Europe’s loneliest far-right party flounders in Portugal’s election battle

Waving Portuguese flags, leaders of the far-right National Renovation Party (PNR) waited for more people to turn up to their September rally in Lisbon, however, their nationalist chants fell on deaf ears.

No one joined the 50 or so loyal party members gathered on the quaint square to campaign for the Oct. 6 parliamentary election. A few passer-bys did stop, but only to yell: “Fascists!”

At a time when far-right populist movements are on the rise in many west and north European countries, such poor turnouts are the norm for their Portuguese peers, where the centre-left Socialists are expected to stay in power.

Portugal is one of only five EU countries without an elected far right party in parliament – alongside Britain, Ireland, Malta, and Luxembourg – and the election is unlikely to change that. PNR and Chega, a second far-right party which emerged last year, are both polling below 1% each, meaning they are nothing to fret about at this moment in time.

Far right groups may have had more difficulty establishing themselves in Portugal than elsewhere because of the nation’s attachment to democracy that arrived only in 1974 after decades of Salazar’s fascist dictatorship.

“People in Portugal have been socialized to a very multi-ethnic society, even compared to Spain,” said political scientist James Dennison, who researches far-right movements in the Iberian Peninsula. He says that the far right in Europe often gains a foothold by latching onto an issue seen as less polarizing than immigration, such as Euroscepticism in Britain, regional identity in Italy or high taxes in the Nordics, which has not happened in Portugal.

With migrants long coming from its former colonies, including Brazil and Angola, Portugal has become accustomed to a flow of international newcomers. Unlike most European nations trying to curb migration, Portugal wants more, seeing it as a way to tackle the country’s ageing population problem.

“We need more immigration and we won’t tolerate any xenophobic rhetoric,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa told a conference only last year, signalling that there is no place for the far-right in the political sphere.

 “People are still concerned with day to day issues, such as the economy and unemployment, issues that overshadow migration,” said Dennison, a professor at the European University Institute in Florence.

Some researchers have also said that the absence of attacks by Islamist militants in Portugal, which was ranked the third most peaceful country in the world by the Global Peace Index, has helped to keep xenophobia at bay.

But Portuguese society is not devoid of racism, xenophobia or homophobia despite having gone through many liberal changes since the end of Antonio Salazar’s dictatorship.

“A lot of people in Portugal think like us but they would rather go to the beach, stay at home or rest,” PNR’s leader Jose Pinto Coelho has claimed. A blinding nostalgia for Salazar, a harsh line towards migrants, the ethnic Roma, and the LGBT community are common traits for PNR and Chega. In its election manifesto, with the Trumpian slogan “make Portugal great again”, PNR promised to halt the construction of mosques and repeal the same-sex marriage law.

Activists opposing the far-right have pointed out that Portugal could still be vulnerable to extremism, even if far-right parties have not yet found a way to translate it into political power.

“Portugal is not immune. It will simply take longer to manifest itself,” said Jonathan Ferreira da Costa, from the Antifascist Unitary Front, which organizes protests against far right events, pointing to the fact that society must remain vigilant.