The far-right party Chega (‘Enough’) of Portugal amounted to 21% of voting intention in a new poll ahead of snap elections on March 10, narrowing the gap with the centre-left and centre-right mainstream parties, whose approval ratings remain stagnant.

A poll by the ISCTE-ICS company on behalf of the television station SIC TV and the newspaper Expresso, published late yesterday, showed that the center-left Socialist Party (PS) leads with 29% but has little chance of remaining in power as the parliament will be controlled by majority of the right wing.

Not far behind is the recently formed Aliança Democratica (AD/Democratic Alliance) – an alliance between the centre-right Social Democrats and the conservative CDS-PP – with 27%.

The populist, anti-establishment Chega, which promises to crack down on corruption, won six percentage points to cross the 20% mark for the first time in a poll.

Growing support for Chega mirrors similar moves in other European countries, where nationalist and far-right parties have courted voters with promises of tightening immigration rules and easing EU climate policies.

Far-right parties such as Marine Le Pen’s National Alarm in France, Matteo Salvini’s League in Italy and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) are expected to do well in June’s European elections.

Chega leader Andre Ventura told Reuters last week that his party would ask to join a right-wing coalition government in exchange for support in parliament.

All Portugal’s right-wing parties together, including the pro-business Liberal Initiative with 3% support, account for 53% of voting intention.

But PSD leader Luis Montenegro has previously ruled out a deal with Chega, adding to political uncertainty.

Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned on November 7 amid an investigation into alleged irregularities in the way his government handled major ‘green’ investment projects, leading to the calling of early elections. He denies doing anything reprehensible.

In mid-December, Costa was replaced by 46-year-old former infrastructure minister Pedro Nuno Santos in the PS leadership.

The ISCTE-ICS poll was conducted on a sample of 804 people on January 16-25, with a margin of error of 3.5%.