50 years after the Carnation Revolution, the far right is gaining ground in public opinion

The far-right Chega party is expected to win seats in the Portuguese Parliament following the legislative elections, held this Sunday. A gain in popularity which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the fall of the dictatorship in the country.

Fifty years ago, on April 25, 1974, two hundred army captains led the uprising against Salazarist power, the famous Carnation Revolution. Castro Carneiro is one of them. He keeps red carnations in his office, symbols of the revolution. “My father, very Catholic, and my mother adored Salazar. Just before April 25, I sent my wife to my father who lived in Porto. When she told him that I was preparing the revolution, my father yelled at her. If April 25 put an end to fascism, it did not eliminate the fascists.”

Polling stations opened on Sunday March 10 in Portugal for legislative elections. According to the latest polls, the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) could return to power, ahead of the Socialist Party which has governed for eight years. The other big winner of these elections could be the far-right Chega party, created in 2019. It could double the 7% of votes obtained two years ago following these elections.

“Young people are not aware of what the dictatorship was”

At a Chega congress in 2021, party leader Andre Ventura even used the old motto of the dictatorship: “God, homeland, family”, and added the word “work”. So the return of the extreme right to power, Castro Carneiro greatly fears. “Portugal is not at all safe, on the contrary. When I go to testify in schools, I feel a bit like an animal you see at the zoo. Young people are not aware of what It was dictatorship, fascism.”

This conscience, Manuela Matos Monteiro, has it deeply anchored within her.“It’s a situation where we always live with fear, with the feeling of being watched, testifies the one who organized secret meetings and banned leaflets during the dictatorship. VYou can’t read certain books, you can’t see certain movies. Memory is very important, but it is also very difficult to transmit, because it is only when you are deprived of freedom that you know what freedom is.”

“Celebrating the 50th anniversary of April 25 [date de la chute de la dictature] in this context leaves me perplexed”, she concludes. According to a recent academic study, the voters most seduced by Chega today are also the most nostalgic for the Salazar dictatorship.