Upset stomach stops Portugal far-right candidate’s campaigning

LISBON — Gastrointestinal issues are preventing far-right firebrand André Ventura from making a final appeal to voters ahead of Sunday’s national election in Portugal.

During the past week the leader of the ultranationalist Chega party abruptly abandoned campaign rallies on two occasions due to sharp stomach pains.

The politician, whose anti-immigrant group is currently the third-largest in the Portuguese parliament, was taken to a hospital in Faro after collapsing at an event in the southern city of Tavira on Tuesday.

Chega party lawmaker Pedro Pinto claimed a group of anti-Ventura agitators had attempted to raid the hospital, which had been obliged to adopt extraordinary security measures to keep the far-right leader safe. But the hospital’s administrators denied the claims and said no incidents had taken place.

Doctors determined Ventura had suffered an esophegal spasm, a condition which leaves affected patients with severe stomach pains and is caused by abnormalities in the nerves that control the muscles used for swallowing.

The far-right leader was discharged within a few hours, but he was taken to a hospital again in Setúbal on Thursday after collapsing at a rally in Odemira.

After once again being discharged after a few hours, Ventura told the Portuguese press that doctors had advised him to “stop for a while.”

A spokesperson for Chega later announced that the politician would not attend the party’s final rallies ahead of Sunday’s vote.

In a video post on X recorded from his bed, Ventura on Friday urged supporters to keep fighting.

“Friends, I’m already home … but we can’t stop,” he said. “The country needs change and it is, for the first time, in our hands. … Fight until the last minute of this campaign!”

Some 10.8 million Portuguese voters are called to the polls in this weekend’s snap election, which is taking place barely a year after the last one.

As was the case last year, the latest polls have Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance projected to win the most votes, but falling short of securing the 116 seats needed for majority rule. Pedro Nuno Santos’ Socialist Party is again expected to come in second place, with Ventura’s Chega party remaining the third-largest group in parliament.

With no party expected to secure an outright majority of seats and no governing deal on the table, Portugal’s political future is unclear.