1976 Portuguese local elections

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1976 Portuguese local elections
12 December 1976 1979 →
All 304 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes
All 1,908 local government councils
Turnout64.7%
  First party Second party
 
Mário Soares 1975b (cropped).jpg
Francisco Sá Carneiro.jpg
Leader Mário Soares Francisco Sá Carneiro
Party PS PSD
Popular vote 1,377,684 1,014,092
Percentage 33.0% 24.3%
Mayors 115 115
Councillors 691 624
  Third party Fourth party
 
Alvaro Cunhal 1980 (cropped).jpg
Freitas do Amaral, XV Cimeira Ibero-Americana - Salamanca, Espanha.jpg
Leader Álvaro Cunhal Diogo Freitas do Amaral
Party PCP CDS
Alliance APU
Popular vote 720,499 693,766
Percentage 17.3% 16.6%
Mayors 37 36
Councillors 268 317

The Portuguese local elections of 1976 took place on sunday 12 December. They were the first local elections in Portugal. The democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power, that should be exerted by the citizens in their towns and cities. These elections ended a cycle of three elections in 1976, after the 1976 legislative election in April and the 1976 Presidential election in June.

The elections were meant to elect for the first time the administration of the about 300 municipalities of the country and of the about 4000 parishes that composed those 300 municipalities. They consisted of three elections in each of the municipalities; the election for the municipal chamber, the election for the municipal assembly and the lower-level election for the parish assembly.

The Socialist Party gathered the majority of the voting and mandates, beating the Social Democratic Party, although both parties tied in number of elected mayors, 115. The Communists led coalition, the Electoral Front United People, dominated the election in the South of the country. The right-wing Democratic Social Center achieved its best result ever in local elections.

Turnout in these elections was quite low, as 64.7% of the electorate cast a ballot, compared with the 83.5% turnout rate of the 1976 general elections in April.

Parties[edit]

The main political forces involved in the election:

Results[edit]

Municipal Chamber[edit]

National summary of votes and seats[edit]

Summary of the 12 December 1976 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Councillors Mayors
Total Total
Socialist 1,377,684 33.01 691 115
Social Democratic 1,014,092 24.30 624 115
Electoral Front United People 720,499 17.26 268 37
Democratic and Social Centre 693,766 16.62 317 36
GDUPs 103,784 2.49 5 0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 27,505 0.59 0 0
PCP(m-l) 15,267 0.37 0 0
People's Monarchist 7,528 0.18 3 1
Internationalist Communist League 3,464 0.08 0 0
Workers' Revolutionary 273 0.00 0 0
United People Alliance 123 0.00 0 0
Total valid 3,995,905 96.40 — 1,908 304
Blank ballots 89,073 2.13
Invalid ballots 88,783 2.13
Total 4,173,761 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,454,990 64.66

Municipality map[edit]

Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality.
Municipalities won by:
■ - PS: 115
■ - PSD: 115
■ - FEPU: 37
■ - CDS: 36
■ - PPM: 1

City control[edit]

The following table lists party control in all district capitals, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from the 1970 Census.[1]

Municipality Population New control
Almada 107,575 Electoral Front United People (FEPU)
Aveiro 49,808 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)
Beja 36,384 Electoral Front United People (FEPU)
Braga 96,918 Socialist Party (PS)
Bragança 33,070 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Cascais 92,907 Socialist Party (PS)
Castelo Branco 55,195 Socialist Party (PS)
Coimbra 110,553 Socialist Party (PS)
Évora 47,244 Electoral Front United People (FEPU)
Faro 30,973 Socialist Party (PS)
Funchal 101,810 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Gondomar 105,075 Socialist Party (PS)
Guarda 39,741 Socialist Party (PS)
Guimarães 122,719 Socialist Party (PS)
Leiria 80,241 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Lisbon 769,044 Socialist Party (PS)
Loures 166,167 Socialist Party (PS)
Matosinhos 109,225 Socialist Party (PS)
Oeiras 180,194 Socialist Party (PS)
Ponta Delgada 67,975 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Portalegre 25,800 Socialist Party (PS)
Porto 301,655 Socialist Party (PS)
Santarém 56,440 Socialist Party (PS)
Setúbal 65,230 Socialist Party (PS)
Sintra 124,893 Socialist Party (PS)
Viana do Castelo 70,455 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Vila Nova de Gaia 180,875 Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Real 44,550 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Viseu 73,010 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)

Municipal Assemblies[edit]

National summary of votes and seats[edit]

Summary of the 12 December 1976 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Mandates
Total
Socialist 1,392,181 33.39 1,698
Social Democratic 1,022,168 24.52 1,658
Electoral Front United People 756,856 18.15 679
Democratic and Social Centre 685,574 16.44 1,053
GDUPs 100,872 2.42 43
PCP(m-l) 5,363 0.13 2
Portuguese Workers' Communist 5,214 0.13 0
People's Monarchist 3,695 0.09 2
Workers' Revolutionary 2,634 0.06 0
Christian Democratic 970 0.02 0
Total valid 3,975,596 95.36 — 5,135
Blank ballots 104,185 2.50
Invalid ballots 89,241 2.26
Total 4,169,022 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,453,783 64.60

Parish Assemblies[edit]

National summary of votes and seats[edit]

Summary of the 12 December 1976 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Mandates Presidents
Total Total
Socialist 1,339,460 32.69 8,345
Social Democratic 996,972 24.33 9,076
Electoral Front United People 629,812 15.37 2,291
Democratic and Social Centre 617,690 15.07 5,077
Independents 162,367 3.96 1,230
GDUPs 93,967 2.29 99
Portuguese Workers' Communist 13,721 0.33 2
People's Monarchist 1,788 0.04 12
PCP(m-l) 1,666 0.04 3
Internationalist Communist League 71 0.00 0
Total valid 3,915,120 95.55 — 26,135
Blank ballots 88,985 2.17
Invalid ballots 93,461 2.28
Total 4,097,566 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,246,594 65.60

Maps[edit]

  • The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Councils in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
    The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Councils in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
  • The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Assemblies in sech district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
    The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Assemblies in sech district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
  • The first and the second most voted parties in Parish Assemblies in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
    The first and the second most voted parties in Parish Assemblies in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)

Notes[edit]

Further Notes:

  • Electoral Front United People (FEPU) was composed by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) and the People's Socialist Front (FSP).
  • The number of candidacies expresses the number of municipalities or parishes in which the party or coalition presented lists.
  • The number of mandates expresses the number of municipal deputies in the Municipal Assembly election and the number of parish deputies in the Parish Assembly election.
  • The turnout varies because one may choose not to vote for all the organs.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Recenseamentos Gerais da População)". www.ine.pt (in Portuguese). Statistics Portugal. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

External links[edit]

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