Coimbra, Portugal, July 1, 2026 (Lusa) - Incidents of incivility in parliament have more than doubled since the far-right Chega party entered parliament; the party is responsible for more than a third of the cases between 2020 and 2025, according to a scientific article.
Manuel João Cruz, from the Centre for Social Studies (CES) at the University of Coimbra, analysed the transcripts of all plenary sessions debating the State of the Nation between 2015 and 2025, concluding that, with the entry of the party led by André Ventura into parliament, incidents of incivility more than doubled, the researcher specialising in populism told the Lusa news agency.
In total, the scientific article analyses 2,021 interactions, amounting to more than 50 hours of speeches by MPs, seeking to identify, over a ten-year period, all instances of incivility in Parliament.
For the analysis, Manuel João Cruz used a broad definition of incivility, dividing it into four categories: interruption (booing and other verbal disruptions), intentional disrespect and obscenities, ridicule and provocation, and deliberate agitation.
Speaking to Lusa, the researcher noted that incidents of incivility have risen from an average of one episode every two minutes to one every minute, clarifying that the average includes parts of plenary sessions “which are highly formal”.
According to Manuel João Cruz, other parties show little variation in the number of incivility incidents, with Chega primarily responsible for the rise in the frequency of interruptions and taunts in parliament, particularly since it became a parliamentary group.
In the academic paper, the researcher notes that the party accounts for a quarter of all cases between 2015 and 2025, despite only having elected representatives since 2019.
According to the study, it is primarily cases of interruptions that have increased significantly, given that interruption “is a Chega style”, almost “structural” within the party.
“It seems that this is already part of what Chega is all about; it has this ’ disruptive ’ style very much,” he noted.
However, the party leader does not top the list of MPs with the most incidents of incivility, he said.
In another academic paper he is currently working on, Manuel João Cruz analysed the last 50 years of Parliament and compiled a list of MPs who repeatedly display incivility.
In that study, he concludes that Pedro Frazão, of Chega, tops the list in terms of this rate (7.7% of his total speeches are instances of incivility), tied with Filipe Melo, also of Chega, with the same percentage, whilst the podium is completed by Pedro Pinto, leader of the parliamentary group (7.2%).
“You’re a disgrace, have another cigarette”, “You’re a clown!”, “You’re a freak”, “You’re a freak, have some shame!”, “Go to Kenya!”, “You lot just love drugs!” are just some of the many instances identified as having been uttered by Chega MPs.
The top five includes Luís Menezes, a former PSD MP (6.8%) and Bruno Nunes, also from Chega (6.4%), with sixth place going to Rita Matias, also from the party.
Next on the list are Miguel Matos and Porfírio Silva of the PS, João Oliveira of the PCP, and Hugo Soares of the PSD (all with less than half the figures recorded by the Chega MPs leading the top five).
The expert considered that Chega operates through an assertive strategy that seeks “antagonistic logic”, in which the opponent is portrayed as an “opponent to be defeated at all costs”.
According to Manuel João Cruz, parliament has yet to respond to this new phenomenon.
“We must consider whether parliament is a forum for debate in which interruptions, insults, protests and attempts to cut others off are acceptable,” he said, suggesting a penalty of a few seconds’ reduction in speaking time for future speeches by parties that repeatedly engage in such behaviour.
Any action “must be very carefully considered and well-thought-out, because we want to preserve free speech and uphold the potential for dissent”, he emphasised.
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