Election Populist likely to be Portugal's kingmaker

Tempting as the tables of pastries were, strong as the voice of the shaven-headed singer belting out Phil Collins was, and enjoyable though the dinner dance might have been, these were not the lure for 200 people attending a remote northern Portugal wedding venue on a cold mid-week evening.

- Sam Jones

The audience's attention was focused on a campaign poster behind that offered a less hedonistic exhortation: "Portugal needs a CLEAN-UP."

At the side of the stage was the man wielding the political mop. For many disgruntled Portuguese voters, André Ventura, the former football pundit who founded the far-right Chega party five years ago, will be the obvious choice at Sunday's snap general election.

While his opponents warn that Ventura's populism will drag Portugal back to the past, supporters see him as the champion of an electorate weary of the business-as-usual bipartisan system as the scourge of corruption and the only politician to call things as he sees them and shout "Chega!" ("Enough!").

Polls suggest that Chega is likely to finish third behind the centreright Democratic Socialist party (PSD) and the ruling Socialist party (PS) with 15% to 20% of the vote, making it a potential kingmaker for a new rightwing administration.