Braga, Portugal, Feb. 1, 2026 (Lusa) - Presidential candidate André Ventura on Sunday pointed to a "failure of the state" in managing the effects of bad weather and called on the government to launch a non-repayable support line and commit more military personnel to helping the population.
Visiting the Braga Volunteer Fire Brigade as part of his campaign for the second round of the presidential elections, the far-right candidate supported by Chega stated that "people are doing it for themselves" and pointed out that two men have already died while repairing roofs.
"This is the clear result of a failure of the state," he said, calling for those responsible to be held accountable.
André Ventura spoke to journalists even before the presentation of the conclusions of the extraordinary cabinet meeting, which assessed the "adoption of prevention and assistance measures" following the bad weather that has particularly affected the country's central region.
The Chega leader also called for "effective, comprehensive mobilisation of the Armed Forces where necessary to resolve this situation" and argued that the European Civil Protection Mechanism "should have been activated".
Ventura also asked the government to "immediately launch a support line for people whose structures have been completely destroyed, who are unable to pay their employees, who are unable to obtain essential goods, to have an immediate, rapid support line, without debt and without bureaucracy".
When asked about the value of this support, the presidential candidate left that decision to the government, but argued that "the ceiling should be proportional to the damage that the government has been able to assess".
"We cannot be giving people 1% of what they have lost. Otherwise, honestly, people will feel that it is not worth contributing to the Portuguese state," he said.
André Ventura also warned that he will be "very tough on the government in demanding accountability this time, because there is no reason in the world for SIRESP to have failed".
"It is unacceptable. There is no reason why, once again, the structures have failed to coordinate," he added.
The candidate, supported by Chega, also told the government that "communications will work, that the civil protection and military resources are on alert and able to act, and that hospitals and health services are ready to deal with the situation".
"Today I heard my opponent [António José Seguro] say that this showed that he is open to dialogue. I don't want dialogue, I want action," he said.
Asked whether Chega is willing to support measures proposed by the government in parliament to help the affected areas recover, Ventura said that the government can act now and said he had not been contacted by any member of the government in this regard.
Confronted again with the President of the Republic's suggestion to create an independent technical commission, after not responding to the question on Saturday, the candidate replied: "I don't know what it will achieve. It's not that I'm against it, it's just that I'm fed up with studies, commissions and investigations that lead nowhere".
On Friday, the MP called for a "thorough audit" of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC). Today, he argued that this mechanism could determine "what went wrong" in communications or energy supply, but did not explain why an audit would be preferable to an independent technical commission.
André Ventura was again questioned about the accusations of political exploitation by the mayor of Leiria and said that if he were a local authority, "I would be concerned with getting as much help as possible to the area where my residents are in difficulty, and not with making political criticisms."
Ventura also denied that he had been slow to realise the scale of the problem.
"If I was slow to realise, then the government was asleep, wasn't it? And so was the President of the Republic, and so were you, because you didn't ask me anything about it either," he said, attacking the journalist who asked the question: "If I was asleep, you were asleep all year."
FM/ADB // ADB.
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