The Portuguese in Switzerland are the champions of the Chiga vote
The far-right party won more than 32% of voters in Switzerland, a much larger number than in Portugal and all other countries. Reactions in the land of Vaudois.
At the head of Shiga, Andre Ventura addresses his supporters during the election campaign. During Sunday's elections, the far-right party quadrupled its seats in parliament (from 12 to 48), while remaining the third political party in the country.
Agence France-Presse/Andre Dias Nobre
In Portugal, the far right has succeeded in achieving this An impressive achievement in the legislative elections that took place last SundayWith 18.8% of the vote, four times the number of seats in Parliament. However, this is nothing compared to the referendum held for him by Portuguese voters living in Switzerland.
they 32.62% voted for Chiga, or just over 16,000 of about 50,000 voters, putting the party ahead of all others. This in both percentage and absolute numbers is more than in all other countries in which the Portuguese community participated in national elections. Brazil, where the number of voters was equal, also ranked the party in the lead, but by 24.61%.
The Portuguese in Switzerland, champions of the far-right votes? This observation, however, is something new. During the 2022 legislative elections, they placed Chiga in third placestill prefers socialists.
Surprised, not surprised
In the land of Vaudois, someone is taking the hit. “We hold the world record! It is surprising and difficult to find explanations for.” Antonio da Cunha, hot. He is president of the Federation of Portuguese Associations in Switzerland, and he qualifies by pointing out that the approximately ten thousand Chiga leaflets are disproportionate to the Portuguese population in Switzerland. That's 267,000 people in total in 2022.
Among other things, he suggests an item for analysis: “There is a strong dissatisfaction with the state and the political class, but this is not new. This vote may have been taken by the Portuguese in recent waves of immigration. They are better and better trained, but they still had to leave the country because they could not pay their rent. Their frustration is greater.
But why does Switzerland stand out? José Martinho, former Vaud MP and head of the Lausanne Centre, recounts what he was able to hear from the mouths of Chega's supporters: “People say that if the CDU has been the leading party in Switzerland for years, why not in Portugal?” If he casts his vote elsewhere, he says he respects that protest vote. “I'm not surprised at all!”
It was also no surprise that the PLR municipal representative, Luis Guedes, in Renens, was one of those who voted for Chiga. “I don’t agree with all their ideas and all their statements, but it is the only party I can support today.” According to him, watching a country perform worse and worse is particularly striking when viewed from Switzerland. There is no doubt that the Portuguese in Portugal are more submissive. The contradiction here shocks many of us!
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