Son of journalists João Bugalho and Patrícia Reis, editor of the magazine Egoísta, from Estoril Sol, Sebastião Bugalho recalls, on his page on the social network Facebook, that when his father was born he had a radio program dedicated to jazz. It is from that time that, he guarantees, he keeps his oldest memories:
“Sitting on the rotating chair in the studio, with the velcro sneakers suspended high above, is one of the oldest memories I have. He would announce some concert and put on a record, and I would listen to him, with the voice of a smoking announcer, and the eyes outside the soundproof booth telling me: “Don’t make any noise now!”. And I stayed there, exceptionally quiet, without ruining the recording.”
As a Political Science student at the Institute of Political Studies at the Catholic University, in 2016 he offered to write an opinion for the newspaper and ended up writing a column. He interned in the politics section of the newspaper ie, remembers Vítor Raínho, director of that newspaper, he was “a young man full of himself, with a confidence greater than that of Jorge Jesus”. He began to move away from journalism in 2018, even stating “It’s very difficult to be a journalist, I have immense respect for those who still are. It’s not just sleeping poorly and eating at bad times, it’s more than that – it’s the effort, it’s a constant thing”, (interview with Jornal Económico, in 2018). Then, he continues his path towards political commentary and politics.
In an interview with Diário de Notícias, in July 2023, asked if “Montenegro will assume itself as an alternative?”, Sebastião Bugalho described what was missing (or who was missing) from the current prime minister (then leader of the opposition).
“What it lacks is a team of protagonists in which society sees itself, recognizes itself and whose word it trusts. A group of spokespeople, from the party and outside it, whose credibility is almost automatic in the eyes of the Portuguese”.
This Tuesday, during the official announcement, Luís Montenegro defended that Sebastião Bugalho is “a talented young man, who the country knows, even controversial here and there” and guaranteed: “It is the expression of what we want”.
“I was always in a hurry, I always wanted to do things”
He entered politics for the first time in 2019 when he was 23 years old. At the invitation of Assunção Cristas, Sebastião Bugalho was chosen to join the CDS list by the Lisbon circle, despite assuming himself as independent. The results of the legislative elections left him out of parliament.
However, he assures that his “interest in politics was almost romantic, literary. It was not a premeditated, thought out interest. It was almost instinctive”, he said in an interview with i. In 2021 he refused a place on the CDS-PP bench to replace deputy Ana Rita Bessa, justifying the refusal with “political (CDS) and professional circumstances”.
Invited by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa for lunch, together with José Manuel Fernandes, António Carrapatoso, Duarte Schmidt and João Carlos Espada, to feel the concerns of the right, Sebastião Bugalho said that “Marcelo wanted to listen to me because I’m very good”.
Political commentary and controversies
For many, he became a star in political commentary for his opinions