Ergue-te

Rise Up Ergue-te
Abbreviation	E
President	José Pinto Coelho
Founded	12 April 2000 (2000-04-12)
Merger of	Democratic Renewal Party National Action Movement
Headquarters	Lisbon
Youth wing	Renovator National Youth (Juventude Nacional Renovadora)
Ideology	National conservatism Social conservatism Right-wing populism Euroscepticism Anti-immigration
Political position	Far-right
European affiliation	Alliance of European National Movements
Colours	Black, Blue and Red
Assembly of the Republic	0 / 230
European Parliament	0 / 21
Regional parliaments	0 / 104
Local Government	0 / 2,086
Website
www.pnr.pt
Politics of Portugal Political parties Elections

Rise Up (Portuguese: Ergue-te, E), originally the National Renewal Party (Portuguese: Partido Nacional Renovador, PNR) is a Portuguese far-right nationalist political party. Its motto is Nation and Work (Portuguese: Nação e Trabalho) and one of its goals consists in the appreciation of a Portuguese nationalist spirit. The party results legally from the alteration of statutes approved in the VII Nacional Convention of the old Democratic Renewal Party (PRD) requested on March 17, 2000 and validated by the Constitutional Court on April 12, 2000. This change implicated in the change of name, acronym and logo. Its president is, since June 2005, José Pinto Coelho. In a report published by the North American NGO GPAHE against hate and extremism, Ergue-te was classified, along with ADN and Chega, as a hate and far-right group.

History

In July 10, 2020, wanting to change its public image and undo misconceptions arising from the confusion between the acronyms PNR and PDR - the former Republican Democratic Party (Portuguese: Partido Democrático Republicano), now named National Democratic Alternative -, they changed its name to Ergue-te, with the acronym E, this alteration was accepted and registered by the Constitutional Court following deliberation taken by the National Council of PNR in November 23, 2019.

The party is also described as islamophobe and against Portugal's NATO membership.

Public appearances

E has been involved in many controversies. In 2006, it got involved in the demonstration by security forces agents against the government. The Diário de Notícias article about the participation of the then PNR reads:

"It was total chaos. It had been almost 120 minutes from the set time for the beginning of the parade by the security force agents against the government policies when the organizers arrived at the Marquis of Pombal Square to warn that, after all, there wasn't going to be a demonstration. With the argument that the PSP, GNR, Maritime Police and Foreigners and Border Services agents refused to "parade next to neonazis" (and PNR representatives) that had gathered there to participate. And with fear that there was going to be conflicts between both sides. The decision by the organizers - the Permanent Coordinating Committee of Unions and Associations of Security Forces and Services - enraged the agents of many task forces. The protests increased in tone, confusion arose and, all of a sudden, when they least expected it, the security forces agents passed over the organizer's decision and started their parade. The Coordinating Committee had lost control over the situation. The parade was, indeed, done, until Terreiro do Paço, where the Ministry of Internal Affairs was. There, the agents demanded changes in the health system, retirement and better work conditions. The far-right militants, after having had a stage to talk to the media started to disperse, seeing groups here and there along the parade. But they didn't follow the demonstration behind the police forces."

Controversy

Although in the past the party did not reject connections to so-called neo-Nazi racist movements, it claims to be a target of political persecution. In their youth, some of its former members were convicted for racial discrimination and violent crimes, such as the racially motivated murder of Alcindo Monteiro in Lisbon, after being linked to right-wing armed groups such as the Portuguese Hammerskins. In recent years, however, the party has expelled its members that have connections to these kinds of groups and, as a result, the former Portuguese Hammerskins leader Mário Machado has decided to try to create a new party, the New Social Order.

Election results

In the 2005 legislative elections, the then PNR obtained just under 0.2% of the vote, failing to elect any deputies to Parliament by a wide margin. In the 2009 European election, the party had about 13,000 votes, having 0.37% of the vote, the party had its higher results in the districts of Lisbon and Setúbal. 2015 was the year the party most increased in votes, having received 27,269 votes in the legislative elections. An increase of just over 50% in comparison to 2011.

Since 2019 the right-wing populist Chega seems to be taking votes away from PNR.

Assembly of the Republic

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
2002	António Cruz Rodrigues	4,712	0.1 (#10)	0 / 230		No seats
2005	José Pinto Coelho	9,374	0.2 (#9)	0 / 230	0	No seats
2009		11,503	0.2 (#12)	0 / 230	0	No seats
2011		17,548	0.3 (#10)	0 / 230	0	No seats
2015		27,269	0.5 (#10)	0 / 230	0	No seats
2019		17,126	0.3 (#13)	0 / 230	0	No seats
2022		5,043	0.1 (#19)	0 / 230	0	No seats
2024		6,030	0.1 (#15)	0 / 230	0	No seats

European Parliament

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
2004	Paulo Rodrigues	8,405	0.3 (#11)	0 / 24
2009	Humberto Nuno Oliveira	13,214	0.4 (#12)	0 / 22	0
2014		15,036	0.5 (#12)	0 / 21	0
2019	João Patrocínio	16,014	0.5 (#13)	0 / 21	0
2024	Rui Fonseca e Castro	8,462	0.2 (#11)	0 / 21	0

Bibliography

• Marchi, Riccardo (2013). "The Extreme right in 21st-Century Portugal: the Partido Nacional Renovador" (PDF). In Ralf Melzer; Sebastian Serafin (eds.). Right-Wing extremism in Europe. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Forum Berlin. pp. 132–155. ISBN 978-3-86498-522-5. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2014.