Chega held a rally today in Santo Estêvão, in the municipality of Tavira (district of Faro), which was not attended by the top candidate, António Tânger Corrêa, who remained in Lisbon to take part in the television debate between the candidates of the parties with parliamentary seats. Speaking practically at the same time as the debate began, the president of Chega spoke about the PS candidate, the former Minister of Health Marta Temido, saying that "she would cover her face in shame" if she chose as a top candidate someone "responsible for the chaotic state of health that the Algarve has felt so much". "If Marta Temido had an ounce of shame, she who left the ministry because another person died at the gates of the National Health Service, would not be running in these elections. But they are presenting her, it is up to us to defeat them", stated André Ventura. "We have to defeat the PS in these European elections, it is the symbol of everything we are fighting against", he insisted, making an appeal: "I ask you not to stay home, do not believe that these elections are less important, because they will be the first step towards what will dictate our victory in the legislative elections". Taking advantage of being in the Algarve, a region in which Chega was the most voted party in the last legislative elections, André Ventura rejected the idea that this result was "an epiphenomenon, a localised thing" and considered that the party has to show just that, by aiming for a victory in the elections for the European Parliament on 9 June. "Our growth in the last elections on 10 March was the prelude to what will be our legislative victory. Chega needs to win the European elections before we win the legislative elections, which will happen sooner or later". Criticising the political commentators, André Ventura told those present not to worry "about what they say on television and in the articles they write in newspapers that nobody reads anymore". "We now realise that they have all been bought by the PS and the PSD. If that is the case, we just have to continue on our path until we win these elections", he stated. The president of Chega then turned his attention to the Government, considering that "it is a disappointment". Speaking about the agreement signed with Ukraine on the day that President Zelensky was in Lisbon, André Ventura stated that "the Government once again made a great show of this, an agreement of 126 million euros to support Ukraine, when it had already committed to around 100 million euros a few months ago". "It is not much different from what they did with the fiscal shock. There was going to be a great fiscal shock, we were all going to feel it, and then this fiscal shock was two coffees that we were going to feel in our salary", he criticised. Ventura also took the opportunity to send a message to the Prime Minister and leader of the PSD. "Just as we do not give in in the fight against corruption, we are not afraid of blackmail, of the idea that we are going to be penalised, of the idea that we may be allying ourselves with others to approve measures against the Government", he guaranteed. "Dr Luís Montenegro, never forget this, this party may have moments of victory and defeat, but in no case will we ever give up our principles and it is with this that we are going for victory in these elections", he added. The president of Chega also returned to the subject of the elections in Madeira, to state that "no matter how much they blackmail us with political instability", Chega "will never shake hands with corruption", in a reference to the leader of the PSD/Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque. And he accused the PS of being "a vulture" for having tried to find an alternative with the JPP for the regional government. [News updated at 23:11] Read also: Elections in Madeira. "Miguel Albuquerque is not the solution, he is the problem" (Portuguese version)