted that there are many Brazilians engaged in the party.
“I review my values in Chega: the defense of the family, the country and private property. And homeland, for me, is also the country that welcomed me and to which I owe a lot”, he told the publication.
Chega obtained 18.1% of the votes and demonstrated, according to leader André Ventura, that “the Portuguese want a government of the Democratic Alliance with Chega”, suggesting the possibility of an alliance between the first and third placed. The Socialist Party, which was in power, came in second place with 28.7%, while the AD had 29.5%.
Brazilian federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) celebrated Chega's high performance, saying that “we support out of conviction, principle, values, not out of fashion or political moment. Together we are stronger, that's why establishment of the radical left defame us, to prevent us from having these ties”.
Another possibility for forming a new government is an agreement between the AD and the Socialist Party (PS). The Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, will hold consultations this week with leaders from all parties to develop a proposal for Montenegro.
The division of the Portuguese Parliament opens up another future option: new elections at the end of the year. The Portuguese constitution establishes that six months must elapse before a new election is called, and these can only happen 55 days after this established date.
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