Local elections were held in Portugal on 1 October 2017. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP), another election for the Municipal Assembly, as well an election for the lower-level Parish Assembly, whose winner is elected parish president. This last election was held in the more than 3,000 parishes around the country. In the 2017 election, 13.3 percent of incumbent mayors, 41 to be precise, were barred from running for another term.[8]
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All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 3,092[1] Portuguese Parishes All 2,074 local government councils | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 55.0%  2.4 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Socialist Party (PS) was the big winner of the elections consolidating their position as the largest local party in Portugal. The PS won 160 mayors, 10 more than in 2013, and more than 38 percent of the votes. The Socialists maintained control in cities like Lisbon, although here they lost their majority, Funchal and Coimbra, at the same time they gained some strong PSD bastions like Chaves or Mirandela. Nonetheless, the PS lost one of their bastions, Vila do Conde, to an independent. The strong nationwide results for the PS helped to legitimize António Costa's position as Prime Minister after his loss in the 2015 general elections. It was also the first time since 1985, that the party in government clearly won a nationwide local election.[9]
The Social Democrats (PSD), aside from CDU, were one of the big losers of the elections. They lost 8 cities in comparison to 2013, although, in term of votes won, they got basically the same number compared to 2013. The PSD achieved very bad results in Lisbon and Porto, polling third and below 15 percent of the votes. The worse than expected results led Pedro Passos Coelho to question, on election night, if he had the political ground to continue as leader of the party. Two days later, on October 3, Passos Coelho announced he would not stand for another term as PSD leader.[10]
The CDU was also one of the big losers of the election. The Communist-Green alliance achieved their worst results in history losing 10 cities, 9 to the PS and 1 to an independent, and polling below 10% of the votes. The CDU lost strong bastions in Setúbal district like Almada and Barreiro and wasn't able to hold on to Beja.
The CDS-People's Party achieved very surprising results, especially in Lisbon. Assunção Cristas, CDS leader and candidate for Lisbon mayor, polled 2nd place and won 21 percent of the votes, 10 points ahead of the PSD. In the country as a whole, the CDS was able to gain one municipality from the PSD, Oliveira do Bairro, and was able to maintain the other 5 cities they won in 2013.
Independent Movements also increased their scores compared to 2013. A total 17 independent candidates gained or maintained control in their respective cities, especially Rui Moreira, mayor of Porto, as he was able to win re-election with a majority. Smaller parties also made gains: Livre, in coalition with the PS, gained Felgueiras from the PSD, We, the Citizens! won Oliveira de Frades from a PSD/CDS coalition and JPP maintained control of Santa Cruz in the Madeira islands.
Turnout in these elections increased compared with four years ago, with 55.0 percent of voters casting a ballot.
Electoral system
edit
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All 308 municipalities are allocated a certain number of councilors to elect corresponding to the number of registered voters in a given municipality. Each party or coalition must present a list of candidates. The lists are closed and the seats in each municipality are apportioned according to the D'Hondt method. Unlike in national legislative elections, independent lists are allowed to run.
Council seats and Parish assembly seats are distributed as follows:
| Councilors | Parish Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Voters | Seats | Voters |
| 17 | only Lisbon | 21 | more than 40,000 voters |
| 13 | only Porto | 19 | more than 20,000 voters |
| 11 | 100,000 voters or more | 13 | more than 5,000 voters |
| 9 | more than 50,000 voters | 9 | more than 1,000 voters |
| 7 | more than 10,000 voters | 7 | 1,000 voters or less |
| 5 | 10,000 voters or less | ||
- For parishes with more than 30,000 voters, the number of seats mentioned above is increased in one per 10,000 voters beyond that number (if, by applying this rule the result is even, the number of seats is increased in one more.
Parties
editThe main political forces that contested the election were:
- Left Bloc (BE)
- People's Party (CDS–PP) (only in some municipalities)1
- Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
- Together for the People (JPP)
- People–Animals–Nature (PAN)
- Socialist Party (PS)
- Social Democratic Party (PSD) (only in some municipalities)1
1 The PSD and the CDS–PP also formed coalitions in several municipalities with the Earth Party (MPT) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM).
Opinion polls
editVoter turnout
editThe table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.
| Turnout | Time | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | 16:00 | 19:00 | |||||||
| 2013 | 2017 | ± | 2013 | 2017 | ± | 2013 | 2017 | ± | |
| Total | 19.44% | 22.05% | 2.61 pp
|
43.43% | 44.39% | 0.96 pp
|
52.60% | 54.96% | 2.36 pp
|
| Sources[12][13] | |||||||||
Results
editMunicipal Councils
editNational summary of votes and seats
edit| Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Candidacies | Councillors | Mayors | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | ± | Total | ± | |||||||
| Socialist | 1,956,682 | 37.82 | 1.5 |
296 | 952 | 29 |
159 | 10
| ||
| Social Democratic | 831,555 | 16.07 |  0.6 |
190 | 493 | 38 |
79 | 7
| ||
| Unitary Democratic Coalition | 489,083 | 9.45 | 1.6 |
303 | 171 | 42 |
24 | 10
| ||
| Social Democratic / People's | 454,222 | 8.78 | 1.2 |
73 | 169 | 15 |
16 |  0
| ||
| Independents | 351,352 | 6.79 | 0.1 |
87 | 130 | 18 |
17 | 4
| ||
| Left Bloc | 170,040 | 3.29 | 0.9 |
124 | 12 | 4 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People's | 134,257 | 2.60 | 0.4 |
113 | 41 | 6 |
6 | 1
| ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM | 88,541 | 1.71 | 1.2 |
11 | 23 | 9 |
1 | 0
| ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / PPM | 75,192 | 1.45 | 0.4 |
4 | 15 | 6 |
2 | 0
| ||
| CDS–PP / MPT / PPM | 57,570 | 1.11 | 0.9 |
13 | 4 | 3 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People–Animals–Nature | 55,921 | 1.08 | 0.8 |
31 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| PSD / PPM | 46,822 | 0.91 | 0.4 |
4 | 8 | 13 |
0 | 1
| ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM / PPV-CDC | 36,452 | 0.70 | — | 1 | 5 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Socialist / Together for the People | 23,634 | 0.46 | — | 1 | 5 | — | 0 | — | ||
| PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC | 23.577 | 0.46 | 0.1 |
1 | 6 | 1 |
1 | 0
| ||
| Social Democratic / Earth | 19,556 | 0.38 | 0.4 |
4 | 5 | 2 |
0 | 0
| ||
| LIVRE / Socialist | 16,409 | 0.32 | — | 1 | 5 | — | 1 | — | ||
| Together for the People | 14,818 | 0.29 | — | 5 | 6 | — | 1 | — | ||
| We, the Citizens! | 12,497 | 0.24 | — | 12 | 5 | — | 1 | — | ||
| Portuguese Workers' Communist | 12,387 | 0.24 | 0.3 |
18 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT | 12,128 | 0.23 | 1.8 |
6 | 7 | 4 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People's / People's Monarchist | 10,286 | 0.20 | — | 12 | 4 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Labour | 5,681 | 0.11 | 0.1 |
26 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM | 4,862 | 0.09 | — | 1 | 2 | — | 0 | — | ||
| National Renovator | 4,744 | 0.09 | 0.0 |
13 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| PDR / Together for the People | 3,643 | 0.07 | — | 4 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Earth | 3,370 | 0.07 | 0.0 |
13 | 0 | 2 |
0 | 0
| ||
| Social Democratic / We, the Citizens! | 2,948 | 0.06 | — | 1 | 2 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Democratic Republican | 2,793 | 0.05 | — | 10 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| People's / We, the Citizens! | 2,547 | 0.05 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| People's / Social Democratic | 2,287 | 0.04 | 0.1 |
4 | 2 | 2 |
0 | 0
| ||
| Earth / PPV-CDC | 2,258 | 0.04 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| PSD / PPM / MPT | 1,958 | 0.04 | 0.9 |
1 | 2 | 5 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People's / Earth | 1,568 | 0.03 | 0.1 |
4 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| PPM / PURP | 1,330 | 0.03 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| LIVRE | 1,008 | 0.02 | — | 3 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Socialist Alternative Movement | 943 | 0.02 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| United Party of Retirees and Pensioners | 760 | 0.02 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| CDS–PP / NC / PPM | 661 | 0.01 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| PPV-CDC / PPM | 470 | 0.01 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| People's Monarchist | 364 | 0.01 | 0.0 |
2 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| Citizenship and Christian Democracy | 186 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| CDS–PP / PSD / PPM | 146 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Total valid | 4,937,508 | 95.45 | 2.3
|
— | 2,074 | 12
|
308 | 0
| ||
| Blank ballots | 135,785 | 2.62 | 1.3 |
|||||||
| Invalid ballots | 99,734 | 1.93 | 1.0
| |||||||
| Total | 5,173,027 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 9,411,442 | 54.96 | 2.4
| |||||||
| Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017 | ||||||||||
Municipality map
edit
Municipalities won by:
■ - PS: 160
■ - PSD: 79
■ - CDU: 24
■ - CDS–PP: 6
■ - JPP: 1
■ - NC: 1
■ - LIVRE: 1
■ - PSD coalitions: 19
■ - Independents: 17
City control
editThe following table lists party control in all district capitals, highlighted in bold, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from 2017.[14]
Municipal Assemblies
editNational summary of votes and seats
edit| Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Candidacies | Mandates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | ± | |||||||||
| Socialist | 1,883,679 | 36.42 | 1.5 |
297 | 2,731 | 72
| ||||
| Social Democratic | 818,680 | 15.83 | 0.5 |
188 | 1,491 | 97
| ||||
| Unitary Democratic Coalition | 519,831 | 10.05 | 1.9 |
301 | 619 | 128
| ||||
| Social Democratic / People's | 454,186 | 8.78 | 1.3 |
73 | 539 | 46
| ||||
| Independents | 333,558 | 6.45 | 0.0 |
74 | 396 | 44
| ||||
| Left Bloc | 216,308 | 4.18 | 1.0 |
127 | 125 | 25
| ||||
| People's | 138,782 | 2.68 | 0.5 |
99 | 184 | 40
| ||||
| PSD/ CDS–PP / MPT / PPM | 86,701 | 1.68 | 1.2 |
11 | 73 | 36
| ||||
| People–Animals–Nature | 73,600 | 1.42 | 0.9 |
32 | 26 | 19
| ||||
| PSD / CDS–PP / PPM | 71,028 | 1.37 | 0.4 |
4 | 42 | 30
| ||||
| CDS–PP / MPT / PPM | 49,210 | 0.95 | 0.8 |
13 | 16 | 7
| ||||
| PSD / PPM | 48,620 | 0.94 | 0.3 |
4 | 26 | 16
| ||||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM / PPV-CDC | 35,365 | 0.68 | — | 1 | 19 | — | ||||
| Socialist / Together for the People | 22,295 | 0.43 | — | 1 | 13 | — | ||||
| PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC | 21,693 | 0.43 | 0.0 |
1 | 15 | 1
| ||||
| Social Democratic / Earth | 21,019 | 0.42 | 0.4 |
4 | 19 | 11
| ||||
| LIVRE / Socialist | 16,096 | 0.31 | — | 1 | 14 | — | ||||
| Together for the People | 14,488 | 0.28 | — | 5 | 17 | — | ||||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT | 13,224 | 0.26 | 1.9 |
6 | 24 | 18
| ||||
| We, the Citizens! | 12,123 | 0.23 | — | 10 | 15 | — | ||||
| People's / People's Monarchist | 10,600 | 0.20 | — | 11 | 15 | — | ||||
| Portuguese Workers' Communist | 8,915 | 0.17 | 0.1 |
11 | 0 | 2
| ||||
| Labour | 5,834 | 0.11 | 0.0 |
22 | 1 | 2
| ||||
| CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM | 4,960 | 0.10 | — | 1 | 6 | — | ||||
| Earth | 4,916 | 0.10 | 0.0 |
12 | 1 | 10
| ||||
| PDR / Together for the People | 4,390 | 0.08 | — | 4 | 1 | — | ||||
| National Renovator | 4,254 | 0.08 | 0.0 |
8 | 0 | 0
| ||||
| Democratic Republican | 3,738 | 0.07 | — | 9 | 1 | — | ||||
| Social Democratic / We, the Citizens! | 2,989 | 0.06 | — | 1 | 6 | — | ||||
| People's / We, the Citizens! | 2,758 | 0.05 | — | 2 | 3 | — | ||||
| Earth / PPV-CDC | 2,387 | 0.05 | — | 1 | 1 | — | ||||
| People's / Social Democratic | 2,217 | 0.04 | 0.1 |
4 | 6 | 11
| ||||
| PSD / MPT / PPM | 1,901 | 0.04 | 0.4 |
1 | 5 | 6
| ||||
| People's Party / Earth Party | 1,459 | 0.03 | 0.1 |
4 | 2 | 1
| ||||
| PPM / PURP | 1,417 | 0.03 | — | 1 | 0 | — | ||||
| United Party of Retirees and Pensioners | 892 | 0.02 | — | 2 | 0 | — | ||||
| LIVRE | 874 | 0.02 | — | 2 | 0 | — | ||||
| CDS–PP / NC / PPM | 630 | 0.01 | — | 2 | 2 | — | ||||
| People's Monarchist | 289 | 0.01 | 0.0 |
1 | 0 | 2
| ||||
| CDS–PP / PSD / PPM | 168 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 0 | — | ||||
| People's Monarchist / People's | 121 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 7 | — | ||||
| Total valid | 4,916,195 | 95.04 | 2.4
|
— | 6,461 | 26
| ||||
| Blank ballots | 152,040 | 2.94 | 1.3 |
|||||||
| Invalid ballots | 104,500 | 2.02 | 1.1
| |||||||
| Total | 5,172,735 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 9,411,442 | 54.96 | 2.4
| |||||||
| Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017 | ||||||||||
Parish Assemblies
editNational summary of votes and seats
edit| Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Candidacies | Mandates | Presidents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | ± | Total | ± | |||||||
| Socialist | 1,874,590 | 36.25 | 1.6 |
2,518 | 10,617 | 221 |
1,295 | 13
| ||
| Social Democratic | 809,802 | 15.66 | 0.7 |
1,638 | 6,629 | 298 |
824 | 88
| ||
| Unitary Democratic Coalition | 529,819 | 10.24 | 1.7 |
1,799 | 1,665 | 308 |
139 | 31
| ||
| Independents | 504,028 | 9.75 | 0.2 |
850 | 3,365 | 387 |
402 | 60
| ||
| Social Democratic / People's | 441,927 | 8.55 | 1.3 |
693 | 2,486 | 390 |
270 | 48
| ||
| Left Bloc | 169,580 | 3.28 | 1.0 |
454 | 213 | 75 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People's | 122,785 | 2.37 | 0.4 |
506 | 628 | 97 |
54 | 4
| ||
| PSD/ CDS–PP / MPT / PPM | 89,058 | 1.72 | 1.3 |
70 | 238 | 150 |
11 | 8
| ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / PPM | 63,515 | 1.23 | 0.4 |
56 | 250 | 200 |
28 | 16
| ||
| PSD / PPM | 52,697 | 1.02 | 0.1 |
45 | 164 | 87 |
14 | 7
| ||
| CDS–PP / MPT / PPM | 41,192 | 0.80 | 0.6 |
80 | 77 | 65 |
0 | 0
| ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM / PPV-CDC | 32,414 | 0.63 | — | 44 | 166 | — | 12 | — | ||
| Socialist / Together for the People | 23,129 | 0.45 | — | 10 | 52 | — | 2 | — | ||
| PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC | 20,428 | 0.40 | 0.0 |
10 | 58 | 5 |
5 | 0
| ||
| Social Democratic / Earth | 15,486 | 0.30 | 0.3 |
20 | 52 | 25 |
1 | 0
| ||
| Together for the People | 13,747 | 0.27 | — | 18 | 45 | — | 5 | — | ||
| People–Animals–Nature | 13,356 | 0.26 | 0.2 |
26 | 6 | 5 |
0 | 0
| ||
| LIVRE / Socialist | 13,216 | 0.26 | — | 11 | 54 | — | 7 | — | ||
| PSD / CDS–PP / MPT | 12,442 | 0.24 | 2.0 |
26 | 57 | 265 |
5 | 13
| ||
| We, the Citizens! | 9,090 | 0.18 | — | 28 | 42 | — | 3 | — | ||
| People's / People's Monarchist | 8,624 | 0.17 | — | 41 | 47 | — | 3 | — | ||
| Portuguese Workers' Communist | 5,059 | 0.10 | 0.1 |
24 | 0 | 2 |
0 | 0
| ||
| CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM | 4,523 | 0.09 | — | 3 | 9 | — | 0 | — | ||
| PDR / Together for the People | 4,476 | 0.07 | — | 22 | 1 | — | 0 | — | ||
| People's Party / Social Democratic | 4,223 | 0.08 | 0.0 |
10 | 25 | 38 |
2 | 3
| ||
| Earth | 4,072 | 0.08 | 0.0 |
29 | 7 | 11 |
0 | 0
| ||
| Labour | 3,813 | 0.07 | 0.0 |
64 | 0 | 1 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People's / We, the Citizens! | 3,056 | 0.06 | — | 17 | 19 | — | 1 | — | ||
| Social Democratic / We, the Citizens! | 2,653 | 0.05 | — | 6 | 14 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Earth / PPV-CDC | 2,132 | 0.04 | — | 10 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Democratic Republican | 1,903 | 0.04 | — | 21 | 4 | — | 0 | — | ||
| PSD / MPT / PPM | 1,739 | 0.03 | 0.2 |
5 | 12 | 27 |
0 | 2
| ||
| National Renovator | 1,685 | 0.03 | 0.0 |
20 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0
| ||
| People's Party / Earth Party | 1,181 | 0.02 | 0.0 |
12 | 2 | 2 |
0 | 0
| ||
| PPM / PURP | 668 | 0.01 | — | 3 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| CDS–PP / NC / PPM | 626 | 0.01 | — | 15 | 9 | — | 0 | — | ||
| LIVRE | 457 | 0.01 | — | 7 | 2 | — | 0 | — | ||
| United Party of Retirees and Pensioners | 271 | 0.01 | — | 4 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| People's Monarchist | 262 | 0.01 | 0.0 |
4 | 1 | 10 |
0 | 0
| ||
| Socialist Alternative Movement | 202 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | ||
| Total valid | 4,903,926 | 92.99 | 1.8
|
— | 27,005 | 162
|
3,083 | 2
| ||
| Blank ballots | 152,337 | 2.95 | 0.9 |
|||||||
| Invalid ballots | 115,317 | 2.23 | 0.9
| |||||||
| Total | 5,171,580 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 9,410,569 | 54.95 | 2.4
| |||||||
| Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017 | ||||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ DGAI - Reorganização Administrativa do Território das Freguesias - (RATF)
- ^ Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
- ^ Sum of votes between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
- ^ Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 159; PS-coalition lists: 1.
- ^ Number of municipalities won between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. PSD-only lists: 79; PSD-coalition lists: 19.
- ^ This accounts for seats won on PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
- ^ This accounts for seats won on PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
- ^ "Limitação de mandatos autárquicos renovou poder local em 2013". www.rtp.pt/ (in Portuguese). RTP. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ "Há 32 anos que um partido no Governo não ganhava as autárquicas". Público (in Portuguese). 2017.
- ^ "Passos Coelho não se recandidata à liderança do PSD". Expresso (in Portuguese). 2017.
- ^ "Lei Eleitoral dos Orgãos das Autarquias Locais" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições (in Portuguese): 110. 2014.
- ^ "Autárquicas 2017 - Afluência". eleicoes.mai.gov.pt/autarquicas2017/index.html (in Portuguese). Ministry of Internal Administration. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ^ "Autárquicas 2013 - Afluência". eleicoes.mai.gov.pt/autarquicas2013/index.html (in Portuguese). Ministry of Internal Administration. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ^ "População residente 2017". www.ine.pt (in Portuguese). Statistics Portugal. Retrieved 28 March 2021.