Major-general considers candidacy and winks at Chega

Gouveia e Melo's name has always been a subject of little consensus within Chega, with André Ventura himself publicly admitting that it was not “ absolutely unanimous ”. And while it is true that the Chega leader said he had a “good opinion” of the admiral, it is also true that the way in which Gouveia e Melo publicly distanced himself from the party was enough of a trigger for Ventura to make a decision: Chega wants to have its own candidate for Belém.

But the political context has changed profoundly since that election. With the fall of the government, new elections and the consecration of André Ventura as leader of the opposition, the party president has finally acknowledged, even without definitively withdrawing his candidacy, that he is focused on that role and on Parliament. It seems that it will be necessary to find an alternative to Ventura — and that is where Isidro Morais Pereira's solution could come in.

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The name of the major-general has recently reached Chega's ears and, as Observador knows, the party has agreed to a meeting with Isidro Morais Pereira for the beginning of July. Diogo Pacheco Amorim and Ricardo Dias Pinto will talk to the possible candidate for Belém, and a next meeting with André Ventura should only take place later, if the party considers the hypothesis viable and when the process is at another stage of maturity.

Even though the option of supporting a military man is positive for Chega's electorate — even more so when Gouveia e Melo has distanced himself and senior party leaders are assuming that it makes no sense to support someone who doesn't want it and who has even started to ostracize Chega — Ventura may have difficulty supporting a military man who has no serious chance of running in the elections — it is still necessary to test Isidro Morais Pereira's true popularity.

With a new military man in the field, Ventura would have a solution to some problems in his hands: although it is not ideal to go to elections at this stage when Chega needs to focus on the leadership of the opposition, he had a candidate to support, he would not be out of the race and even the issue of media coverage could be less of a problem, considering that the major general is a regular presence in the commentary spaces — on CNN Portugal and also on the “Gabinete de Guerra” program on Observador radio.

On the other hand, and unlike Gouveia e Melo, Isidro Morais Pereira is available to receive Chega's support, refusing to put the party aside, assuming that he would obviously have another “ comfort ” in going to the polls with the support of a party that in the last legislative elections had more than a million votes.