He was substitute deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira for the New Democracy Party, taking office in 2008. In Madeira, Coelho reached second place, with 39% of the votes. In March 2011, he joined the Portuguese Labour Party (PTP), of which he became the vice-president
He became famous for the incident in which he showed a Nazi flag to the Parliament as a protest against the Social Democratic Party refusing to commemorate the Carnation Revolution. He won 4.5% of the vote, coming fifth, which was considerably better than expected or forecast by pre-election polling. He was a candidate for the 2011 parliamentary election, but the PTP won only 0.3% of the vote.
Coelho was New Democracy"s candidate for the Presidency in the 2011 election.
He was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party until 1999, and still calls himself a communist "who evolved".
