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2013 Portuguese local elections

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Field	Value
election_name	2013 Portuguese local elections
country	Portugal
type	parliamentary
previous_election	2009 Portuguese local elections
previous_year	2009
next_election	2017 Portuguese local elections
next_year	2017
seats_for_election	All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 3,092 Portuguese Parishes
All 2,086 local government councils
election_date	29 September 2013
turnout	52.6% 6.4 pp
opinion_polls	Opinion polling for the 2013 Portuguese local elections
1blank	Mayors
2blank	Mayors +/–
3blank	Councillors
4blank	Councillors +/–
image1
leader1	António José Seguro
party1	Socialist Party (Portugal)
last_election1	132 mayors, 37.7%
popular_vote1	1,835,288
percentage1	36.7%
swing1	1.0 pp
1data1	150
2data1	18
3data1	929
4data1	8
image2
leader2	Pedro Passos Coelho
party2	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
last_election2	139 mayors, 38.7%
popular_vote2	1,570,601
percentage2	31.4%
swing2	7.3 pp
1data2	106
2data2	33
3data2	770
4data2	103
image3
colour3	FF0000
leader3	Jerónimo de Sousa
party3	PCP
alliance3	CDU
last_election3	28 mayors, 9.8%
popular_vote3	552,690
percentage3	11.1%
swing3	1.3 pp
1data3	34
2data3	6
3data3	213
4data3	39

All 2,086 local government councils

Local elections were held in Portugal on 29 September 2013. The elections consisted of three types of elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, namely the elections for the Municipal Chambers, the elections for the Municipal Assemblies, as well as the elections for the lower-level Parish Assemblies, whose winners are elected parish presidents. The latter were held separately in the more than 3,000 parishes around the country. The number of parishes had been reduced by over 1000 due to a local government reform undertaken by the Government led by Pedro Passos Coelho.

The process of submitting candidacies for these elections was marked by differences in the interpretation of the pertinent electoral law. This law prohibits a candidate, after having served for three terms, to run for Mayor, Municipal Assemblies or Parish Assemblies. But the law does not explicitly state whether it prohibits reelection only for the same municipality or parish, or for the same position in any municipality or parish. Candidates affected by this issue included Luís Filipe Menezes (PSD), running in Porto, and Fernando Seara (PSD/CDS–PP), who was standing in Lisbon.

This controversy ended on 5 September 2013 with the decision of the Constitutional Court allowing mayoral candidates that had already served three consecutive mandates to run for election in a different municipality. With the term limit law, 52 percent of incumbent mayors, 160 to be precise, were barred from running for another term.

The Socialist Party (PS) won the largest number of municipal chambers in its history surpassing its previous best result in 2009. It also won the largest number of mayorships of any party in the history of Portugal. The PS also reconquered Coimbra and won in two large strongholds of the Social Democratic Party, Vila Real and Funchal.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) was the biggest loser of these elections, as it lost almost a third of the municipalities that it had held. However, the PSD did gain some traditionally Socialist bastions like Braga and Guarda. The communist Democratic Unity Coalition won in the cities of Loures, Beja and Évora.

The election was also marked by the strong electoral performances of various independent groups, which won several chambers. The most significant was the victory of independent Rui Moreira in Porto, who was supported by CDS-PP. The Democratic Unity Coalition increased its number of municipal chambers as well as its number of councilors by winning several chambers previously held by the Socialists, including winning back their historical stronghold of Loures. However, despite increasing their overall number of mayors, they also lost three chambers they won in 2009 to the Socialists; Chamusca, Crato, and Nisa. In Chamusca they had held the mayorship since 1979.

The People's Party (CDS-PP) broke a cycle of decline in local elections and won five municipalities, four more than in 2009. The Left Bloc suffered a heavy defeat, losing the only chamber they had, and electing fewer councillors than in 2009.

The turnout in these elections was the lowest ever, with 52.6 percent of voters casting their ballot.

Electoral system

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 winner of the most voted list for the municipal council is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP). 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.

Parties

The main political forces that contested the election were:

Left Bloc (BE)
People's Party (CDS–PP) (only in some municipalities)1
Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU)
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 polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2013 Portuguese local elections

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.

Turnout	Time	12:00	16:00	19:00	2009	2013	±	2009	2013	±	2009	2013	±
Total	21.23%	19.44%	1.79 pp	45.30%	43.43%	1.87 pp	59.03%	52.60%	6.43 pp
Sources

Results

Municipal Councils

Main article: Results breakdown of the 2013 Portuguese local elections (municipal councils)

National summary of votes and seats

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Councillors ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mayors |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± |- | |1,812,029||36.26||1.4||303||923||2||149||17 |- | |834,455||16.70||6.3||201||531||135||86||31 |- | |552,690||11.06||1.3||288||213||39||34||6 |- |379,110||7.59||2.1||73||154||3||16||3 |- |344,531||6.89||2.8||94||112||45||13||6 |- | |152,073||3.04||0.1||143||47||16||5||4 |- | |120,982||2.42||0.6||109||8||1||0||1 |- |100,437||2.01||2.0||6||11||2||0||0 |- |94,015||1.88||0.1||4||21||6||2||1 |- |65,102||1.30||—||7||21||—||1||— |- |43,312||0.87||—||7||7||—||0||— |- |23,551||0.47||2.5||4||14||7||1||0 |- | |23,276||0.47||0.3||27||0||0||0||0 |- |21,102||0.42||—||1||5||—||1||— |- |19,804||0.40||—||4||4||—||0||— |- | |16,233||0.32||—||8||0||—||0||— |- |9,299||0.19||—||7||1||—||0||— |- |8,918||0.18||1.1||4||4||5||0||1 |- |8,552||0.17||—||22||0||—||0||— |- | |6,660||0.13||0.1||8||2||0||0||0 |- |4,656||0.09||—||4||4||—||0||— |- |3,634||0.07||—||1||0||—||0||— |- | |3,002||0.06||0.1||6||0||0||0||0 |- |2,931||0.06||0.1||3||0||0||0||0 |- |2,157||0.04||—||1||1||—||0||— |- |1,897||0.04||—||2||3||—||0||— |- | |1,272||0.03||0.1||1||0||1||0||0 |- |856||0.02||—||1||0||—||0||— |- | |455||0.01||0.0||1||0||0||0||0 |- |338||0.01||—||1||0||—||0||—

-
193,471
-
147,205
-
-

-
}

Municipality map

City control

The following table lists party control in all district capitals, highlighted in bold, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from 2013.

Municipality	Population	Previous control
Almada	170,756	Unitary Democratic Coalition}}"	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Amadora	175,354	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Aveiro	77,229	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP
Barcelos	119,563	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Beja	35,024	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Braga	181,847	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Bragança	34,681	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Cascais	208,514	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP
Castelo Branco	54,409	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Coimbra	136,964	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM
Évora	55,053	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Faro	61,749	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT
Funchal	108,053	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Gondomar	167,525	Independent (politician)}}"	Independent (IND)
Guarda	40,994	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Guimarães	156,310	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Leiria	125,977	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
[Lisbon](2013-lisbon-local-election)	516,815	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Loures	203,117	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Maia	135,924	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP
Matosinhos	174,690	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Odivelas	151,012	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Oeiras	172,556	Independent (politician)}}"	Independent (IND)
Ponta Delgada	68,768	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Portalegre	23,915	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
[Porto](2013-porto-local-election)	222,252	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP
Santarém	60,257	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Santa Maria da Feira	140,038	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Seixal	162,516	Unitary Democratic Coalition}}"	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Setúbal	118,689	Unitary Democratic Coalition}}"	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Sintra	379,756	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT
Viana do Castelo	87,243	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Franca de Xira	139,110	Socialist Party (Portugal)}}"	Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Nova de Famalicão	133,711	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP
Vila Nova de Gaia	302,828	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	PSD / CDS–PP
Vila Real	51,009	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Viseu	98,424	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)}}"	Social Democratic Party (PSD)

Municipal Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mandates |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± |- | |1,746,819||34.95||1.7||||2,659||196 |- | |813,835||16.28||5.9||||1,588||536 |- | |599,029||11.98||1.4||||747||96 |- |376,056||7.52||1.8||||493||29 |- |325,724||6.52||2.8||||352||128 |- | |159,921||3.20||0.3||||224||29 |- | |157,686||3.15||1.0||||100||39 |- |106,725||2.14||2.1||||42||36 |- |88,393||1.77||0.0||||72||12 |- |60,873||1.22||—||||57||— |- |41,307||0.83||—||||18||— |- | |23,776||0.48||—||||5||— |- |22,420||0.45||2.5||||37||28 |- |20,849||0.42||—||||14||— |- |19,850||0.40||—||||11||— |- | |15,393||0.31||0.2||||2||2 |- |9,949||0.20||—||||9||— |- |8,886||0.18||1.0||||10||12 |- | |5,525||0.11||0.1||||11||3 |- |4,647||0.09||—||||17||— |- |4,451||0.09||—||||0||— |- |4,102||0.08||—||||3||— |- |3,384||0.07||0.1||||3||3 |- | |3,247||0.06||0.1||||0||0 |- |2,101||0.04||—||||3||— |- |2,008||0.04||—||||8||— |- | |1,505||0.03||0.1||||0||5 |- |1,046||0.02||—||||0||— |- | |445||0.01||0.0||||2||3

-
215,489
-
153,068
-
-

-
}

Parish Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mandates ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Presidents |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± |- | |1,733,687||34.69||1.6||||10,838||2,898||1,282||295 |- | |815,086||16.31||6.1||||6,927||4,186||912||618 |- | |596,324||11.93||1.0||||1,973||293||170||43 |- |478,273||9.57||3.5||||2,978||305||342||10 |- |363,145||7.27||1.9||||2,096||815||222||90 |- | |139,304||2.79||0.5||||725||33||50||3 |- | |115,191||2.30||0.7||||138||97||0||4 |- |111,571||2.23||2.2||||322||293||18||16 |- |81,096||1.62||0.2||||453||48||44||8 |- |55,186||1.10||—||||251||—||21||— |- |44,661||0.89||—||||91||—||6||— |- |19,908||0.40||—||||39||—||2||— |- |19,397||0.39||2.5||||88||296||3||28 |- |18,967||0.38||—||||53||—||5||— |- |8,966||0.18||—||||12||—||0||— |- |8,344||0.17||0.9||||44||124||2||13 |- | |8,003||0.16||0.1||||2||2||0||0 |- |4,729||0.09||—||||0||—||0||— |- | |4,569||0.09||0.1||||18||29||0||2 |- |4,303||0.09||—||||63||—||5||— |- | |4,001||0.08||—||||1||—||0||— |- |2,681||0.05||—||||1||—||0||— |- | |2,670||0.05||0.1||||5||2||0||0 |- |2,123||0.04||—||||27||—||1||— |- |2,085||0.04||—||||7||—||0||— |- |1,610||0.03||0.0||||4||1||0||0 |- | |716||0.01||0.0||||0||0||0||0 |- | |549||0.01||0.0||||11||8||0||0 |- |57||0.00||—||||0||—||0||— |- |47||0.00||—||||0||—||0||—

-
194,978
-
155,271
-
-

-
}

References

[http://www.dgai.mai.gov.pt/cms/files/conteudos/file/administracao_eleitoral/RATF/Totais_JF_Distrito_Reg_Autonomas_RATF.pdf DGAI - Reorganização Administrativa do Território das Freguesias - (RATF)]
Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 149; PS-coalition lists: 1.
This accounts for seats won on PS-only lists and lists with other parties. The PS ran on joint lists in two municipalities in this election, and ran joint lists in no municipalities in 2009. In the municipalities where they ran on joint lists, those lists received a combined 6 seats.
Sum of votes between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
Number of municipalities won between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. PSD-only lists: 86; PSD-coalition lists: 20.
This accounts for seats won on PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
This decrease is also relative to the number of seats won on PSD-only lists and lists with other parties in 2009.
[[Público (Portugal). (5 September 2013). "Tribunal Constitucional dá luz verde aos candidatos autárquicos com três mandatos". Público.
(30 May 2017). "Limitação de mandatos autárquicos renovou poder local em 2013". RTP.
Expresso]]'' (in Portuguese.) Retrieved 30 September 2013.
[https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/legislacao-consolidada/lei-organica/2001-34526875 Eleição dos titulares dos órgãos das autarquias locais]. ''[[Diário da República]]'' (in Portuguese.) Retrieved 17 July 2025.
"Autárquicas 2013 - Afluência". [[Ministry of Internal Administration (Portugal).
"Autárquicas 2009 - Afluência". [[Ministry of Internal Administration (Portugal).
"População residente 2013". [[Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Portugal).

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