2017 Portuguese local elections

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2017 Portuguese local elections
← 2013 1 October 2017 2021 →
All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 3,092[1] Portuguese Parishes
All 2,074 local government councils
Opinion polls
Turnout55.0% Increase 2.4 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
António Costa em 2017.jpg
Pedro Passos Coelho 2011 (cropped).jpg
Jerónimo de Sousa (1 de Maio de 2015) (cropped).jpg
Leader António Costa Pedro Passos Coelho Jerónimo de Sousa
Party PS PSD PCP
Alliance CDU
Last election 150 mayors, 36.7% 106 mayors, 31.4% 34 mayors, 11.1%
Popular vote 2,003,914[2] 1,569,424[3] 489,189
Percentage 38.7% 30.3% 9.5%
Swing Increase 2.0 pp Decrease 1.1 pp Decrease 1.6 pp
Mayors 160[4] 98[5] 24
Mayors +/– Increase 10 Decrease 8 Decrease 10
Councillors 963[6] 729[7] 171
Councillors +/– Increase 34 Decrease 41 Decrease 42

The Portuguese local elections of 2017 were held on 1 October 2017. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner was elected mayor, another election for the Municipal Assembly, as well an election for the lower-level Parish Assembly, whose winner was elected parish president. This last election was held in the more than 3,000 parishes around the country. In the 2017 election, 13.3% of incumbent mayors, 41 to be precise, were barred from running for another term.[8]

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% 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% 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% 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% of voters casting a ballot.

Electoral system[edit]

Official logo of the election.
Ballots for the 2017 local elections in Castro Verde.

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:

Seat allocation for the 2017 local election[11]
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[edit]

The main political forces that contested the election were:

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[edit]

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2017 Portuguese local elections

Voter turnout[edit]

The 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% Increase 2.61 pp 43.43% 44.39% Increase 0.96 pp 52.60% 54.96% Increase 2.36 pp
Sources[12][13]

Results[edit]

Municipal Councils[edit]

National summary of votes and seats[edit]

Summary of the 1 October 2017 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Councillors Mayors
Total ± Total ±
Socialist 1,956,682 37.82 Increase1.5 296 952 Increase29 159 Increase10
Social Democratic 831,555 16.07 Decrease0.6 190 493 Decrease38 79 Decrease7
Unitary Democratic Coalition 489,083 9.45 Decrease1.6 303 171 Decrease42 24 Decrease10
Social Democratic / People's 454,222 8.78 Increase1.2 73 169 Increase15 16 Steady0
Independents 351,352 6.79 Decrease0.1 87 130 Increase18 17 Increase4
Left Bloc 170,040 3.29 Increase0.9 124 12 Increase4 0 Steady0
People's 134,257 2.60 Decrease0.4 113 41 Decrease6 6 Increase1
PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM 88,541 1.71 Increase1.2 11 23 Increase9 1 Steady0
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 75,192 1.45 Decrease0.4 4 15 Decrease6 2 Steady0
CDS–PP / MPT / PPM 57,570 1.11 Increase0.9 13 4 Increase3 0 Steady0
People–Animals–Nature 55,921 1.08 Increase0.8 31 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
PSD / PPM 46,822 0.91 Decrease0.4 4 8 Decrease13 0 Decrease1
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 Increase0.1 1 6 Increase1 1 Steady0
Social Democratic / Earth 19,556 0.38 Increase0.4 4 5 Increase2 0 Steady0
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 Decrease0.3 18 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
PSD / CDS–PP / MPT 12,128 0.23 Decrease1.8 6 7 Decrease4 0 Steady0
People's / People's Monarchist 10,286 0.20 — 12 4 — 0 —
Labour 5,681 0.11 Decrease0.1 26 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM 4,862 0.09 — 1 2 — 0 —
National Renovator 4,744 0.09 Increase0.0 13 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
PDR / Together for the People 3,643 0.07 — 4 0 — 0 —
Earth 3,370 0.07 Decrease0.0 13 0 Decrease2 0 Steady0
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 Decrease0.1 4 2 Decrease2 0 Steady0
Earth / PPV-CDC 2,258 0.04 — 1 0 — 0 —
PSD / PPM / MPT 1,958 0.04 Decrease0.9 1 2 Decrease5 0 Steady0
People's / Earth 1,568 0.03 Decrease0.1 4 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
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 Steady0.0 2 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
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 Increase2.3 — 2,074 Decrease12 308 Steady0
Blank ballots 135,785 2.62 Decrease1.3
Invalid ballots 99,734 1.93 Decrease1.0
Total 5,173,027 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 9,411,442 54.96 Increase2.4
Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017

Municipality map[edit]

Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality.
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[edit]

The following table lists party control in all district capitals, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from 2017.[14]

Municipality Population Previous control New control
Almada 169,152 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Socialist Party (PS)
Amadora 179,942 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Aveiro 77,630 PSD / CDS–PP / PPM PSD / CDS–PP / PPM
Barcelos 117,007 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Beja 33,804 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Socialist Party (PS)
Braga 181,382 PSD / CDS–PP / PPM PSD / CDS–PP / PPM
Bragança 33,668 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Cascais 211,714 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Castelo Branco 52,703 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Coimbra 134,156 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Évora 52,874 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Faro 60,920 PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT
Funchal 104,442 PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC
Gondomar 165,626 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Guarda 39,486 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Guimarães 153,294 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Leiria 125,307 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Lisbon 506,088 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Loures 209,442 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Maia 136,769 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Matosinhos 173,753 Independent (IND) Socialist Party (PS)
Odivelas 157,829 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Oeiras 175,224 Independent (IND) Independent (IND)
Ponta Delgada 68,055 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Portalegre 22,627 Independent (IND) Independent (IND)
Porto 214,587 Independent (IND) Independent (IND)
Santarém 57,823 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Santa Maria da Feira 138,613 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Seixal 165,971 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Setúbal 116,330 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Sintra 386,038 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Viana do Castelo 85,017 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Franca de Xira 141,227 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Nova de Famalicão 131,909 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Vila Nova de Gaia 299,820 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Real 49,951 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Viseu 97,423 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)

Municipal Assemblies[edit]

National summary of votes and seats[edit]

Summary of the 1 October 2017 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates
Total ±
Socialist 1,883,679 36.42 Increase1.5 297 2,731 Increase72
Social Democratic 818,680 15.83 Decrease0.5 188 1,491 Decrease97
Unitary Democratic Coalition 519,831 10.05 Decrease1.9 301 619 Decrease128
Social Democratic / People's 454,186 8.78 Increase1.3 73 539 Increase46
Independents 333,558 6.45 Decrease0.0 74 396 Increase44
Left Bloc 216,308 4.18 Increase1.0 127 125 Increase25
People's 138,782 2.68 Decrease0.5 99 184 Decrease40
PSD/ CDS–PP / MPT / PPM 86,701 1.68 Increase1.2 11 73 Increase36
People–Animals–Nature 73,600 1.42 Increase0.9 32 26 Increase19
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 71,028 1.37 Decrease0.4 4 42 Decrease30
CDS–PP / MPT / PPM 49,210 0.95 Increase0.8 13 16 Increase7
PSD / PPM 48,620 0.94 Decrease0.3 4 26 Decrease16
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 Increase0.0 1 15 Increase1
Social Democratic / Earth 21,019 0.42 Increase0.4 4 19 Increase11
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 Decrease1.9 6 24 Decrease18
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 Decrease0.1 11 0 Decrease2
Labour 5,834 0.11 Decrease0.0 22 1 Decrease2
CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM 4,960 0.10 — 1 6 —
Earth 4,916 0.10 Decrease0.0 12 1 Decrease10
PDR / Together for the People 4,390 0.08 — 4 1 —
National Renovator 4,254 0.08 Increase0.0 8 0 Steady0
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 Decrease0.1 4 6 Decrease11
PSD / MPT / PPM 1,901 0.04 Decrease0.4 1 5 Decrease6
People's Party / Earth Party 1,459 0.03 Decrease0.1 4 2 Decrease1
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 Steady0.0 1 0 Decrease2
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 Increase2.4 — 6,461 Decrease26
Blank ballots 152,040 2.94 Decrease1.3
Invalid ballots 104,500 2.02 Decrease1.1
Total 5,172,735 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 9,411,442 54.96 Increase2.4
Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017

Parish Assemblies[edit]

National summary of votes and seats[edit]

Summary of the 1 October 2017 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates Presidents
Total ± Total ±
Socialist 1,874,590 36.25 Increase1.6 2,518 10,617 Decrease221 1,295 Increase13
Social Democratic 809,802 15.66 Decrease0.7 1,638 6,629 Decrease298 824 Decrease88
Unitary Democratic Coalition 529,819 10.24 Decrease1.7 1,799 1,665 Decrease308 139 Decrease31
Independents 504,028 9.75 Increase0.2 850 3,365 Increase387 402 Increase60
Social Democratic / People's 441,927 8.55 Increase1.3 693 2,486 Increase390 270 Increase48
Left Bloc 169,580 3.28 Increase1.0 454 213 Increase75 0 Steady0
People's 122,785 2.37 Decrease0.4 506 628 Decrease97 54 Increase4
PSD/ CDS–PP / MPT / PPM 89,058 1.72 Increase1.3 70 238 Increase150 11 Increase8
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 63,515 1.23 Decrease0.4 56 250 Decrease200 28 Decrease16
PSD / PPM 52,697 1.02 Decrease0.1 45 164 Decrease87 14 Decrease7
CDS–PP / MPT / PPM 41,192 0.80 Increase0.6 80 77 Increase65 0 Steady0
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 Increase0.0 10 58 Increase5 5 Steady0
Social Democratic / Earth 15,486 0.30 Increase0.3 20 52 Increase25 1 Steady0
Together for the People 13,747 0.27 — 18 45 — 5 —
People–Animals–Nature 13,356 0.26 Increase0.2 26 6 Increase5 0 Steady0
LIVRE / Socialist 13,216 0.26 — 11 54 — 7 —
PSD / CDS–PP / MPT 12,442 0.24 Decrease2.0 26 57 Decrease265 5 Decrease13
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 Decrease0.1 24 0 Decrease2 0 Steady0
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 Decrease0.0 10 25 Decrease38 2 Decrease3
Earth 4,072 0.08 Decrease0.0 29 7 Decrease11 0 Steady0
Labour 3,813 0.07 Increase0.0 64 0 Decrease1 0 Steady0
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 Decrease0.2 5 12 Decrease27 0 Decrease2
National Renovator 1,685 0.03 Increase0.0 20 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
People's Party / Earth Party 1,181 0.02 Decrease0.0 12 2 Decrease2 0 Steady0
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 Steady0.0 4 1 Decrease10 0 Steady0
Socialist Alternative Movement 202 0.00 — 1 0 — 0 —
Total valid 4,903,926 92.99 Increase1.8 — 27,005 Decrease162 3,083 Decrease2
Blank ballots 152,337 2.95 Decrease0.9
Invalid ballots 115,317 2.23 Decrease0.9
Total 5,171,580 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 9,410,569 54.95 Increase2.4
Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ DGAI - Reorganização Administrativa do Território das Freguesias - (RATF)
  2. ^ Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
  3. ^ Sum of votes between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
  4. ^ Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 159; PS-coalition lists: 1.
  5. ^ Number of municipalities won between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. PSD-only lists: 79; PSD-coalition lists: 19.
  6. ^ This accounts for seats won on PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
  7. ^ This accounts for seats won on PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
  8. ^ "Limitação de mandatos autárquicos renovou poder local em 2013". www.rtp.pt/ (in Portuguese). RTP. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Há 32 anos que um partido no Governo não ganhava as autárquicas". Público (in Portuguese). 2017.
  10. ^ "Passos Coelho não se recandidata à liderança do PSD". Expresso (in Portuguese). 2017.
  11. ^ "Lei Eleitoral dos Orgãos das Autarquias Locais" (PDF). Comissão Nacional de Eleições (in Portuguese): 110. 2014.
  12. ^ "Autárquicas 2017 - Afluência". eleicoes.mai.gov.pt/autarquicas2017/index.html (in Portuguese). Ministry of Internal Administration. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Autárquicas 2013 - Afluência". eleicoes.mai.gov.pt/autarquicas2013/index.html (in Portuguese). Ministry of Internal Administration. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  14. ^ "População residente 2017". www.ine.pt (in Portuguese). Statistics Portugal. Retrieved 28 March 2021.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2017_Portuguese_local_elections&oldid=1219051355"