Far-right Chega falls short in Portuguese local elections

Portugal's far-right Chega party has won its first mayoral seats in local elections but fell well short of expectations, with its vote share halving since parliamentary elections in May.

- Jon Henley

The six-year-old nationalist party, whose name means “enough”, took control of three city halls: São Vicente on the island of Madeira, the central town of Entroncamento, and Albufeira in the south. It won an 11.86% share of the overall vote.

But Chega's leader, André Ventura, admitted Sunday's elections had not given the party the victory it wanted.

Some pre-election polls had put Chega ahead in the national vote for the first time, and it had hoped its populist policies, including stricter immigration controls and chemical castration for paedophiles, might help it win 30 of the 308 municipalities.